Trojans jump out quickly on Stanford

While the Trojans kept Stanford’s new-look offense under first-year head coach Troy Taylor out of the end zone until the 3:35 mark of the fourth quarter. Williams continued his early-season success. The Walter camp player of The Year threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns on 19-for-22 passing. Through three games, Williams has led 25 drives that resulted in 18 touchdowns. 

By Earl Heath 

Contributing Sports Writer

USC quarterback Caleb Williams ran around right end, juked and stepped his way into the endzone with great downfield blocks from wide receivers Brendon Rice, Tajh Washington and TE Lake McCrae. That completed a seven -play 75-yard drive. Later in the half Rice would catch a 75-yard TD pass from Williams.  

That helped the Trojans 3-0, 1-0 jump out to an early 7-0 lead against Stanford and they never looked back. It was the first of five consecutive scoring drives that resulted in touchdowns helping the with a 56-10 win.  It was the 46-point difference marked the Trojans’ biggest win over the Cardinal since 1977 (49-0). 

Marshawn Lloyd finished off the next drive one of 19 yards and 3-plays with a run from five yards out. The South Carolina transfer finished the day with 77 yards rushing on nine carries including a 25-yard burst. That’s an 8.6-yard average. Austin Jones had 33-yards on six carries, a 5.5 average. USC amassed 433 yards to go with seven touchdowns. Rice, Washington and Duce Robinson all had 70- plus receiving yards each. 

“Our goal is to be the best offense in the country,” said Lloyd. 

Zachariah “electric” Branch is making history as the first freshman since 2013 to score a receiving touchdown, punt return touchdown, and kick return touchdown in a single season. What’s even more impressive is Branch has already done this in just three games. 

While the Trojans kept Stanford’s new-look offense under first-year head coach Troy Taylor out of the end zone until the 3:35 mark of the fourth quarter. Williams continued his early-season success. The Walter camp player of The Year threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns on 19-for-22 passing. Through three games, Williams has led 25 drives that resulted in 18 touchdowns. 

Jaylon smith led all tacklers with 6 solo including one for a loss. Breyson Shaw had 5 followed by eight Trojans with three each. The USC defense held Stanford QB to only 121 yards passing. 

The team will have a bye this week then return to action Sept23 at ASU. After that they travel to Boulder, Colorado to take on the Buffs September 30th in a much anticipated matchup.