GAME RECAP: No. 11 USC Escapes Piscataway 42-35, Stays Undefeated Ahead of Oregon

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — This one was never supposed to feel like this.

No. 11 USC opened Big Ten play 2,789 miles from the Coliseum, a three-touchdown favorite against an 0-2 Rutgers club that had not yet found a win. Four hours later the Trojans were kneeling on the SHI Stadium grass at 42-35, 4-0, 1-0 in conference, and booking a flight back to Los Angeles with a lot more film than anyone packed for.

Jayden Maiava threw for 277 yards and two touchdowns. Freshman Riley Wormley scored twice. Prophet Brown took a goal-line interception 99 yards the other way. And still the Trojans needed a fourth-quarter answer and a late clock-killing drive to get out of New Jersey with the first conference win of the year.

Rutgers finished 0-3 (0-1 Big Ten) and lost the turnover battle 2-0, but the Scarlet Knights won time of possession (33:08 to 26:45), piled up 27 first downs, and outgained USC 460-461 by a yard. Dylan Lonergan threw for 252 yards and three scores. Antwan Raymond ran for 122 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. Greg Schiano’s team made a ranked road favorite work until the last snap.

USC struck first. Caden Chittenden opened it with a 35-yard field goal at 9:30 of the first, capping a 12-play, 58-yard march. Christian Pierce then picked Lonergan and returned it 16 yards to the Rutgers 24. Two plays later King Miller walked in from 11 yards, Chittenden converted, and it was 10-0 at 8:08.

Rutgers answered the long way. Twelve plays, 75 yards, 8:04 off the clock, Lonergan to KJ Duff for 11 yards at the 0:04 mark. Dane Pizzaro’s kick made it 10-7 after one.

Maiava found the shot USC had been looking for early in the second. He hit Corey Simms for 52 yards at 11:59, and the Trojans led 17-7. Rutgers refused to fold. Facing fourth-and-21 from its own 16, Schiano called a fake punt. Punter Jakob Anderson threw 40 yards to Jesse Ofurie, and the Scarlet Knights turned that trick into a 14-play, 95-yard drive that ended with Lonergan finding Elias Coke from 16 yards at 1:25. Suddenly it was 17-14.

Chittenden drilled a 32-yarder with 10 seconds left in the half. USC 20, Rutgers 14 at the break.

The game flipped on the first Rutgers possession of the third.

The Scarlet Knights drove 66 yards in 10 plays and had first-and-goal. Lonergan looked for the tying score. Brown jumped it at the 1, turned up the sideline, and did not stop for 99 yards. Chittenden’s extra point made it 27-14 at 10:32.

Rutgers came right back. Clay Thevenin ripped a 17-yard touchdown run three plays later, and it was 27-21 at 8:53. USC answered with the drive that created breathing room. Wormley finished it from 12 yards at 5:52, and Maiava hit Kayden Dixon-Wyatt for the two-point conversion. USC 35, Rutgers 21.

Raymond punched in a 2-yard run at 1:07 of the third to cut it to 35-28. The fourth quarter belonged to the freshman and then, almost, to Rutgers again.

USC stuffed a Rutgers fourth down on the Scarlet Knights’ side of the field, and Maiava threw a play-action 2-yard touchdown to Wormley out of a three-tight end set at 8:35. Chittenden made it 42-28. Wormley finished with 52 rushing yards on three carries and two total touchdowns.

Lonergan was not done. He drove Rutgers 75 yards in 12 plays and, on fourth-and-10, dropped a 28-yard touchdown to Vernon Allen III at 4:24. Pizzaro’s kick made it 42-35.

That was the last score. Maiava and Miller moved the chains just far enough. Victory formation. Ballgame.

Maiava went 20-of-32 with no interceptions. Miller added 102 rushing yards and the first-quarter score as USC ran for 184 yards. Chittenden was 2-for-2 on field goals (35 and 32). The Trojans did not turn it over.

Lonergan finished 18-of-36 with two interceptions to go with the three touchdown throws. Raymond was the workhorse. Duff, Coke, and Allen each found the end zone through the air. Rutgers converted 3 of 4 fourth downs and made a 21-and-a-half-point underdog look like a problem for 60 minutes.

Trent Mosley never made the trip. The freshman receiver who had been USC’s leading target stayed home with the knee that flared in the Louisiana win, and the Trojans still found enough from Simms, Dixon-Wyatt, Wormley, and the defense’s one explosive play.

The win was the second in the series after a 42-20 result in Los Angeles in 2024. It was also the first time these programs had met in Piscataway.

The bigger one is already on the calendar.

No. 25 Oregon comes to the Coliseum next Saturday at 4:30 p.m. PT on NBC, a rematch of a 42-27 Ducks win in Eugene last November and the start of a stretch that does not ease up. USC gets to spend this week undefeated. It will not get to spend it comfortable.