The USC Trojans played the Arizona State Sun Devils on Saturday, November 7, 2020 in Los Angeles at the LA Memorial Coliseum. The Trojans came in heavily favored, and not many people thought they would lose. The Trojans came in with sophmore Kedon Slovis at QB, and with many starters returning. Slovis had thrown for 3,502 yards, 30 touchdowns, and 9 interceptions in his freshman season. He had recieved the PAC 12 Offensive freshman of the year. The Trojans had Amon-Ra St. Brown, Tyler Vaughns, Drake London, and 5 star recruit Bru McCoy at wide reciever. ASU had sophmore Jayden Daniels at QB. He threw for 2,943 yards, 17 TDs, and 2 interceptions in his freshman season. The Trojans came into the game ranked 20th in the Top 25 while ASU was unranked.
SC was outcoached for most of the game. The ASU coaching staff were all taught in the NFL. ASU head coach Herm Edwards coached the Jets in the mid-to-late 2000s. SC's coaching staff only has college teaching and it's not that great. (By NFL teaching I mean that they coached in the NFL.) USC head coach Clay Helton has only coached in college. Sc is his first head coaching job. He is 2-3 in bowls! No SC coach should be 2-3 in bowls. Helton was the first coach in over 15 years to have a losing season at SC. (By losing season we mean regular season: not 6-6 and then lose in bowl). He has failed. Here are his seasons with SC as head coach:
2013: Helton as interim head coach for bowl: Las Vegas Bowl: v. Fresno State: W 45-20
2015: Helton takes over after SC fires Sarkisian: 5-2 in regular season: finishes 8-4: Pac 12 Championship: v. Stanford: L 23-21: Holiday Bowl: v. Wisconsin: L 23-21: finishes overall: 8-6
2016: Reg. Season: 9-3; Bowl: Rose Bowl: v. Penn State: W 52-49
2017: Reg. Season: 10-2; Pac 12 Championship: v Stanford: W 31-28; Bowl: Cotton Bowl: v. Ohio State: L 24-7; Finish overall: 11-3
2018: Reg. Season: 5-7
2019: Reg. Season: 8-4; Bowl: Holiday Bowl: v. Iowa: L 49-24
The Trojans kicked off to start the game and ASU scored a field goal in the opening drive. SC punted, recovered it after it was muffed, but fumbled the ball on the 1 yard line and it was recovered by ASU. SC shut them down, and got the ball back. USC scored a touchdown when Stephen Carr ran 2 yards into the endzone to put SC up 7-3. SC made some bad decisions after getting the ball back and ASU capitalized on a 25 yard touchdown run from DeaMonte Trayanum. USC responded with a giant leap at the goaline from Markese Stepp for the touchdown to go up 14-10. ASU retaliated with a 55 yard pass from Jayden Daniels to Rachaad White. The score at half was 17-14. ASU came out fiesty, and with 7 minutes left, they scored a touchdown on a 17 yard run from Deamonte Trayanum. ASU got the ball back and hit a 41 yard field goal. After a couple drives, the Trojans scored a touchdown on a 4th & 13 when Kedon Slovis's throw was tipped and caught by freshman Bru McCoy for the 26 yard touchdown. The Trojans recovered the onside kick. On a 4th & 9, Kedon Slovis threw a 21 yard bullet to Drake London for a touchdown for the lead. The Trojans shut down the Sun Devils for the rest of the game, and won 28-27. Slovis threw for 381 yards, 2 TDs, and 1 interception which prolonged his streak of 9 games straight with 2 or more passing TDs. Jayden Daniels threw for 134 yards and a touchdown. Daniels also ran for 111 yards. The Trojans stayed at 20th in the Top 25.
The Trojans will face the Arizona Wildcats in Tucson on Saturday, November 14th at 12:30 PM PT. Arizona State will/may (due to CAL COVID cases) play Cal on November 14th at 7:30 PM PT.
