Jayden Maiava threw both of his touchdown passes in the second half to spearhead No. 17 Southern California’s 29-10 comeback win over visiting rival UCLA on Saturday in Los Angeles.
With two stalled drives ending in missed field goals, USC (9-3, 7-2 Big Ten Conference) went to halftime trailing 10-7 against its crosstown counterpart UCLA (3-9, 3-6).
After four straight possessions without scoring, following an initial possession in which King Miller carried for a 5-yard score, the Trojans finally broke through just before the end of the third quarter. Maiava found Makai Lemon for the only time in the contest, but on their 11th touchdown connection of the season, on a 32-yard bomb for a 14-10 USC lead.
USC, which has won four of its last five, struck again on its next possession when Maiava hit Lake McRee on a goal-line touchdown that pushed its lead to 21-10.
UCLA, which scored on a pair of lengthy time-consuming drives in the second quarter, saw its second-half possessions end in three consecutive punts and a turnover on downs before another turnover on downs effectively sealed the USC win.
The Bruins’ scoring drives went 7:50 in 13 plays and 79 yards, culminating in Nicol Iamaleava’s 2-yard touchdown pass to Kwazi Gilmer, and 60 yards in 13 plays over 5:24 before Mateen Baghani’s 38-yard field goal just before intermission.
UCLA had a pair of drives in the second half that ate up more than seven minutes of clock, including its last-gasp effort to rally after USC pulled ahead by two scores, but Braylan Shelby’s late sack of Iamaleava put the Bruins in a hole they could not escape.
Miller added the exclamation point on USC’s ensuing possession, breaking off a 41-yard scoring rush to cap his 17-carry, 124-yard game. Maiava finished the night 21-of-29 passing for 257 yards.
Iamaleava completed 27 of 38 passes for 200 yards, with Gilmer catching 11 targets for 94 yards. Jalen Berger rushed seven times for 57 yards in the loss, UCLA’s fifth straight. The Bruin bookended a three-game winning streak with a pair of long skids, including an 0-4 start.
