The USC Trojans pulled off their biggest win of the Lincoln Riley era, upsetting the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes 30-18 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday night. As the Trojans celebrate their biggest win of the season, the Buckeyes fall to 6-2 and face major questions about how they will move forward with star quarterback Julian Sayin out indefinitely. 

The Trojans defense held the Buckeyes out of the end zone until the fourth quarter, and coach Ryan Day spoke about Ohio State’s pace of play in the loss to USC. 

Pace of Play Late Against USC Trojans

“Once we were down by two scores, we knew we were in that game that we had to go. We didn’t want to panic and just start going into that with a young quarterback, and the game just turned upside down really fast. The one series they went three-and-out was extremely frustrating,” Day said. 

“We just weren’t able to get a couple first downs. We felt like if we got a couple first downs we were going to try and pick up the pace as it went, but we needed to get the first down there. We didn’t get it. We went three-and-out, and then once we found ourselves in the two-score game late with seven minutes to go, we knew we had to move quickly, which we did.”

“We moved a little bit more; we weren’t going like breakneck two minutes like we were in the last drive there, but it was fast enough that we were efficiently moving it and it was able to score a touchdown on it, so we were able to make that happen with the young quarterback. So that part was a positive, but in the end it wasn’t good enough,” Day continued.  

Luke Fahey’s Performance

“I think for Luke, he competed and wasn’t perfect, but we had some big, huge drops, and we weren’t able to help him down there. I thought he competed his tail off in there. We’ll look at the film and recognize the things we got to improve on in terms of him and what we can do to put him in better situations,” Day said.

Ohio State’s Defensive Urgency

“I thought the guys played hard. I thought the look in their eyes was good. I’ll get on the film and confirm it, but they were playing with energy. When the offense has a young quarterback and they’re sputtering, not scoring touchdowns, sometimes you can feel one side of the ball start to get frustrated,” Day said. 

“I didn’t feel that at all. From my vantage point, I thought they continued to work and they were trying to get off the field and get some stops. But I mean they have some real skill guys in space, and we couldn’t get them on the ground.” 

“Two major plays that really hurt us in the game. But I thought we were playing sound and not having Jay [Timmons] had an impact; there’s no question. But at the end of the day, as a team, we weren’t able to play well enough to support a young freshman quarterback who had his first start on the road like this,” Day continued.

What Win Over Ohio State Does For USC Trojans CFP Chances

Saturday night’s win over the Buckeyes is a massive boost for the Trojans and their chances to make the CFP for the first time in program history under Riley. With three games remaining against the No. 4 Indiana Hoosiers (Nov. 14), Maryland Terrapins (Nov. 21), and No. 7 UCLA Bruins (Nov. 28), the Trojans control their destiny to make the CFP.

The Trojans will very well find themselves back in the AP Top 25 when the Week 10 poll is released. The question is, how high will USC be ranked?

As for the Buckeyes, they are in a similar boat. Their matchup against the Oregon Ducks will be an opportunity to get back on track and return to the Big Ten title game in Indianapolis, Indiana, on Saturday, Dec. 5, at Lucas Oil Stadium.