LOS ANGELES (AP) — Woody Marks ran for three touchdowns, Miller Moss had two scoring passes and a touchdown run, and Southern California snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Rutgers 42-20 on Friday night. The Trojans (4-4, 2-4 Big Ten) scored on all four offensive possessions in the first half, while their injury-depleted defense — missing four starters in the secondary — came up with some timely stops. Moss was 20-of-28 passing for 308 yards, and Marks had 142 yards from scrimmage.
Makai Lemon had 134 yards receiving on four grabs with a touchdown, plus an 80-yard kick return in the first quarter that set up Marks' second TD run. Athan Kaliakmanis threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Christian Dremel and Antwan Raymond ran for a touchdown, but the Scarlet Knights (4-4, 1-4) dropped their fourth straight game. Showing a consistency in moving the ball that looked more like the previous two seasons in the Pac-12 with Caleb Williams at quarterback, USC went up and down the field in the first half.
The passing game accounted for 172 of the offense’s 244 total yards through two quarters, with Moss hitting on 14 of 16 attempts and finding Kyle Ford for an 11-yard touchdown. Rutgers cut it to 28-20 early in the third quarter when Kaliakmanis covered 70 yards in consecutive plays with throws to Dymere Miller and Dremel, followed by a 2-point pass to the quarterback from Chris Long on a trick play. But Lemon ripped off a 70-yard catch-and-run on the first play of the ens.