No. 10 USC Football Resumes Season With Away Matchup At Arizona

TUCSON TRAVELS

*The No. 10 Trojans head to Tucson, Ariz. this weekend to challenge the Arizona Wildcats.

*USC is coming off a bye week, and so is Arizona. The two teams should be refreshed and ready for the second half of the 2022 season.

*Kickoff is set for 4 p.m. PT, and the game will be broadcast nationally on Pac-12 Network.

*USC is ranked No. 10 in the AP Poll and No. 11 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.

UTAH GAME RECAP

*QB Caleb Williams threw for 381 yards and 5 TDs, both season-highs, in USC's heartbreaking 42-43 loss to Utah in Salt Lake City.

*He went 25-of-42 (.595) with zero INTs. He also rushed for 57 yards on 8 carries.

*TE Josh Falo scored 2 TDs on the night. In the second quarter, he caught a 3-yard TD pass from QB Caleb Williams, his first TD of the season. In the third quarter, he caught an 11-yard TD pass from Williams to score on USC's first drive of the second half.

*WR Mario Williams (145 receiving yards) and WR Jordan Addison (106 receiving yards) both had 100+ receiving yards. It's the first time that USC has had 2 receivers with 100+ receiving yards in the same game since Drake London (125 receiving yards) and Amon-Ra St. Brown (100 yards) did it against ASU on 11/7/20.

*RB Travis Dye led the team with 76 rushing yards on 11 carries and 1 TD. This was his seventh TD of the season.

*Dye is USC's first RB since Ronald Jones II to have a rushing TD in 6 straight games. Jones did it in the final 6 games of 2017.

*WR Jordan Addison caught a 2-yard TD pass from QB Caleb Williams. This TD was his seventh of the season.

*WR Kyron Hudson caught a 2-yard TD pass from QB Caleb Williams. This TD was his second of the season.

*WR Michael Jackson III caught a 20-yard TD pass from QB Caleb Williams, Which was the first of his career.

*The Trojan defense had trouble containing Utah TE Dalton Kincaid who finished the game with 234 yards on 16 receptions and a touchdown. His total yardage broke Utah's record for receiving yards by a tight end.

*ILB Eric Gentry led the team with 9 tackles and 1 forced fumble.

*DL Stanley Ta'ufo'ou had a momentum shifting play when he recovered Gentry's forced fumble.

*DLs Tyrone Taleni and Solomon Byrd each recorded 0.5 TFL for 2 yards.

*DB Mekhi Blackmon tallied a PBU.

*USC did not commit a turnover for the sixth time in seven games. USC is the only team in the nation with just one turnover during the 2022 season.

*PK Denis Lynch was perfect on all 6 of his PATs.

*P Aadyn Sleep-Dalton recorded a new career-long with his 52-yard punt. He had two punts with an average of 50.5 yards.

ARIZONA SCOUTING REPORT

*The Arizona Wildcats are 3-4 overall and 1-3 in Pac-12 Conference play.

*Two of Arizona's losses came against teams currently ranked in the top 16 in the Associated Press poll — No. 12 Oregon and No. 16 Mississippi State. They're a combined 10-2.

*QB Jayden De Laura, who transferred from Washington State, is 149-of-241 (.618) with 15 TDs and 7 INTs.

*He was named Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week on Sept. 6 after his performance in Arizona's 38- 20 victory over San Diego State.

*De Laura's favorite target is WR Jacob Cowing who has 53 receptions for 737 yards and 7 TDs.

*Another receiver that regularly finds the end zone is WR Tetairoa McMillian who has 6 TDs on the season with 28 receptions for 470 yards. He has been named Pac-12 Freshman of the Week twice this season.

*He leads all FBS true freshmen with 470 receiving yards and six receiving touchdowns. He's second with 28 receptions, trailing Vanderbilt's Jayden McGowan by three.

*WR Dorian Singer (41 receptions for 605 yards and 2 TDs) and TE Tanner McLachlan (23 receptions for 309 yards and 2 TDs) are also Wildcat offensive weapons.

*Three RBs divide carries to lead the Arizona ground attack. RB Michael Wiley has 309 rushing yards on 57 carries and 3 TDs. RB Jonah Coleman has collected 279 yards on 59 carries and 3 TDs. And RB DJ Williams has 276 rushing yards on 44 carries and 2 TDs.

*Arizona has scored 30 or more points in five of its seven games.

*On the defensive side of the ball, LB Jerry Roberts leads the Wildcats with 49 tackles, 1 PBU, 1 forced fumble and 1 QBH.

*Former Trojan turned Wildcat, DL Hunter Echols, leads the team with 6.5 TFLs for 28 yards (with 3.5 sacks for 24 yards). He has also decorated his stat sheet with a total of 36 tackles, 2 PBUs, 2 forced fumbles, 2 QBHs and 1 fumble recovery.

*DL Paris Shand, DE Jalen Harris, DL Dion Wilson Jr. and S Christian Young have each recorded at least 0.5 sack.

*PK Tyler Loop is 9-of-12 (.750) on field goals this season with a long of 48 yards.

*After losing 39-49 to Washington in Seattle, Arizona has now lost consecutive games for the first time this season.

*UA QB Jayden de Laura passed for 400 yards going 25-of-34 (.735) with 4 TDs.

*It was his third 400-plus-yard passing game in his past four outings. It marked the first time in de Laura's career that his team lost when he threw three or more touchdown passes.

*Freshman WR Tetairoa McMillan notched career highs with seven catches, 132 yards and two touchdowns. It was the first 100-yard game and first multi-TD game of McMillan's career.

*WR Dorian Singer, TE Tanner McLachlan and RB Jonah Coleman also scored TDs.

*S DJ Warnell Jr. also set a career high with a team-leading 11 tackles. Warnell's stat sheet also included a pass breakup and a shared TFL.

*LB Jacob Manu doubled his previous career mark with 10 total tackles, the second most on the Wildcat defense. He also had a team-high 2.5 tackles for losses.

*The Wildcat defense has allowed 49 points and 500-plus yards in three of their last four games.

RANKINGS

*USC is ranked No. 10 in the latest AP Poll and 11th in the USA Today Coaches Poll. Arizona is not ranked.

SERIES

*USC holds a 36-8 record over Arizona, including 15-4 in Tucson. USC also beat UA in a 1916 game played in Phoenix.

*The Trojans have won 9 of the last 10 meetings in Tucson.

*Troy has lost just twice to the Wildcats since 2001.

*Nearly half (21) of the USC-Arizona meetings have been decided by 8 points or less. USC has scored at least 24 points in the past 12 meetings, and the Trojans have tallied single digits only once in the series.

*In USC's last meeting with the Wildcats in Tucson, the Trojans came back to post a dramatic victory as TB Vavae Malepeai's 8-yard scoring run with 25 seconds to play gave the Trojans a 34-30 victory. After being relatively ineffective through the first 3 quarters, USC's offense twice overcame 3-point fourth quarter deficits. It began when TE Erik Krommenhoek caught a 6-yard touchdown pass (the first of his career) from QB Kedon Slovis with 3:30 to play. The Wildcats responded with a 6-yard TD pass from QB Grant Gunnell to WR Stanley Berryhill III with 1:35 on the clock. Malepeai then rushed for the game-winning score to cap a 75-yard drive. 150 of USC's 498 total yards in the game came on its final 2 drives. See page 4 for a complete recap of that most recent matchup.

VERSUS PAC-12 CONFERENCE

*USC has won 69.7% (486-203-29) of its games against current Pac-12 opponents (does not include 9 wins later vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record: 495-203-29, 70.1%).

IN OCTOBER

*USC has a 315-125-19 (.707) all-time record while playing in the month of October (not including 5 wins vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record: 320-125-19, .710).

ARTIFICIAL TURF

*USC is 48-33-1 in its last 82 games on artificial turf (not including 3 wins vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record: 51-33-1).

USC-ARIZONA CONNECTIONS

*USC has 5 players from Arizona (DB Jacobe Covington of Phoenix's Chandler's Saguaro HS, DB Daniel Jimenez-Fulton of Chandler's Chandler HS, OL AJ Mageo of Mesa's Red Mountain HS, OL Andrew Milek of Chandler's Brophy Prep and WR Brenden Rice of Chandler's Hamilton HS, while the Wildcats have 39 Californians.

*USC DB Ceyair Wright's father, Claudius Wright, was a cornerback at Arizona.

*USC defensive backs coach Donte Williams was the cornerbacks coach at Arizona in 2016.

*USC WR John Jackson III's father, John Jr., was a wide receiver with the Phoenix Cardinals (1990-92).

*USC ILB Ralen Goforth's brother, Randall, was a defensive back with the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football in 2019.

*USC ILB Micah Croom's brother, Larry Jr., was a running back at UNLV and then played for the Arizona Cardinals (2016-17).

*USC WR Brenden Rice was high school teammates with Arizona LB Victor Zayas, OL Grayson Stovall and DL Russell Davis II at Hamilton high school in Arizona.

*USC DB Daniel Jimenez-Fulton was high school teammates with Arizona RB Drake Anderson, S Gunner Maldonado, CB Devin Dunn and LB Malik Reed at Chandler high school in Arizona.

*USC WR Josiah Zamora, DB Domani Jackson, WR CJ Williams, ILB Raesjon Davis, WR Kyron Hudson and RB Raleek Brown were high school teammates with Arizona DL Ta'ita'i Uiagelelei and DL Jacob Kongaika at Mater Dei.

*USC WR Kyle Ford and TE Ethan Rae were high school teammates with Arizona LS Kameron Hawkins at Orange Lutheran.

*USC RB Matt Colombo and DL Kobe Pepe were high school teammates with Arizona RB Rayshon Luke at St. John Bosco.

*USC DB Mehki Blackmon and WR Brenden Rice were college teammates with Arizona DE Jason Harris at Colorado.

*USC QB Miller Moss and DB Jaylin Smith were high school teammates with Arizona RB Nazar Bombata, CB Ephesians Prysock and WR Kevin Green Jr. at Bishop Alemany.

*USC WR Ty Shamblin and PK-P Garth White were high school teammates with Arizona QB Cole Tannenbaum at Oaks Christian.

*USC swimming associate head coach Peter Richardson held a similar role at Arizona from 2020-22.

*USC swimming assistant coach Brooks Fail was an 11-time All-American swimmer and Pac-12 champion at Arizona.

*Arizona DL Hunter Echols was a Trojan from 2017-21.

*Arizona offensive coordinator/offensive line coach Brennan Carroll was a USC graduate assistant and then assistant coach (2002-09), and is the son of former USC head coach Pete Carroll.

*Arizona defensive coordinator Johnny Nansen spent six seasons on the coaching staff at USC. In 2017, Nansen was named the Pac-12 Recruiter of the Year by 247Sports.com and helped guide the USC defense that ranked fourth nationally in red zone defense (.712) and fifth in sacks (3.3).

*Arizona defensive backs coach Dewayne Walker coached USC's defensive backs group in 2001.

*Arizona defensive line coach Ricky Hunley began his coaching journey as a graduate assistant at USC from 1992-93 under head coaches Larry Smith and John Robinson.

*Arizona football team reporter Kim Becker previously covered USC football for SportsIllustrated.com.

*Arizona baseball associate head coach Dave Lawn held a similar role at USC from 2001-2007.

*Arizona senior associate director of athletics for student athlete development, John Mosbach previously worked in USC's Student-Athlete Academic Services.

*Arizona women's basketball assistant coach Erin Grant was a USC assistant (2020-21).