USC opened Pac-12 tonight against the Washington St Cougars. USC came into the game hoping to get off to a quick start against their conference foe, their defense would but their offense was stalling. In the 1st quarter the Trojan defense would hold Washington St to a 3 and out and pick off 2 passes. The last one finally leading the offense to some points. The USC offense would finally get on the board in the 2nd quarter on a 18 yard pass from Max Wittek to Silas Redd for a 7-0 advantage. The defense would continue playing well as on the next possession they would again intercept a pass. Washington St would step up on defense though and force USC into a 20 yard field goal to push the lead to 10-0. Washington St would get their offense going as they would put together a 13 play drive but would have to settle for a 18 yard field goal. The score at the half would be Trojans 10 and Cougars 3. "We played really well on defense," said Coach Dealer, "however the offense could not seem to get on track and we missed out on a couple good opportunities."
USC would get the ball to start the 2nd half and they would get off to a quick start hitting Silas Redd on a play action for 32 yards. Five plays later Redd would punch it in from 1 yard out for a 17-3 lead. Both teams would have punts in the 3rd quarter as well as Wittek forcing a ball into coverage that would be picked off. The Trojan offense would have the ball first in the 4th quarter. Redd would again start off the drive with a great run as he would go 68 yards. Three plays later Wittek would hit Marqise Lee for a 23 yard touchdown and a 24-3 advantage and be the final score as both teams would add punts and USC would add one more interception. "Our offense picked it up in the 2nd half, and I liked what I saw," said Dealer. "I hope that we continue playing well on both sides of the ball as we go into our next games."
Connor Halliday had hoped to make progress in a game that the defense played well in. The defense kept the USC Trojans from getting any kind of rhythm, but the offense kept giving the ball away and the defense just got too tired. It was a tough day on the palouse and the fans couldn't believe the effort Halliday gave. "It's disappointing, we thought he had turned a corner last season, especially after the Bowl game. We have alot to work on" - Coach Cougnix.
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