Jayden Maiava's 4 TD passes carry USC past Georgia Southern

Field Level Media|published: Sat 6th September, 23:37 2025

NCAA Football: Georgia Southern at Southern California

Sep 6, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans wide receiver Makai Lemon (6) runs down field for a touchdown on a pass play during the first half against the Georgia Southern Eaglesat Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

Jayden Maiava threw for 412 yards and four touchdowns to lead USC to a 59-20 win against visiting Georgia Southern on Saturday evening in Los Angeles.

Maiava completed 16-of-24 passes without a turnover. Makai Lemon caught four passes for 158 yards and two long touchdowns, doing most of his damage in the first quarter. Ja'Kobi Lane added three catches for 91 yards and a spectacular one-handed touchdown snare in the opening quarter.

Waymond Jordan rushed for 167 yards on 16 carries and scored a touchdown for the Trojans. Eli Sanders added 52 rushing yards and two scores.

USC (2-0) lost a fumble on its first drive and Georgia Southern capitalized when Weston Bryan tossed a 32-yard touchdown pass to Camden Brown, who made the grab despite drawing a pass-interference penalty.

The two-point attempt was no good, leaving the score at 6-0

The Trojans wasted no time moving downfield, taking a 7-6 lead on Lane's 12-yard touchdown catch as he was getting his right arm held by a defender.

USC got the ball back and came up with the first of back-to-back big plays by Lemon.

He caught a short pass that he turned into a 62-yard touchdown by breaking tackles and weaving through defenders, stretching the lead to 14-6 with 6:53 left in the first quarter.

Maiava then found Lemon for a 74-yard touchdown with 2:14 left in the opening quarter, stretching the lead to 21-6.

Georgia Southern (0-2) didn't initially fade away, answering back with a 24-yard touchdown pass from JC French IV to Brown to trim the lead to 21-13 with 11:32 left in the first half.

The Trojans tacked on a 26-yard field goal and then stopped the Eagles on downs, allowing them to expand their lead to 31-13 with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Maiava to tight end Walker Lyons.

Maiava threw for 304 yards and four touchdowns in the first half.

Jordan scored on a 36-yard touchdown run on USC's first drive of the second half to make it 38-13, and Sanders scored on a 1-yard run to make it 45-13.

After the Eagles scored on a 13-yard touchdown pass from French to Dalen Cobb, the Trojans answered with a 5-yard touchdown run by Sanders for a 52-20 lead, and a 41-yard touchdown run by King Miller to make it 59-20.

--Field Level Media

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