Blowout of Missouri State feels like a merciless USC scrimmage

Sharp Maiava passes for 295 yards despite playing only in first half of 73-13 thrashing.

- By Ryan KARTJE

JAYDEN MAIAVA completed 15 of 18 passes, including two touchdowns, in one half of work in USC's victory.

Five years ago, when USC first scheduled this 2025 season opener, the plan had been to go big, to test itself with a marquee, nonconference opponent that not only bolstered the Trojans’ strength of schedule but also captured the attention of college football.

So, at the time, USC agreed to a home-and-home meeting with Mississippi, when Lane Kiffin, the Trojans’ former coach, would make his much-anticipated return to the Coliseum.

That matchup, of course, never came to fruition. The entire landscape of college football was upended in the meantime. Lincoln Riley became the coach. USC left the Pac-12 for the Big Ten. And the meeting with Mississippi was canceled, the rationale from USC's leaders being there was no sensible reason, in the age of the expanding College Football Playoff, to test your team with top-tier nonconference competition.

Which is how Missouri State, in its first-ever matchup as a Football Bowl Subdivision program, wound up at the Coliseum on Saturday, watching helplessly as USC stopped just short of stealing the Bears’ lunch money in a 73-13 season-opening beatdown.