USC Trojans rally past Arizona 38-30 for 3rd straight win

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Freshman tailback Ronald Jones II rushed for 177 yards and scored two touchdowns, Justin Davis rushed for two touchdowns and receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster shook off the effects of hand surgery to catch a touchdown pass as USC overcame a 14-0 deficit to defeat the Wildcats, 38-30.

Injuries have been an issue, but after starting 5-2, the failure to reach a bowl game, a year after winning the division, would be a significant disappointment for a school hoping to retain coach Rich Rodriguez.

STOP THE RUN: USC has held three of its last four opponents under 140 yards rushing, slowing a season of struggle against the run.

"It was just a run to the right", Jones said. "It was the offensive line creating holes for me". Davis capped the drive with a 16-yard touchdown run that sealed the game with 2:36 to play.

It took until the second quarter for the Trojans to wake up. Smith-Schuster caught a 72-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter, highlighting a tenacious effort despite his excruciatingly painful hand. Not only did Smith-Schuster play against Arizona on Saturday night, but he played phenomenally. "I've been through a lot, but I've enjoyed every second of it. It's different (under Helton), but he's done a really good job, and we're in a really good place right now".

"We were moving the ball early on and then just caught a little funk", Jackson said.

Helton explained the aggressive play calling as one of the team's hallmarks.

"We put our hearts into it", Solomon said. "It doesn't matter where we are. We're going to stay fearless".

Arizona's final drive of the first half ended with a Hail Mary attempt but to no avail. Ronald Jones ran wild down the field eventually punching the tying score into the end zone on a 5 yard touchdown catch.

The first quarter belonged to the Arizona defense. Too bad they were not playing horseshoes. "The penalties and turnover were momentum killers".

The most important third down failure came while leading 20-17 when they couldn't convert on third-and-two. Our defense kept us in the game while we got our stuff straight. Arizona recovered a fumble on a botched handoff from Kessler to Madden and the Wildcats converted on the drive with a touchdown pass from Anu Solomon to Nate Phillips on a play action play.

The Trojans' first points came on their first drive of the second quarter.

The Trojans drove to Arizona's eight-yard line and settled for a field goal.

Today's USC Trojans vs Arizona Wildcats college football game has a start time schedule of 10:30pm eastern time and 7:30pm pacific time, and airs on TV channel ESPN.

"We knew going into the game it was going to be a dog fight", Woods said.

Arizona (5-5 overall, 2-5 Pac-12) came out firing, barely resembling the team that lost back-to-back games to Washington and Washington State. "We've just got to be patient".

And they played winning football, on the backs of a freshman running back and an injured star wide receiver, who was determined to play and make an impact. It was the Trojans' seventh interception in the last three games. I thought how wonderful would it be for a kid to come back in three days.