USC vs. Michigan State
September 20, 2025 at 8:11pm
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles, CA: (67,614 of 77,500)
Total Time: not sure

You may be curious as to why the total game time lists not sure.

If you were to believe the official stats, then the game ended at 7:39am and the total run time at 11 hours and 28 minutes. Although it felt that way from all the penalties, I’m pretty sure we got out of there right as it hit midnight and we all turned into pumpkin spice lattes. Those refs really like to extend these late night games. Are they taking revenge on the whole stadium because they had to work the late shift? At a certain point, we needed a penalties per drive stat, which we will coin as PPD. According to Google’s AI, it’s an existing acronym for postpartum depression or paranoid personality disorder, both of which can be glibly twisted to fit the situation.

And just to point out another strange thing, one of the referees is named Marcus Allen…but wasn’t the USC Heisman winner.

Another mistake I found was that USC is written as having 22 fair catches from kickoffs this game. The total number of kickoffs between the two teams was 13. Someone was definitely tired out of their mind while typing this thing up. Do the referees have penalty flags for the stats people? Errors seem to be coming from everyone. Now, to the real content…

The game was another one that felt a bit uncomfortable as the Michigan State took the lead early in the first quarter and kept it close at times. It makes one eager to criticize, but it’s quite the luxury of being able to complain about only having a 7 or 14 point lead in the fourth quarter. Those are Alabama dynasty kind of problems. Even in the Pete Carroll glory days, sometimes they’d be losing at the half. 

One particularly bad area was in the third quarter. The Trojans had them at a three-and-out. Somehow they turned that 4th-and-7 into a first down with penalties. First was the running into the kicker, then an illegal substitution penalty of all things. The renewed drive led to a touchdown. The immediate follow-up was not a score, but a fumble (not to be confused with the butt fumble) at their own 32, leading to another touchdown drive (which featured its own SC penalties). These are the kinds of mistakes that will cost you against a better opponent. Yet, at no point in the game, did it feel like the Spartans had control over the game. Being able to win soundly with a negative turnover against the best competition so far is not a bad place to be. 

Now on to Good/Badisms, because this post looks like it’s about to finish up later than this game did.

Good/Badisms

Good: The Trojans amassed 289 yards of rushing yards—more than their passing yards. It also helped their totals to not take a single sack

Good: Jayden Maiava’s top tier fakes and decision-making on read option plays

Good: 66.7% on third down conversions (8 of 12)

Bad: Failing a fourth down conversion, so now they’re not perfect anymore!

Bad x 3: The same few issues keep happening. The defensive backs let big plays through, the front seven let some runners slip past after contact, and penalties. I guess that’s part of this season’s identity at this point. The big question is if they can keep it together enough against the next three teams that will presumably be ranked (or perhaps even four if Nebraska gets through a very winnable set of games)

Good: USC was able to burn through half the fourth quarter on a touchdown drive to put the pressure back on the Spartans when they came within one score

CommBro Breaker

While USC is still #1 in average yards per play, they have dropped to a paltry 9.19 ypp. Not even getting a first down every play on average. It’s almost as low as the #2 in ypp (8.90 ypp), Florida State, and they just lost to an unranked team tonight. Who wants to be that?? We basically lost already.

Depressing Stat of the Week: The Trojans dropped even further in penalty yards per game (#125 to #129) in the nation for penalty yards a game (80.3 to 80.8)

Depressing Stat of the Week #2: USC is #110 in passes defended per game (but somehow #3 in the nation for interceptions)

Depressing Stat of the Week #3: USC is #98 in fumbles lost and also have lost 100% of their fumbles, making them dead last in that category. Should they start doing recovery drills? Kidding—I don’t think it’s that dire.

Depressing Stat of the Week #4: I’m only doing so many depressing stats because they’re still undefeated. Anyway, USC is #134 in punts per game. Who needs to be fired for this? They’re only punting once per game. How much are they paying Sam Johnson in NIL money to sit on the bench? PUT HIM IN. FREE SAM JOHNSON

Weird Stat of the Week: All three rushing touchdowns in this game weren’t from running backs. They got their revenge though, with two of them being tied for #2 in receptions this game

Uplifting Stat of the Week #1: USC is #3 in the nation in yards per run (7.06) and tied for #3 in rushing touchdowns (15)

Uplifting Stat of the Week #2: The Trojans have retained their spot of most sacks in the nation (16).