The Trojans came out and dominated in the debut performance of the Lincoln Riley era, burying the Rice Owls 66-14. T

he offense was electric all afternoon, hardly ever slowed down by the Rice defense, led by a stellar outing from Caleb Williams. The defense started slow, but ripped off three pick-6 and four total interceptions, putting the game away for good.

First Quarter

USC, 11:18: Jordan Addison 5 Yd pass from Caleb Williams, 7-0

Rice, 3:09: Ari Broussard 1 Yd run, 7-7

Second Quarter

USC, 14:13: Austin Jones 4 Yd Run, 14-7

USC, 10:49: Raleek Brown 14 Yd Run, 21-7

USC, 8:05: Calen Bullock 93 Yd Interception Return, 28-7

Rice, 1:35: Ari Broussard 2 Yd run, 28-14

USC, 0:00: Denis Lynch 25 Yd Field Goal, 31-14

Third Quarter

USC, 13:39: Shane Lee 40 Yd Interception return, 38-14

USC, 12:52: Ralen Goforth 31 Yd Interception Return, 45-14

USC, 9:12: Jordan Addison 3 Yd pass from Caleb Williams, 52-14

USC, 1:29: Austin Jones 28 Yd run, 59-14

Fourth Quarter

USC, 6:11: Darwin Barlow 2 Yd Run, 66-14

Though the Trojans separated early and ran away with this one on the dynamism of the offense, Calen Bullock’s 93-yard pick-6 stands out as the moment of the day for the Trojans.

Rice was on the verge of bringing the game within a single score again, threatening the Trojan defense in the red zone. Bullock’s timely play not only prevented the Owls from closing the gap, it blew USC’s lead wide open, giving the team a comfortable margin through the remainder of the game.

Given the noticeable struggles on the defensive side of the ball for the Trojans, Bullock’s pick-6 also came as a welcome momentum shift for the USC defense. It was a key moment for the confidence of the unit, though the problems on that side of the ball remain evident. The Trojans followed up with two more pick-6s to open the second half, but you gotta credit Bullock for opening the floodgates.

QB Caleb Williams

Williams performed just as advertised, dissecting the Rice defense with ease throughout the day. He was a near flawless 19-of-22 with 249 yards and 2 touchdowns, along with a 6 nifty carries for 68 yards (a block in the back penalty shaved 10 more yards off that total).

Williams’ accuracy is truly special -- his ball placement was practically perfect on nearly every throw at each level of the field. His presence of mind in the pocket also stood out, as did his decision-making, seemingly making the right read on most every snap. The arm talent the sophomore possesses was clear for everyone to see as well, evidenced on a number of off-platform dimes and frozen ropes toward the sideline.

Let’s be clear here -- this was no defensive test of any seriousness, but Williams performed exactly as you would want him to against this level of competition.

S Calen Bullock

Though the Trojan defense comes into the year with a dearth of proven talent on the defensive side of the ball, Bullock is one of the few players who entered the season with an expectation to shine. The sophomore safety did not disappoint in his first action of the fall, covering masterfully on the back end and delivering an impact performance as the backstop tackler.

Bullock had a monster series in the second quarter where he showed off the distinct facets of his skill set. He began with a 40-yard chase down of a Rice running back running free up the middle, accelerating to save the touchdown from behind despite being screened out of the play at first by the umpire. He followed with a strong run tackle to prevent a red zone first down, before snagging an interception on a third-down deflection, rocketing up the field in the opposite direction for the Trojans’ first defensive score of the year, as well as the first of his own career.

Bullock played a brilliant game from the back end of the defense, where playing assignment-sound football is critical to the job. He hardly made a mistake on the day, and made plenty of impact plays along the way.

There are a lot of potential choices to go with, but I’ll take Raleek Brown’s explosive second-quarter touchdown.

Brown’s potential is tantalizing, and everyone with their eyes on USC this season is watching to see what he does in his first season as part of Lincoln Riley’s offense. It didn’t take long for Brown to put his talents on display, ripping off a 14-yard touchdown on a play that looked like it should have been dead behind the line.

With a defensive end who must have been nearly 100 pounds heavier than him right in his face at the mesh point, Brown stuck his leg in the ground and exploded toward the sideline. With the defender ready to engulf him, Brown deployed a stiff arm on the much larger player and broke free, zooming towards the sideline before hitting his second gear en route to the end zone. It was a pure exhibition of individual ability and athleticism, and Brown would go on to have a few more of those before the day was over.

Whereas the Trojans' other offensive scores of the day were short runs blocked well or well-designed short passes, Brown’s touchdown play was a spectacular display of skill.

The Trojans offense was simply too talented and too well designed for the Owls to keep up with. At no point did it seem like the Owls had any capacity to slow down Riley’s offense. USC marched up and down the field with impunity.

Caleb Williams had all day to throw and was able to put the ball wherever he wanted; meanwhile, the Trojan running backs found lanes aplenty for sizable gains throughout the day. Though the pick-6s blew the game open, the USC offense’s dominance was palpable from the start. There was no way for Rice to handle the onslaught, and there was no other way for this game to end.

This game was always supposed to be a gimme for USC -- the blowout that ensued was certainly the kind of start this team wanted to get off to, but it wasn’t a shock. The offense is every bit as dynamic as could be hoped for -- that much is clear.

Despite the level of competition it went up against, the efficacy of the scheme, talent at the skill positions, competence of the offensive line and brilliance of Caleb Williams were all evident. The offseason expectations for the offense are now validated -- now it's up to them to maintain those expectations against much tougher competition.

On the other side of the ball, the Trojans must know that the front seven needs to be more consistent. There were flashes of good play up front, especially in the second half, but gap-discipline in the run game was questionable and the zone coverage from the linebacking corps seemed suspect more often than I would have liked. Of course, the opportunism of the defense was to be commended on the day, as they forced four turnovers and took three back to the house for scores. However, most of those plays could be attributed to serious mistakes by the offense and can’t be counted upon for duplication against better opposition.

There’s a lot to clean up still, and the rotations have yet to be settled on that side of the ball. All in all, this was more or less the best start USC could have hoped for. There’s clearly a lot to work on, but this was certainly the right foot to start out on. The energy and excitement on the team was evident from kickoff. When was the last time you watched USC handle a game this confidently from start to finish, even in the season openers? The vibes are immaculate for now -- we’ll see how they evolve after next week’s clash with a more physical Stanford squad.

- Raleek Brown suffered an injury at the end of a long catch-and-run in the fourth quarter. He was later brought into the locker room on a cart with his shoe off.

- Romello Height was hit with a targeting call in the second quarter and subsequently ejected. Height launched himself at the QB and made contact with the crown of his helmet to the offensive player’s facemask- although unfortunate, the call was probably correctly made. As the penalty occurred in the first half, height will be able to play next week.

-The 52-point margin of victory was USC's largest in a game since defeating San Jose State by 53 points in 2009 (56-3).

-The 66 points were USC's most since beating Washington State, 69-0 in 2008, and the most in a home game since beating UCLA 69-19 in 2005.

-USC's three interceptions returned for touchdowns tied a program single-game record, accomplished in 1982 at Arizona. One was an intercepted fumble returned for a score, which was categorized as an interception back then. The 3 pick-6s also ties a Pac-12 record.

-USC had 4 interceptions overall -- Calen Bullock, Shane Lee, Ralen Goforth and Xamarion Gordon -- marking the first time since 2017 vs. Cal the Trojans have had 4.

Passing

Caleb Williams: 19/22, 249 yards, 2 Touchdowns, 0 INT

Miller Moss 6/7, 81 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT

Rushing

Caleb Williams: 6 carries, 68 yards

Austin Jones: 4 carries, 48 yards, 2 TD

Raleek Brown: 6 carries, 36 yards, 1 TD

Travis Dye: 5 carries, 20 yards

Receiving

Tahj Washington: 4 rec, 65 yards

Jordan Addison: 5 rec, 54 yards, 2 TD

Mario Williams: 3 rec, 43 yards

Raleek Brown: 2 rec, 40 yards

Kyron Hudson: 2 rec, 34 yards