See how PFF College graded USC's defense vs. Arizona

The surprise of the night last Saturday for USC was the play of sophomore linebacker Kana'i Mauga, as he starred in his first career start filling in for injured teammate Palaie Gaoteote.

It's fair to call Mauga's performance a surprise because he racked up more tackles (13) than he had all season prior (9) and almost as many he had all of last season (14) along with his first career sack, interception and forced fumble.

It's also appropriate to frame his night as exceeding expectations because, well, that's how he felt about it too.

"Absolutely. I absolutely surprised myself," Mauga said. "There was a big shoe to fill with Palaie getting hurt. That just meant I had to step up, and I [was] very excited and honored to have the opportunity."

Mauga had been a special teams stalwart for the Trojans while playing 67 defensive snaps through the first six games. He'd play 64 against the Wildcats while making a momentous impact in USC's 41-14 win.

"Shoot, I don't know," he said, when asked how he explained it all. "It was a crazy experience that Saturday. Things got done that night for sure."

The USC offense had come out very flat in the first quarter, going four drives without a first down, but Mauga gave the Trojans a spark when he forced a fumble on Arizona's Brian Casteel and set the hosts up at the Arizona 34. That led to a quick touchdown drive.

Then in the third quarter Mauga welcomed Wildcats backup QB Grant Gunnell into the game with an interception (set up by a pressure from linebacker John Houston) that gave USC possession at the Arizona 28 after a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Mauga was so excited for his first career pick that he hurled the football sky high afterward, drawing the flag.

"You know, a wise man once said emotion goes up, intelligence goes down. So that was a big part in that penalty. I take full responsibility for that," he said this week.

It's also easy to understand his excitement. Mauga waited his turn all of last season and the first half of this one, but he says he understood his time would come eventually.

"That goes to prove that anybody can step up and make things happen," he said.

Now, he just has to do it again, as Gaoteote remains out this week with his injured ankle.

And it's likely that Mauga's role will expand for weeks to come, as USC coach Clay Helton indicated it may be a while until Gaoteote is at full strength even if he is available to play through the injury in future weeks.

"When you have a high-ankle sprain like EA does, obviously it's hard to come back and get all the snaps, especially with the teams we're playing down the stretch here. They're all [high volume] teams," Helton said. "... I would anticipate Kana'i having an opportunity to continue to be productive when EA comes back. We always say put your resume on tape, and he produced a great resume [Saturday]."

See how PFF College graded USC's defensive performance overall last weekend as we take our weekly deep dive into the advanced data:

RELATED: See our deep dive into the PFF College data for the USC offense

CONTNUED BELOW

**To keep reading, take advantage of our FREE TRIAL through Dec. 7 to get full premium access to more stories like this and all of our exclusive content as we cover USC football and recruiting from all angles. Use promo code FREEUSC at sign-up.**

--> New users follow this link to activate the free trial

--> Past subscribers sign in and start here