USC exorcises its Big Ten road demons by beating Purdue to go to 3-0

West Lafayette, ind. – Three long hours after his team evacuated the land for a lightning delay, coach Lincoln Riley finally left the Tunnel of the Ross-Adde stadium, knowing all hope of a transparent start to the USC road slate was probably carried away by the rain.

Nothing on the first USC tour through the Big Ten Country last season went well, while the Trojan horses confusing the confusing tracks of the fourth quarter in the four inclinations of the conference road. So before their second foray into the conference, Riley and his staff had decided to make the trips of the season as transparent as possible.

But Mother Nature had dismissed these plans even before the first USC road match begins. Instead, the rain fell into sheets and lightning is underpinned in the region, leaving the Trojan horses lying in the small wardrobe visiting the Ross-Adde stadium for hours before kick-off, doing everything they could to stay free and remain nourished.

It was hardly the circumstances Riley had hoped, but after having failed so often on the road a season ago, his Trojan horses released the rain, overcome the elements and held hard in the fourth quarter to beat Purdue 33-17.

“It’s the nature of the road,” said Riley. “You have to resist it.”

The USC should survive not only in Purdue, but also to its own interior demons. He marked the first victory outside the west since 2012 for the USC, which had lost 14 consecutive games in the time zones of the East and the Center. (This victory, against Syracuse in New Jersey, was also, curiously, the latest recorded weather period of the Trojans.)

Their first trip through the Big Ten had left them even heavier luggage to transport. Their four losses on the conference road a year ago had come more and more heartbreaking, from a blocked basket to Maryland to a long -term Minnesota goal line that set up a touchdown against Michigan. Thus, when Ryon Sayeri missed a basket of land in the fourth quarter of the amount which would have stored Purdue, the faithful of Troy naturally retained their breath.

It was the kind of scenario that could have sent the trojans in a spiral a season. Purdue hit a big pass, then another. The USC was called to a offside penalty, then it was reported for shaking the smuggler, his ninth and 10th penalties of the night.

The USC quarter-Arrière, Jayden Maiava, launches Purdue in the second half of a 33-17 Trojans victory.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

Purdue would go to the line of the 14 yards of the USC, with a chance to reduce the advance of the Trojans to a single score. But while those who watch could have obtained flashbacks, Riley said he was convinced that his team was “ready for the moment”.

“They didn’t start,” he said. “We stayed mentally.

Bishop Fitzgerald was ready as soon as he saw Purdue put in place in second position. Senior security remembered the same game in the red training zone earlier in the week. So when he saw him unfold, he dived for his second interception of the night.

“I get attached to my training,” said Fitzgerald, “and I let the game come to me.”

The choice, one of the three at night for the USC, put the driver drivers of Bon. But it was the second interception of the Trojans that really turned the game. Purdue had led to a territory similar to the end of the third quarter, down 23-10, when the defensive platform of the USC, Devan Thompkins, made a pass to the quarter of the quarter-arre of Purdue Ryan Browne.

He unexpectedly fell into the outstretched arms of the nose plate with 360 pounds Jamaal Jarrett, who took off in the opposite direction. He has not stopped running for 70 meters, until he strikes Paydirt.

“I don’t even remember how the play happened,” said Jarrett afterwards. “I just saw the ball fall and I said:” Oh snap, guy. “”

The two rooms would make all the difference for the USC, one day when its offense stagnated in the sections. The quarter-Arrière Jayden Maiava finished with 282 yards to go with a precipitated touch, but 222 of these yards occurred seven explosive games of the Trojan’s pass attack. He only completed 10 of his 21 other throws for 60 yards.

The racing game was also slow to start. But finally, Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders would find room, ending with a combined record of 152 yards.

The pair of back was particularly critical of the last property of Trojans, while the USC worked to chew the clock. His last two journeys in the fourth quarter have taken more than 10 minutes.

“I felt as if we were in total control of the game all the time and that we have never abandoned this,” said Riley. “Which, I think, was a very good first step.”

For a while on Saturday, it was not clear when the match would start at all. The USC and Purdue were released for warm -ups before lightning blows in the region were delaying the game. The players spent the next three hours killing time, while the coaches tried to keep them calm and remind them of staying away.

“Mentally,” said Riley, “they really stayed there all the time.”

It seemed like this out of the door. Maivaa drew its very first depth on the ground, striking Ja’kobi Lane in a perfect stride for a gain of 59 yards. Two games later, he struck Makai Lemon on the run for another explosive game of 21 yards.

The USC wide receiver, Ja’kobi Lane, takes a plug in front of the Purdue Hudauri Hines in the second half on Saturday.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

The Trojans were satisfied with a basket on this first trip, but Maiava struck three other games of more than 20 yards before hitting a touch on their next possession. At the end of the first quarter, he already had 147 yards.

Purdue, whose attacking coordinator passed the two previous seasons at the USC, did not have much trouble moving the ball at the start either.

He fought together four big games to reach the red zone at the first quarter, only for Fitzgerald to intercept a pass in the goals area. However, it took a fluid sequence so that the boilermakers finally strike it. A return pass from the former Wideout Michael Jackson III Troy was tilted by the USC secondary, Eric Gentry, but because he was rejected, Browne was able to collect it and sprint 26 yards for the score.

It was a particularly strange sequence, in the middle of an particularly unusual afternoon. But anyway, USC left West Lafayette with a victory on the road in Big Ten, which, by all measure, was worth waiting.