{"id":447933,"date":"2026-08-30T09:34:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T09:34:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/447933\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T09:34:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T09:34:25","slug":"16-true-freshmen-shine-in-uscs-42-26-win-over-san-jose-state","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/447933\/","title":{"rendered":"16 True Freshmen Shine In USC&#8217;s 42-26 Win Over San Jose State"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">The No. 14 USC Trojans advanced to 1-0 with a 42-26 win over San Jose State on Saturday, with 16 true freshmen contributing throughout the day.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Ahead of Saturday&#8217;s Week 0 game, head coach Lincoln Riley started five true freshmen on the depth chart. Riley started wide receivers Trent Mosley and Kayden Dixon-Wyatt, edge rusher Luke Wafle, tight end Mark Bowman and cornerback Elbert &#8220;Rock&#8221; Hill IV.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Starting quarterback Jayden Maiava was nearly perfect through three quarters of play, going 25-for-29 passing with 289 yards and three touchdowns. Maiava finished last season as the Big Ten\u2019s leading passer and entered this season as an early Heisman candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Mosley hauled in seven receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown, and Dixon-Wyatt added a touchdown pass. Notably, Mosley became the first USC true freshmen receiver to record over 100 receiving yards in his collegiate debut since Juju Smith-Schuster in 2014.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">After Maiava finished his time on the field, true freshman Jontez Williams took the field for the final quarter of play, finishing the day going 5-for-7 for 55 yards and one interception.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">On the ground, the Trojans running back corps added three touchdowns from running backs King Miller, Shahn Alston and Riley Wormley.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Defensively, Wafle finished with two tackles with .5 tackles-for-loss and one pass breakup as Hill also added a pair of tackles.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">Despite a 28-0 lead, San Jose State\u2019s Luke Weaver passed for 234 yards and threw fourth-quarter touchdown passes to\u00a0Jerry McClure and Jordan Anderson before rushing for a late score.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">The Trojans host Fresno State on Friday at 6 p.m. on FOX.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" use-external-image=\"false\" data-v-0a453225=\"\">The Associated Press contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"flex-shrink:0;height:42px;object-fit:contain;width:42px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1788082465_121_NCAAFootball.vresize.200.200.medium.2.png\" alt=\"College Football\" height=\"42\" width=\"42\"\/>CFB Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The No. 14 USC Trojans advanced to 1-0 with a 42-26 win over San Jose State on Saturday,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447934,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[48031,1321,11322,89573,177360,34423,177361,177363,88,90,89,177362,56427,13670],"class_list":["post-447933","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-big-ten","tag-college-football","tag-jayden-maiava","tag-jontez-williams","tag-kayden-dixon-wyatt","tag-king-miller","tag-mark-bowman","tag-riley-wormley","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-shahn-alston","tag-trent-mosley","tag-usc-trojans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447933","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447933"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447933\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}