No. 2 Ohio State lost to USC 30-18 on Saturday night, Oct. 31, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, in the Buckeyes’ first game without injured starting quarterback Julian Sayin, The Associated Press reported. Jayden Maiava passed for 222 yards and a touchdown, and King Miller and Waymond Jordan rushed for scores as the Trojans (7-2, 4-2 Big Ten) handed Ohio State (6-2, 4-1) its second loss of the season.
The game turned on its second play. Freshman Trent Mosley caught a pass behind the line of scrimmage and sprinted 69 yards for a touchdown — the longest play Ohio State’s defense had allowed all season, according to The Associated Press. Mosley finished with five receptions for 101 yards, and USC built a 20-9 halftime lead.
True freshman Luke Fahey, starting in place of Sayin — who injured his throwing arm in the Oct. 17 win at Indiana — completed 21 of 38 passes for 260 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions, The Associated Press reported. But Ohio State’s first five drives produced 192 yards and only three field goals, including a trip that reached the USC 1-yard line shortly before halftime and still ended in three points.
The Buckeyes’ defense, meanwhile, allowed 30 points in a game for the first time since a 32-31 loss to Oregon in 2024, Eleven Warriors reported. A second-half fumble by Isaiah West set up USC’s decisive push: Mark Bowman turned a catch into a 70-yard gain and Miller scored to make it 27-9.
Ohio State finally reached the end zone with 2:12 remaining, when Fahey found Jeremiah Smith on a 1-yard touchdown catch, The Associated Press reported. Bo Jackson rushed for 121 yards and Smith caught 10 passes for 83 yards, and the Buckeyes outgained USC 464 yards in total offense — but the two-point conversion failed, USC recovered the onside kick, and the Trojans added their third field goal with 1:46 left.
The loss was Ohio State’s fifth straight against USC at the Coliseum, where the Buckeyes have not beaten the Trojans since 1946, Eleven Warriors reported. It also leaves Ohio State with two losses before November for the first time since 2011, according to The Associated Press, and means the Buckeyes will likely need to go unbeaten in November to reach the College Football Playoff and the Big Ten championship game, Eleven Warriors reported.
What happens next brings no breather: Ohio State hosts Oregon on Saturday, Nov. 7, with its playoff margin for error effectively gone.
Photo: Lectrician2, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons