{"id":64554,"date":"2018-09-01T11:47:46","date_gmt":"2018-09-01T18:47:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=64554"},"modified":"2018-09-01T23:13:08","modified_gmt":"2018-09-02T06:13:08","slug":"usc-vs-unlv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/?p=64554","title":{"rendered":"USC Finishes off UNLV, 43-21"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

J.T. Daniels takes over the helm of the Trojans. (Photo by Duane Barker)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Tim Peterson<\/p>\n

(Los Angeles) – Freshman JT Daniels, in his first college career game, shook off a slow start to throw for 282 yards and a touchdown to lead USC to a 43-21 victory over UNLV Saturday before 58,708 at the LA Memorial Coliseum.<\/p>\n

Daniels completed 22 of 35 in the process. He missed a couple receivers and was hurt by some dropped balls early but seemed to find his groove as the game went on.<\/p>\n

A pair of Chase McGrath field goals from 46 and 38 yards gave USC a 6-0 lead in the first quarter. But Lexington Thomas broke off a 71-yard touchdown on a sweep as the Rebels took a 7-6 lead with 2:37 left in the quarter.<\/p>\n

UNLV needed just two plays to go 75 yards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Aca Cedric Ware got the start at tailback for USC. (Photo by Duane Barker)<\/p><\/div>\n

McGrath booted a 29-yard field goal early in the second quarter as the Trojans had to settle for three again after driving 81 yards on 12 plays to take a 9-7 lead.<\/p>\n

However on the ensuing possession UNLV went 75 yards on 7 plays in a drive that featured a fake punt that resulted in a first down. Armani Rogers hit Kendal Keys on a 31-yard touchdown pass to cap it and put the Rebels up 14-9 with 10:32 remaining in the second quarter.<\/p>\n

On the next possession a long Velus Jones kickoff return put USC in scoring position at the UNLV 25. But the drive stalled and again Clay Helton called on McGrath who delivered with a 47-yard boot that split the uprights for his fourth of the day.<\/p>\n

Later in the quarter, a 40-yard Stephen Carr run set up a two-yard touchdown blast by Vavae Malepeai with 1:03 left to give the Trojans a 19-14 lead. USC marched 79 yards in 8 plays.<\/p>\n

USC took the 19-14 lead into the break.<\/p>\n

Daniels had completed 13 of 23 for 115 yards in the first half. Amon-Ra St. Brown, his go to guy at Mater Dei as well, caught six passes for 55 yards. Carr had seven carries for 51 yards.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Amon-Ra St. Brown was Daniels favorite target on the afternoon. (Photo by Duane Barker)<\/p><\/div>\n

Thomas rushed for 87 yards on six tries for UNLV in the first half.<\/p>\n

Both teams punted twice in the third quarter.<\/p>\n

On the first play of the fourth quarter Daniels hit St. Brown in stride for a 43-yard touchdown pass to extend the USC lead to 26-14. The Trojans used four plays to go 69 yards.<\/p>\n

After UNLV was forced to punt the Trojans cashed in again. Aca Cedric Ware capped a 59-yard drive with a 15-yard run and the advantage was extended to 33-14.<\/p>\n

The Rebels responded with a five-yard touchdown strike from Armani Rogers to Giovanni Fauolo to cap a 75 yard drive to cut the lead to 33-21 with 8:06 left.<\/p>\n

The Trojans quickly wrapped it up though with another McGrath field goal from 36 yards out – his fifth of the game – and a 20-yard touchdown run by Malepeai.<\/p>\n

Ware led the USC rushing attack with 100 yards on 10 carries and Carr added 54 on nine. Malepeai finished with 47 yards to go along with his two scores.<\/p>\n

St. Brown reeled in 7 receptions for 98 yards and a touchdown. Thomas rushed for 136 yards for the Rebels and Rogers ran for 82 yards on 18 carries and passed for 97 and two scores but it wasn’t nearly enough.<\/p>\n

Next up for USC is a date at Stanford next Saturday.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tim Peterson (Los Angeles) – Freshman JT Daniels, in his first college career game, shook off a slow start to throw for 282 yards and a touchdown to lead USC to a 43-21 victory over UNLV Saturday before 58,708 at the LA Memorial Coliseum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[871],"tags":[12107,9444,8137],"class_list":["post-64554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college","tag-la-memorial-coliseum","tag-unlv-football","tag-usc-football"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64554"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64554\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64597,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64554\/revisions\/64597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/midvalleysports.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}