LOS ANGELES—It was certainly BIG 10 weather-a deluge of rain at the Coliseum on Saturday, November 15. As the No. 17 USC Trojans rallied from fourteen points down to defeat the No. 21 Iowa Hawkeyes 26-21.
Makai Lemon made 10 catches for 153 yards and a second-half touchdown, and No. 17 USC Football scored 19 unanswered points to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive.
Jayden Maiava passed for 254 yards and Bryan Jackson rushed for two touchdowns for the Trojans (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten), who faced their largest deficit of the season when they trailed 21-7.
USC mounted five consecutive scoring drives, capped by Jackson’s go-ahead TD run with 13:36 to play.
Mark Gronowski threw a touchdown pass, made a TD run and caught a scoring pass during the first half, but his Hawkeyes (6-4, 4-3) got shut out in the second half of another heartbreaking loss to a ranked team.
Iowa had one final drive, advancing to the USC 29 with 1:59 to play. The Trojans were able to run out the clock after an Iowa assistant coach was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct with 1:25 left.
At the rain-soaked Coliseum, it was the wettest game in decades. USC keeps their College Football Playoff hopes alive in this critical victory.
The Hawkeyes appeared to handle it better early on, with receiver Reece Vander Zee’s 5-yard TD pass to Gronowski on a picture-perfect version of the Philly Special highlighting a strong first half.
All season; Lemon had made the big plays whenever the Trojans’ offense needed him. But no performance from its top wideout was bigger than Saturday, as Lemon came alive in the second half.
Lemon had 10 catches for 153 yards, none bigger than the touchdown he scored in the third quarter to finally turn the tide in a game that seemed to be headed in the other direction before that.
Next week, USC travels to Eugene, Oregon to face the Oregon Ducks.
