Wisconsin defense smothers No. 16 USC 24-7 for second ranked win of the season

Wisconsin shook off a loss at UCLA by taking apart No. 16 USC 24-7 Saturday night at Camp Randall Stadium. The Badgers sacked Jayden Maiava five times, intercepted him twice and held the Trojans to 241 total yards. According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, that is USC's lowest output of the season by more than 100 yards.

The win moves Wisconsin to 5-2 and 3-1 in the Big Ten. Paired with the September win at Penn State, it gives the Badgers two victories over ranked opponents in one season for the first time since 2019, the Journal Sentinel noted. The Badgers have now won six straight at home in front of a season-high announced crowd of 71,750. Yahoo Sports reported that USC finished with minus-17 rushing yards and that, per the NBC broadcast, the seven points were the fewest ever scored by a Lincoln Riley team.

Sebastian Cheeks led the pass rush with 2 1/2 sacks, which doubled his season total, and Mason Posa added 1 1/2. Cornerback Bryce West and safety Cairo Skanes picked off Maiava in the first quarter. Wisconsin got only a Gavin Lahm field goal out of those two takeaways, and Lahm later pushed a 51-yard try wide right. The game turned on the possessions just before and just after halftime. Over those two drives the Badgers ran 23 plays for 150 yards, took 13 1/2 minutes off the clock and scored 14 points. Former Trojan Bryan Jackson ran in from 5 yards out to make it 10-7 late in the second quarter. The Associated Press recap credited Junior Poyser with blocking a 44-yard USC field goal attempt late in the third quarter.

The offense won without passing. Quarterback Colton Joseph threw for only 58 yards on 12-of-14 passing. Abu Sama carried 17 times for 71 yards, and the running backs had 24 carries a week after getting 12 at UCLA. Wisconsin also changed its offensive line for the third straight game, starting Barrett Nelson at right guard. "Pretty ain't pretty, but that's who we are," coach Luke Fickell said on NBC, as Yahoo Sports reported.

For USC it was a second loss in four weeks. Late in the game the Trojans had a fake field goal wiped out by a delay-of-game penalty, then came up short on a 58-yard attempt.

What it means for next week

Wisconsin goes to No. 15 Iowa on Saturday, Oct. 31, on Fox. That makes three straight games against ranked teams. The Badgers are 2-1 in that stretch so far: they beat USC, lost 17-7 at UCLA and won 24-20 at Penn State earlier. They have scored 24 points or fewer in four of their last five games, so a defense that has given up 7 and 3 points in two of its last three home games is still doing most of the work.

USC drops to 6-2 and returns home to face No. 3 Ohio State the same day on NBC. The Trojans went 3-1 over their previous four games but gave up 41 to Oregon in the loss, and Saturday's game raises real questions about their offensive line. On this site's board, Ohio State is favored at -292 on Novig, which works out to $34.25 profit per $100. USC is +233, or $233 per $100. Novig is the only one of the board's two tracked venues showing a moneyline right now, so its numbers are the best available, and there is no gap between venues to measure yet.