Live Score Updates: USC Trojans Trail Illinois Fighting Illini Early on the Road

All eyes will be on the Trojans with FOX’s Big Noon Kickoff set to take place at Illinois. This comes a week after USC defeated Michigan State 45-31 at home in an 8:00 p.m. kickoff to improve to 4-0. 

Quarterback Jayden Maiava has been superb this season. The Trojans signal-caller is the only Division I player, FBS or FCS, in the last 30 years to record at least 1,200 passing yards, four rushing touchdowns, a 70.0 completion percentage and zero interceptions through four games. 

His top target, receiver Makai Lemon, leads the conference in receiving yards, is tied for first in receptions and tied for second in touchdowns and yards per catch. Freshman Tanook Hines has shown a progression in every game and caught his first career touchdown last week. 

Tight ends Lake McRee and Walker Lyons have become a big part of the offense, with 15 receptions for 257 yards and three touchdowns between the two of them. 

The offensive line has kept Maiava upright, only allowing one sack this season. They have paved the way for running backs Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders, establishing a well-balanced attack on offense. USC ranks first in the country in yards per play and have totaled more than 500 yards of offense in three games this season. 

Defensively, the Trojans can get after the quarterback, they lead the country in sacks. And most of the time they are doing it with just a four man rush. 

Defensive end Braylan Shelby leads the way with 3.5, followed by linebacker Eric Gentry with three and defensive end Kameryn Crawford with 2.5. 

Safety Bishop Fitzgerald bad recorded three interceptions, but the key for the secondary will be eliminating the big play caused by communication issues and letting a receiver run wide-open down the field. Penalties have also been an issue and allowed teams to keep drives alive and remain the game. 

Illinois Fighting Illini

The Fighting Illini are coming off an ugly 63-10 loss to Indiana, which dropped them from No. 9 to No. 23 in the latest AP Poll. 

But that was last week, Saturday is a whole new ball game and they will be in front of their home crowd this week. 

But they have had their struggles. Through four games, Illinois has given up 16 sacks and will face their toughest test with the Trojans in town. 

Quarterback Luke Altmyer is one of the top quarterbacks in the Big Ten, but they will need more out of their running game this week to take some of the pressure off. Last week, the Fighting Illini only had two rushing yards, versus 312 from Indiana. 

Road Test

Up until their week 3 victory at Purdue, the Trojans had been winless in the Central and Eastern Time Zone since 2012. 

This week will be a great opportunity to see if the program has taken a turn and is ready to make some noise in the Big Ten.