Stats | Notes
LOS ANGELES -- Freshman Kedon Slovis passed for 377 yards and three touchdowns, and USC rolled to a 45-20 victory over No. 23 Stanford on Saturday night.
Slovis went 28 of 33 and set a school record for yards passing by a freshman in his first start as the Trojans (2-0, 1-0 Pac-12) rallied from an early 14-point deficit to beat the Cardinal (1-1, 0-1 Pac-12), which entered Saturday's game having won eight of the previous 12 meetings.
Slovis, the unheralded 18-year-old recruit from Arizona whose high school position coach was Kurt Warner, won his duel with fellow first-time starter Davis Mills, who went 22 of 36 for 237 yards for Stanford.
Cameron Scarlett rushed for 82 yards and a touchdown, but the Cardinal was outscored 42-3 in the final 43 minutes.
Both quarterbacks got into the spotlight because of injuries to the schools' chosen starters last week. USC's J.T. Daniels is out for the season after injuring his knee while being tackled on a blitz, while Stanford's K.J. Costello was ruled out for this week after a head hit.
Both passers got off to strong starts at the Coliseum, but only Slovis sustained it.
Mills completed his first four passes while the Cardinal opened with two long touchdown drives, capping the opener with his first career TD pass to Connor Wedington. Stanford jumped out to a 17-3 lead with a field goal after USC's Velus Jones fumbled a kickoff return, but the Trojans soon got rolling.
Colby Parkinson hauled in seven catches for 89 yards while Wedington added five receptions for 67 yards.
The Trojans went up 31-20 when Vavae Malepeai punched it in after Slovis hit Michael Pittman Jr. with a pinpoint 30-yard pass. After USC's Greg Johnson grabbed the game's first interception, Slovis marched the Trojans on another resilient TD drive capped by Malepeai again.