The lowdown: The Trojans got out to a great start, leading 14-3 after the game’s opening quarter on the back of an efficient offense built around a game plan appearing to make life easier for true freshman quarterback JT Daniels. He was 12-of-18, leading USC on two drives capped off with running touchdowns. But the Trojans seemingly went away from the short stuff, Texas adjusted and things started going awry in the second quarter.
The Longhorns scored on a 47-yard touchdown pass to Lil’Jordan Humphrey early in the second quarter and wouldn’t look back. They blew up a Stephen Carr toss sweep on fourth down at the one-yard line, survived a controversial near-safety and took a 16-14 lead to halftime on a field goal as time expired.