USC uses big second half to overwhelm Wisconsin in Big Ten home opener

Saturday was a tale of two halves for the USC football team. Fortunately, the good overshadowed the bad in a 38-21 win against Wisconsin.

After playing a terrible first half for the second straight week, a half that saw head coach Lincoln Riley's team give the ball away three times, USC trailed 21-10 at the break causing some boobirds to come out at the Coliseum. Fortunately, though the Trojans got their act together after the break to overwhelm the undermanned Badgers. Here are some rapid reactions to the first Big Ten win in USC football history.

USC QB Miller Moss continues to show his toughness

For the second week in a row, the USC offensive line allowed starting QB Miller Moss to be battered and bruised by the opposing defense. However, each time he took a big shot, the junior signal caller answered the bell and made game-changing plays.

For the game, Moss was 30-45 passing for 308 yards and 3 TDs through the air with one pick. What's more, he showed some unexpected illusiveness by making two defenders miss as he spun his way into the endzone on the ground to put the Trojans up 31-21.

The difference in this game was the QB play. While Moss was excellent, Wisconsin's backup QB Braedyn Locke was unable to lift his team to the upset in the second half. Making his first start of the season, Locke was just 13-26 passing for 180 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception (which was returned for a score by USC's Mason Cobb after bouncing off of two players).

At some point, if the USC offensive line doesn't improve, Moss might not get up from one of the big shots that he seems to take several times per game. But so far this season, he's proven to be one of the toughest QBs in the country and his courage in the pocket was the main difference in this win.

USC pitches a second-half shutout on defense

In the first half, it looked as if the loss to Michigan might beat the Trojans a second time. USC looked lethargic and unmotivated, especially on defense.

Wisconsin got TDs of 63 and 18 yards prior to the break and on several other plays, USC's tackling was suspect. Certainly, fans had to be having flashbacks to last week's defensive lapses against the Wolverines when three huge runs spelled doom.

In the second half, safety Kamari Ramsey set the tone with huge hits and timely stops (one coming on a critical fourth down attempt) to thwart a Wisconsin scoring opportunity. He finished the day with only three tackles but he was the catalyst for the Trojan's turnaround in the second half.

USC's top receiver came up big while Wisconsin's was a no-show

On a day when neither team ran the ball all that well, it was the USC passing game that carried the day. Specifically, USC's talented receiving corps was able to make far more plays than the limited Wisconsin receivers.

One big difference was how each team's best wide receiver played. For USC, Ja'Kobi Lane hauled in 10 passes for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Several of his catches were of the difficult, if not spectacular, variety including a critical third-down catch along the sidelines to keep an eventual TD drive headed toward the end zone in the third quarter.

Meanwhile, the only Wisconsin Badger to enter Saturday's game with over 100 yards receiving, Will Pauling was held to two catches for just 11 yards. In fact, only one of his receptions went for positive yards.

Ultimately, most believed that the Trojans had too much firepower for Wisconsin to keep pace with and that proved to be the case. The difference in the receiving corps in this game was massive and that allowed the Trojans to overcome a slow start to win by three scores.

USC can't be as sloppy as it was in the first half against better teams

While this win was nice, the reality that USC must face this week is that it can't be as sloppy as it was in the first half when it plays tougher competition down the road. Three first-half turnovers staked Wisconsin to a double-digit halftime lead and should that happen against a team like Penn State or Notre Dame, the Trojans may not survive.

Wisconsin's defensive line gave USC fits until the Badgers wore down

Lincoln Riley teams aren't known for having ball-control offenses. However, that was a key component of today's game.

When the Badgers' defense was fresh, it gave the Trojan offensive line fits. Though Moss was sacked only once on the day, Wisconsin made his life tough in the first three quarters of the game. However, as the second half unfolded, it appeared that the Badger pass rushers ran out of steam.

USC ran over 80 plays and held the football for a whopping 40:07. Meanwhile, Wisconsin had the football for just 19:53.

It is rare for a team that throws 45 passes to dominate the time of possession in a game but that's what happened this afternoon. Because Wisconsin had some quick-strike scores in the first half and because the Badgers couldn't get the offense going in the second half, USC owned the football and wore down a defensive line that was giving the Trojan O-line fits for much of the game.