Positives and negatives from USC’s 49-30 victory over Louisiana

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On Saturday night, the USC football team defeated Louisiana 49-30 at the Coliseum. With the victory, the Trojans improved to 3-0 on the 2026 season.

What went well for USC, and what went poorly? Here are some positives and negatives from the game:

Positive: The freshmen

USC’s first five touchdowns of the game were all scored by true freshmen. As if that were not impressive enough, a freshman was also the team’s leading tackler on defense. In case you were not already aware, this 2026 recruiting class is special.

Positive: Mark Bowman

One of those star freshmen is tight end Mark Bowman, who had by far the best game of his college career to date. Bowman led the Trojans in receiving with six catches for 83 yards and two touchdowns.

Positive: The run game

With all due respect to Louisiana, the Cajuns do not exactly have a defensive line on the level of Big Ten teams. The Trojans were able to take advantage of this, running the ball for 214 yards on 5.4 yards per carry.

Positive/Negative: Jayden Maiava

Maiava had another great statistical performance, completing 19 of 29 passes for 261 yards and five touchdowns. However, he did throw his first interception of the season, and had another pass that should have been intercepted had the defender not dropped an easy pick.

Negative: Secondary depth

For the second time in three weeks, an opposing quarterback shredded up USC’s secondary in the fourth quarter after the backups came in. The Trojans have depth at several positions, but right now, defensive back does not appear to be one of them.

Negative: Penalties

USC committed eight penalties for 78 yards. Plain and simple, that is unacceptable.

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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Positives and negatives from USC’s 49-30 victory over Louisiana

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