Matt Barkley completed 32 of his 39 passing attempts, passing for a now USC record 468 yards, and tossed four touchdowns to help lead the Trojans past the Arizona Wildcats, 48-41.
The game was not pretty on the defensive side for USC as they allowed Nick Foles and the Arizona offense have 554 yards on offense, most against the Trojans this season. But in the end, USC’s offense proved to be the difference as they destroyed Arizona’s defense accumulating 582 yards on total offense.
Robert Woods led the high-scoring Trojan offense catching 14 receptions from Barkley for 255 yards and two touchdowns. The USC record for most receiving yards in a game was 260 by Jay Soward in 1996.
Woods now has 747 receiving yards for the season and has had 100+ receiving yards in a game four of the five games he’s played.
The game was seemingly over in the third quarter when USC’s opening drive to begin the second half resulted in a Barkley-Woods touchdown 22 yard touchdown pass that put the Trojans ahead 34-12.
However, Foles completed 12 of his 13 passes in the third quarter and tossed two touchdowns as he cut into USC’s large lead to a touchdown by the end of the quarter.
With the Trojans defense collapsing, the offense kept rolling on the Wildcats defense with fourth quarter touchdowns by Barkley, from a 46-yard pass to Lee to set up the touchdown, and Curtis McNeal, who ran it in from nine yards.
The Wildcats kept it close with a minute remaining after scoring a touchdown to close the game at 48-41, but TJ McDonald caught the onside kick attempt to secure the Trojans their fourth victory of the season.
NEXT: USC will have its bye-week next week and will face the California Golden Bears at AT&T Park On Friday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m PT.