Players Mentioned
USC Football Defeats Georgia Southern 59-20: Postgame Notes & Quotes
September 06, 2025 | Football
USC Postgame Notes
- With the 59-20 victory for USC, the Trojans improve to 2-0 on the season and Georgia State moves to 0-2.
- USC head coach Lincoln Riley is undefeated (37-0) when his teams hold opponents to 20 points or fewer.
- Since coming to USC in 2022, Lincoln Riley has not lost a game in the opening two weeks of a season.
- USC's 59 points were the most scored against Georgia Southern since Florida scored 62 points against the Eagles in 1996.
- USC's 755 total yards were the most in a single game for a Trojan team dating back to at least 1972 when such records are available.
- USC's 132 points scored in the first two games of 2025 (73 versus Missouri State and 59 versus Georgia Southern) are the most since 2005, when USC scored 133 points in its first two games (63 versus Hawai'i and 70 versus Arkansas).
- The Trojans had 446 passing yards versus the Eagles, the most for a USC team since Sept. 2, 2023 against Nevada (453 yards), and the fourth most in a game during the Lincoln Riley era.
- USC had 309 rushing yards in the game, the most for a USC team since Nov. 3, 2018 against Oregon State (332 yards).
- QB Jayden Maiava's 4 passing TDs matched his career high set last year against Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl.
- Maiava's 412 passing yards were a career single-game high for the redshirt-junior, surpassing his previous career high of 360 yards against Notre Dame on Nov. 30, 2024.
- The 412 passing yards by Maiava were the most for a USC quarterback since Caleb Williams' 462 passing yards on Jan. 2, 2023 against Tulane.
- WR Makai Lemon's 74-yard TD reception with 2:25 left in the first quarter was the longest reception of his career. It was the longest TD reception for a Trojan since WR Brendan Rice's 74-yard TD catch on Nov. 18, 2023 versus UCLA.
- In the drive prior to his career-long reception, Lemon had a 62-yard TD reception with 6:53 left in the first quar- ter.
- Lemon came into Saturday's game with three career TDs and had never had a game with multiple TDs prior to his two-TD performance against Georgia Southern tonight.
- Lemon's 158 receiving yards were a single-game career high for the junior receiver. His previous career high was 134 yards against Rutgers on Oct. 25, 2024.
- Lemon's 158 receiving yards were the most by a Trojan receiver since WR Brenden Rice's 174 yards against Tulane on Jan. 2, 2023.
- With a 12-yard TD reception in the first quarter, WR Ja'Kobi Lane scored USC's first points of the day and recorded his first TD of the season. It was the 15th TD of the junior receiver's career.
- WR Zacharyus Williams' 61-yard catch in the third quarter was the longest of his career.
- RB Waymond Jordan broke a 36-yard TD run with 10:49 in the second quarter. Jordan, who transferred to USC this year after being named the 2024 NJCAA DI Offensive Player of the Year and the JUCO Weekly Trophy recipient (presented to the best JUCO Player in America), now has TD in each of his first two games as a Trojan.
- Jordan finished the game with 167 yards rushing, the most by a Trojan since RB Keaontay Ingram's 204 rushing yards against Arizona on Oct. 30, 2021.
- CB DeCarlos Nicholson's INT in the first quarter was the first of the redshirt senior's career.
- After Nicholson's INT on Saturday, the USC defense now has three INTs and four takeaways overall through two games.
- The USC defense posted 8 TFLs and 4 sacks against Georgia Southern. The Trojans had 13 TFLs and 5 sacks last week against Missouri State for a total of 21 TFLs and 9 sacks through two games. USC had a total of 53 TFLs and 21 sacks in 2024.
- LB Eric Gentry led the USC defense with 10 solo tackles, including 2 for a loss of 5 yards (with 1 sack for minus 4 yards).
- DE Anthony Lucas recorded 2 sacks versus the Eagles, the first 2 sacks of the junior defensive lineman's career.
- The punt by USC's P Sam Johnson at the start of the second quarter was the first punt of the season for USC.
USC Postgame Quotes
HEAD COACH LINCOLN RILEY
Opening statement:
"I am excited about the win. We had opportunities to really rise, and there are definitely built a lot of positives to take out of it again, being able to play a lot of different guys making some explosive plays on both sides of the ball. Obviously, there are several things that we have to clean up with a couple of errors. I thought, especially with the penalties, we have to be better as a football team. We have to be more disciplined as a football team, so we challenged the guys that they have to play much cleaner and they did that in the second half. A lot of good things, and a lot to correct. I'm excited to get into Big Ten play now and get a chance to get on the road. The team is very much looking forward to that opportunity."
On Waymond Jordan's performance:
"This is kind of the first adversity that he's had here. He was disappointed about [the fumble], but he is typically very responsible when he carries the ball. I didn't have a problem showing the confidence in him to come back. And I thought all of our guys on the sideline were making sure that he didn't get down and that he was just ready to go, and he came back. I think that shows, and I know he's new here, but he's played a lot of ball. He's played a lot of college football, so I don't think it fazed him."
On the number of big plays from the team tonight:
"It's always a big part of the game, right? Teams that win explosive play battles typically win games. And so, it's good. We're making some big plays on all sides, which is great. It doesn't mean it'll always be like that. That's where we're looking to also play clean and very efficiently as well. But seeing some explosive plays like these two guys made up here tonight, obviously it takes some of the pressure off, just the play-to-play execution. We want that to get better, too. But we're certainly not disappointed about the big plays."
On King Miller's performance:
"I told you guys, he pumps a big run every day; it's what he does. He's been fantastic."
On starting OL Micah Banuelos:
"It was an inside decision there, so we'll keep that at that. Micah did a good job and he played really well. He handled the moment, he's prepared and he's really improved a lot. He's definitely been one of the guys in our program that has stayed with it, even though he's had injuries. He hasn't found the lineup kind of early in his career, and he's had a lot of perseverance, which has been cool to see."
On the variety of scoring so far this season:
"It's good to see the contributions from different places. One of them was a defensive player, too. We've shown some of the depth that we've worked hard to establish here. It's a long season, there's going to be a lot of dif- ferent things that are going to happen, and having players on both sides of the ball that you can rely on, having guys that are developing behind the scenes. Even though they may not be playing a million reps right now, we're going to need them at some point, whether it's mid season, end of season, next season, whatever it's going to be. I think it shows the health of this program."
On what it means to play a lot of players early in the season:
"It's invaluable. You look at the contrast to our start last year, and again, the schedules are what they are. But having the opportunity to see that early and evaluate some of these guys is great. It's great for just locker room morale because, like I said last week, there's so many people that need to contribute on a week-to-week basis to get a football team ready to play at a high level. The general public doesn't see a lot of that. It's been good. I think just the confidence of some of our young guys, and I think the confidence of us as coaches to be willing to put them into games or to give them opportunities, especially as we get down the line into some no bigger games and road environments and all that. That's exciting for the locker room. The staff's excited to coach these guys right now, and they've responded well through two weeks."
On how to improve defensively:
"I told the guys last night, there are plays that we made last week and probably some this week, if we're not cleaner when we play more talented teams, the results aren't going to look like that. We have to look at it through the lens of, did we do our best? We are still a long way off from our best defensively, we have to eliminate the penalties. That's the number one thing that showed up. Offensively, we had a couple of drives stall out and we had a fumble. There were a couple things that we didn't execute very well. I'm not as locked in on the results, and I have a sense of how good this team can play. As coaches, we're trying to push them and tell them that we don't pay attention to scoreboard stats. It wasn't our best, we need to continue to do what we need to do to get better."
On Jahkeem Stewart's return from injury:
"He saw some active plays, and I'm sure there's a little bit of rust. For him, as you said it's been a long time, he's a really talented guy. I think it's gonna impact our defense very positively here, this year and in the future."
On Ja'Kobi's one handed catches:
"He made a good catch. We kind of threw it behind. It's not something we necessarily want to have. He is unique at it. It's not something we stress, because even if you're very good at it, like he is, no matter who you are, you're still going to catch at a higher percentage when you catch with two hands versus one. At times at receiver, there's plays where that's the only way that you're going to get it, and that's great, but it's not something that you want to rely on. We want the high percentage. The great highlight was awesome; it was a phenomenal catch. But pushing to make sure that's like only possible way we're going to catch it."
On what's working well so far this season in the run game:
"Zach Hanson (Assistant Head Coach for Offense / Offensive Line Coach) has done a great job. I think our O-Line is very prepared right now. I think the experienced tight end group showed some great examples of great blocking down the field. Our running backs are obviously making some things happen in the open field. I think it's a result of going against our D-Line and our defense all those days through camp and spring; it was a challenge. You've truly seen iron sharpening iron."
On Anthony Lucas' journey:
"It's good for him for a few of those to happen. He's been really, really close, and sometimes when something like that doesn't happen, you can start chasing it. When you do that, you don't play as well, sometimes you miss some of the opportunities that you would have had if you just trusted it. So that was our big message to him coming into this game. Trust it and the production will come. You're a good enough player, and you're going to impact the game. We got enough coverage and guys around, so those opportunities to get back there and make plays and create sacks are going to happen. It was cool to see him do that. He's done a good job fighting back from injury. I think he's getting healthier and more confident by the day, and I think his best ball is ahead of him this season."
On his pregame discussion with Coach Helton:
"Yes, I talked to him before the game. We had some great conversations, like we always do. I have a ton of respect for him, and I hope they win the rest of their games. He and his family are great, and they made some major contributions to this place. That's somebody that loves this place and that is passionate about it. I want him to know that he's appreciated by our football program, by USC and I wish him the best going forward."
MAKAI LEMON, WR
On his ability to score tonight:
"I just capitalized on every opportunity I got today, and I just tried to impact the team in a positive way every time I touched the ball. I think I did a pretty good job tonight."
On how Jayden Maiava set up the offense:
"I feel like Jayden is doing a great job. He has a job back there. He has to read the defense and read progres- sions, and he is doing a great job at that and giving us the ball. We are just blessed with the opportunity to catch the ball and to get the ball. Every time that we do that, we just have to capitalize on that because I know all the receivers can ball. There's only one ball, so we try to make the best of it every time."
DECARLOS NICHOLSON, CB
On his comfort in the defensive scheme:
"It helps to have a year under my belt and having my coaches and teammates believing in me. It was a long off- season, and we just trust each other and know that we're going to be where we're supposed to be. The coaches are fantastic. Just going out and executing at a high level with everybody doing their job; I think that's what gives me comfort."
Georgia Southern Postgame Quotes
HEAD COACH CLAY HELTON
Opening statement:
"I thought we advanced from game one to game two, especially offensively. I thought we put ourselves in some good positions to make some drives against a really good defense. I wish we had the fourth-and-two makes there, but I'm proud of how the kids fought. I really am. I told them in there, these first two games are not the results we wanted on this trip, but it's going to pay dividends for us. The adversity that we've gone through, the bonding that we've had, it's just going to make us a better team as we go through the season into conference and into conference road games. So adversity is a blessing; it makes you more complete. The trials and tribulations that you have, it makes you strong. It was a great atmosphere tonight, and I thought our kids fought all the way to the very end."
On the games ahead:
"These first two games were kind of a training test for us, of being on the road, being far away, having that oppor- tunity, like I said, to go through some adversity. Our kids handled it well. We all wanted better results from it, but to see their growth from week one to week two, how they held together, how they bonded. It's just going to make us a better football team. We look forward to getting back to Statesboro. It's been nine days. Looking forward to getting back there and having the next opportunity to try and go win one."
On preparing to face Jacksonville State:
"They had a big win today against Liberty. It sounded like they ran the ball extremely well today. We've got a huge challenge. We're fighting like heck to get better each and every week, and hopefully be playing our best football when we're in contention for trying to make it to that championship game. This is just another step forward. Now we have to get on the plane, get a short night of sleep and we'll be back at home by about 8:
00 a.m. and we'll go straight to work."
JC FRENCH IV, QB
On his thoughts on the team's performance:
"I thought O-Line did a great job. Just can't let some of those sacks happen to make it third and long. It's tough being in third and long, like we were last week." On bouncing back from starting the season 0-2:
"I think we just get back on our schedules and go back to work. It's really the little things. There's a lot of plays out there that I wish I had back that should have hit, so I'm sure we can come back and do better next week."
On being ready to return home to Georgia:
"I think we're all pretty ready. This experience is cool. I just want to thank everybody at Georgia Southern for allowing this. I think this experience is going to help us in the end."
BRANDON TYSON, LB
On Georgia Southern's defensive lessons:
"Our defensive performance tonight, obviously, wasn't the best. We have a lot of positive takeaways that we can take away from this and use it for next weekend."
On shaking off tonight's loss and preparing for next week:
"These games right here are just preparing us for conference play. This is a very good USC team, good offense. Having this experience was definitely not the best one, but it's giving us something to work off of, and that's all we can do."
