NCAAF Game Recap - USC at UCLA
Sat Nov 17, 2018 3:30 PM EST

Cit
17
Bama
50
F
Duke
6
Clem
35
F
Syr
3
ND
36
F
Ind
20
Mich
31
F
UMass
27
UGA
66
F
Kans
40
Okla
55
F
WVU
41
OkSt
45
F
Ariz
28
WaSt
69
F
OSU
52
MD
51
F OT
Rice
10
LSU
42
F
Cin
13
UCF
38
F
IASt
10
Tex
24
F
UtSt
29
ColSt
24
F
Idaho
10
Fla
63
F
PSU
20
Rut
7
F
OreSt
23
Wash
42
F
MidTN
23
KY
34
F
Utah
30
Colo
7
F
BC
21
FlaSt
22
F
Boise
45
NM
14
F
NW
24
MIN
14
F
Ark
6
MissSt
52
F
WestMI
41
Ball
42
F OT
Buff
17
Ohio
52
F
MiaOH
13
NIU
7
F
Toled
56
Kent
34
F
Tul
17
Hou
48
F
FlAtl
38
NorTx
41
F
Mem
28
SMU
18
F
MSU
6
Neb
9
F
TCU
16
Bayl
9
F
Pitt
34
Wake
13
F
SoFL
17
Temp
27
F
Colg
14
Army
28
F
NCSt
52
Lou
10
F
JMU
38
Tows
17
F
VMI
14
OD
77
F
FLInt
42
UNCC
35
F
GASt
17
App
45
F
UTSA
0
Marsh
23
F
SamHu
42
HBU
20
F
NEV
21
SJSU
12
F
ULMon
17
ArkSt
31
F
WCU
26
UNC
49
F
JacSt
52
(N/A)
60
F(4OT)
TxSt
7
Troy
12
F
USC
27
UCLA
34
F
LT
20
SMiss
21
F
TxTch
6
K St
21
F
Iowa
63
Ill
0
F
MiaFL
38
VaTec
14
F
MIZ
50
Tenn
17
F
Wisc
47
Purd
44
F(2OT)
Tuls
29
Navy
37
F
UVA
27
GATec
30
F OT
BGSU
21
Akr
6
F
AF
27
Wyo
35
F
Lib
0
Aub
53
F
SoAl
38
ULLaf
48
F
GaSo
41
CoCar
17
F
UAB
20
TxAM
41
F
UConn
21
ECU
55
F
UTEP
16
W Ky
40
F
Miss
29
Vand
36
F OT
Chat
9
SCar
49
F
NMS
10
BYU
45
F
SDSU
14
Fres
23
F
AzSt
29
Oreg
31
F
UNLV
28
Hawaii
35
F
NIU
21
WestMI
28
F
Ball
21
MiaOH
42
F
Stan
Cal
PPD

UCLA 34, USC 27

Nov 17, 2018, 3:30 PM EST

Final

1

2

3

4

T

USC (5-6)

10

14

3

0

27

UCLA (3-8)

14

7

0

13

34

Kelley rushes for 289 yards, leads UCLA past USC 34-27
Sat Nov 17, 2018 9:15 PM

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) Joshua Kelley has been watching the UCLA-USC rivalry since he was 8 years old. On Saturday, he cemented his legacy in the Crosstown Showdown's history.

The junior running back rushed for 289 yards on 40 carries and scored two touchdowns to lead the Bruins to a 34-27 victory over the Trojans at the Rose Bowl.

It is the third-most rushing yards in a game in UCLA history and the most by a Bruins back against the Trojans. Gaston Green had the previous mark with 224 yards on 39 carries in 1986.

"It was crazy and finally I was out there and wanted to embrace every single moment of it," said Kelley, who transferred from UC Davis. "It was a crazy experience. I sure enjoyed it and our team did too."

Kelley's 55-yard touchdown up the left sideline on an outside zone play with 10:39 remaining gave the Bruins a 28-27 lead. JJ Molson then added a pair of field goals to extend the margin for UCLA (3-8, 3-5 Pac-12).

Kelley was surprised by the number of carries he had but UCLA coach Chip Kelly did not mind giving his back a heavy workload.

"I wish he had carried it 100 (times) to be honest with you," Kelly said.

USC (5-6, 4-5) mounted one final drive and got to the UCLA 29 but JT Daniels' fourth-down pass was incomplete with 32 seconds remaining.

"Coming into the game, we had a lot of respect for Joshua. He's a very physical back and a very good runner," Trojans coach Clay Helton said. "I thought they did a nice job tonight of being able to get the ball outside on the perimeter and bouncing the ball outside."

Wilton Speight completed 13 of 22 passes for 166 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a score as UCLA broke a three-game losing streak to its crosstown rival.

Daniels threw for 337 yards and two touchdowns as he completed 20 of 34 passes, but the freshman had a costly fourth-quarter interception that led to Molson's second field goal. USC was held to 80 yards of offense in the second half with most of it coming in the fourth quarter.

"I was trying to throw it away. It got away from me. That's inexcusable," said Daniels of the second pick.

Michael Pittman Jr. had 106 yards on seven receptions and Amon-Ra St. Brown added six catches for 98 yards. The Trojans were 4-2 at midseason but have dropped four of their last five.

After USC scored on a 46-yard field goal by Michael Brown on its opening possession, UCLA would score touchdowns on its first two. Speight threw a perfect 33-yard pass to Theo Howard that the junior receiver was able to haul in near the back of the end zone while being covered by Iman Marshall.

Speight then got his first collegiate rushing touchdown on a 4-yard scramble to extend the Bruins' lead to 11. The key play of that drive was a 59-yard gain by Kelley down the left sideline to the USC 9.

The Trojans would take back momentum with a couple big plays on special teams. A 44-yard touchdown by St. Brown from Daniels drew them within 14-10 late in the first quarter. The TD came right after Erik Krommenhoek got a first down on a direct snap off a fake punt.

USC's punt team then gave it the lead early in the second quarter when Jake Russell blocked a Stefan Flintoft punt at the UCLA 5 and Devon Williams ran it in.

The Bruins answered right back with a Kelley 1-yard score but the Trojans would lead 24-21 at halftime after Velus Jones caught a receiver screen, got a pair of blocks from Pittman and went 45 yards.

A Brown 22-yard field goal midway through the third quarter gave USC a six-point lead.

NOT A BIG DRAW

The USC-UCLA game is usually one of the biggest dates each year on the Los Angeles sporting calendar, but Saturday's contest drew only 57,116. That is the lowest attended crosstown game since 1950, when both teams played at the LA Memorial Coliseum.

THE TAKEAWAY

USC: Clay Helton's future as coach could be precarious with the late-season collapse and bowl hopes hanging by a thread.

"The job is if you win, people are going to pat you on the back, and if you lose, you know they're going to get after you," Helton said. "It rolls off my back, so I'm not worried about it."

UCLA: Kelly has his signature win in his first year leading the Bruins, which should give them momentum with the early signing period less than a month away.

"It was a deserved victory. They didn't kind of slide into it or backdoor into this win," Kelly said. "There's no question in this game that we played hard. We played harder, and that's why we won the football game."

UP NEXT

USC: Closes out the regular season hosting No. 4 Notre Dame.

UCLA: Ends its season on Saturday against Stanford.

---

More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

USC Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
J. Daniels 34 20 58.8 2 337 45 2 87.5
UCLA Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
W. Speight 22 13 59.1 1 166 33 1 79.0

Rushing

USC Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
V. Malepeai 15 77 5.1 21 0
A. Ware 6 27 4.5 9 0
UCLA Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
J. Kelley 40 289 7.2 61 2
W. Speight 7 22 3.1 14 1

Receiving

USC Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
M. Pittman Jr. 7 106 15.1 37 0
A. St. Brown 6 98 16.3 44 1
UCLA Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
T. Howard 5 76 15.2 33 1
C. Wilson 4 63 15.8 29 0

Fumbles

Returning

USC KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
V. Jones Jr. 2 20.0 0 28 0 0 0
J. Russell 0 0 0 1 14.0 0 14

Punting

USC Punt Yds Avg LgPu
R. Budrovich 3 126 42.0 49
UCLA Punt Yds Avg LgPu
S. Flintoft 3 104 34.7 39

Takeaways

USC Int Yds InTD
I. Langley 1 0 0
UCLA Int Yds InTD
N. Meadors 1 0 0
D. Holmes 1 0 0

Team Stats Comparison

USC UCLA
Points For 27 34
Total Yards 449 479
Rushing Yards 112 313
Passing Yards 337 166
Passing Completions / Attempts 20/34 13/22
Turnovers 2 1
Interceptions Thrown 2 1
Fumbles - Lost 0/0 0/0
First Downs 19 25
Penalties - Yards 9/63 2/15
Time Of Possession 02:02 58:58
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 4/13 7/13
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 2/3 0/0
Punts - Average Yards 3/42 4/26

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter USC UCLA
USC 03:28 FG Michael Brown 46 yd FG 3 0
UCLA 07:07 TD Theo Howard 33 yd pass from Wilton Speight (JJ Molson kick) 3 7
UCLA 11:22 TD Wilton Speight 4 yd run (JJ Molson kick) 3 14
USC 14:38 TD Amon-Ra St. Brown 44 yd pass from JT Daniels (Michael Brown kick) 10 14
2nd Quarter USC UCLA
USC 00:49 TD Devon Williams 5 yd blocked punt return (Michael Brown kick) 17 14
UCLA 06:50 TD Joshua Kelley 1 yd run (JJ Molson kick) 17 21
USC 09:06 TD Velus Jones Jr. 45 yd pass from JT Daniels (Michael Brown kick) 24 21
3rd Quarter USC UCLA
USC 07:56 FG Michael Brown 22 yd FG 27 21
4th Quarter USC UCLA
UCLA 04:21 TD Joshua Kelley 55 yd run (JJ Molson kick) 27 28
UCLA 08:41 FG JJ Molson 19 yd FG 27 31
UCLA 12:24 FG JJ Molson 48 yd FG 27 34

Game Information

Stadium: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California
Attendance: 57,116
Game Time:
Weather: