USC Trojans Move Up To No. 11 in Week 3 AP Poll After Utah State Shutout

Predicting where the USC Trojans will rank after beating the Utah State Aggies 48-0 in the season's home opener in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

Charlie Viehl | Sep 8, 2024

Sep 7, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Pre-show performance before the USC Trojans vs Utah State Aggies game at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. / Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

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The USC Trojans defeated the Utah State Aggies on Saturday, Sept. 7, by a final score of 48-0. Entering the week ranked No. 13 in the AP Poll, the Trojans moved up to No. 11 after the convincing victory.

The Trojans defense pitched a shutout, and the offense built a large enough lead to comfortably pull quarterback Miller Moss and a majority of the starters in the second half. Transfer quarterback Jayden Maiava closed the game out for USC, scoring his first career touchdown for the Trojans.

Ahead of USC, No. 5 Notre Dame and No. 10 Michigan both lost their week two matchups. As a result, USC should expect to move up slightly, but cracking into the top ten teams will be difficult without too many upsets.

Sep 7, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Pre-show performance before the USC Trojans vs Utah State Aggies game at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. / Jonathan Hui-Imagn Images

Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois at home by two points, so it's unclear how far the AP Poll voters will drop the Fighting Irish. The Michigan Wolverines also lost at home, but the result was far worse than Notre Dame's. No. 2 Texas traveled to Ann Arbor and won 31-12.

Behind USC were a fair amount of upsets. No. 19 Kansas lost to unranked Illinois, No. 21 Iowa lost to unranked Iowa St., and No. 23 Georgia Tech lost to unranked Syracuse. While those results should not impact the Trojans' ranking, the strength of the Big Ten could ultimately hurt or help USC when time for the College Football Playoff rankings.

Here is the complete poll:

1 Georgia

2 Texas

3 Ohio State

4 Alabama

5 Ole Miss

6 Missouri

7 Tennessee

8 Penn State

9 Oregon

10 Miami

11 USC