Three weird plays show what Oregon is up against when USC comes to UO

Oregon plays College Football Playoff No. 19 USC in Autzen Stadium on November 22, a renewal of an old and sometimes contentious rivalry.

There was the time Mike Bellotti successfully challenged a challenge, and Trojan coach Pete Carroll mouthed a vitriolic phrase across the field. There was the Fright Night Game at Autzen Stadium in 2009, when Jeremiah Masoli and LaMichael James pummeled the SC defense for a team total of 391 yards rushing on their way to a 47-20 victory.

Nothing in that history prepares the Ducks for the chicanery, resourcefulness and outright mendacity Lincoln Riley and the Trojans displayed Friday night against Northwestern. They won 38-17 but along the way there were three strange and unusual plays.

At the start of the second quarter USC lined up to punt, only they'd put backup quarterback Sam Huard in punter Sam Johnson's number 80 jersey. Huard tossed a ten-yard pass to freshman wide receiver Tanook Hines, and the home squad went on to score a touchdown for a 14-7 lead.

The play was technically legal because the coaching staff had changed Huard's number on the official roster leading up to the game, but it was a moment of spy-versus-spy deception.

A second critical moment came when Trojan quarterback Jayden Maiava threw an interception on a pass to the right flat late in the first half. With the scored tied 14-14 Wildcat defensive lineman Najee Story, 6-4, 270, picked it off and rumbled toward the end zone, but Maiava hustled over and popped him with a helmet to the ball at the goal line, fumble, the ball tumbling through the end zone for a touchback.

Maiava's toughness saved a touchdown, and it became an even bigger play when running back King Miller broke a 55-yard run on the very next play. Miller scored on a 12-yard run two plays later to complete a 14-point swing, USC leading 21-14 at the half.

In the third quarter Trojan wide receiver Ja'Kobi Lane made a ridiculous touchdown catch.

The win brought the Men of Troy to 7-2, 5-1 in the Big Ten, still alive for the Big Ten Championship Game or a spot in the College Football Playoff, a dangerous opponent with a potent offense and a flair for treachery.