By The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES — Kedon Slovis and Amon-Ra St. Brown kept grinding in practice while No. 16 Southern California waited two weeks and then two more days to get back on the field.
When the Trojans and Washington State finally got the green light Sunday night, Slovis and St. Brown roared right through it for a record-setting start to a blowout win.
St. Brown caught four touchdown passes from Slovis in a spectacular first quarter, and unbeaten USC cruised to a 38-13 victory over the Cougars.
Slovis threw five touchdown passes in the first half before finishing with 287 yards as the Trojans (4-0) returned from a prolonged absence caused by a COVID-19 outbreak with a dominant performance on both sides of the ball against the Cougars (1-2), who also hadn’t played since Nov. 14.
“We don’t like being away from football for so long, but I think the days away helped us get our legs back underneath us,” St. Brown said. “We had some linemen out, but we had a lot of time to get our throws in. It wasn’t too bad for (the skill-position players).”
With precise execution and big-play excellence against a depleted Washington State secondary curiously playing man-to-man coverage against one of the best receiver groups in the country, the Trojans grabbed a 35-0 lead midway through the second quarter with just 214 yards of offense.
Talanoa Hufanga and Olaijah Griffin had interceptions in the first half for USC, which dominated a game moved back two nights to allow the Trojans to clear enough players from coronavirus protocol to play.
Washington State’s secondary was missing four of its eight regular rotational players — and it showed.
Southern California cornerback Chris Steele, left, and cornerback Olaijah Griffin, right, bring down Washington State wide receiver Renard Bell, center, after a catch during the second half of an NCAA college football game in Los Angeles on Sunday, Dec. 6, 2020. (Alex Gallardo/Associated Press)
Gonzaga remains No. 1
Gonzaga and Baylor remained atop the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll Monday after their hotly anticipated weekend game in Indianapolis was called off about 90 minutes before tipoff because of positive COVID-19 tests and contact tracing within the Bulldogs’ program.
Gonzaga received 54 of 61 first-place votes from a national media panel while the Bears had the other seven. Iowa remained third after Luka Garza’s monster week powered the Hawkeyes to a pair of easy victories, Michigan State climbed four spots to No. 4 and Kansas jumped two spots to round out the top 5.
Illinois allowed the Big Ten Conference to keep three teams in the top six after then-No. 4 Wisconsin took a tumble with a last-second loss to Marquette. The Illini were followed by Houston, Creighton, Villanova and Duke.
There were plenty of high-impact matchups during college basketball’s second full week, but none as widely anticipated as Gonzaga-Baylor at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The ‘Zags already had knocked off the Jayhawks and No. 11 West Virginia along with Auburn while the Bears were soaring after a win over Illinois.
But when two members of the Bulldogs’ traveling party, including one player, produced a positive coronavirus test before their game was to tip on Saturday, it forced public health officials and school officials to call it off.
“We’re disappointed to not be able to play one of the most anticipated games of the season, but we are following the advice of public health officials,” Gonzaga coach Mark Few and Baylor counterpart Scott Drew said in a joint statement. “There are much greater issues in this world than not being able to play a basketball game, so we’re going to continue praying for everyone who has been affected by this pandemic.”
While both teams hope to reschedule the game, they are also left looking ahead to more tests. The Bulldogs have canceled their next four games — today against Tarleton State, Thursday against Southern University, Saturday against Northern Arizona and Dec. 14 against Idaho — as they continue to deal with the virus, leaving their next game a high-profile matchup with the Hawkeyes on Dec. 17. Baylor will soon open Big 12 play against No. 13 Texas.
