USC Stuns No. 2 Ohio State 30-18 as No. 1 Miami Escapes UNC 38-35

USC beat No. 2 Ohio State 30-18 on Halloween night, Saturday, Oct. 31, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, handing the Buckeyes their second loss as true freshman quarterback Luke Fahey made his first career start. Earlier in the evening, No. 1 Miami stayed unbeaten by escaping North Carolina 38-35 in Chapel Hill, according to ESPN box scores.

The result scrambles the top of the national picture one week before Ohio State hosts Oregon and Miami visits No. 5 Notre Dame, according to the AP’s weekly Top 25 schedule. USC improved to 7-2 (4-2 Big Ten), while Ohio State fell to 6-2 (4-1 Big Ten).

USC strikes early and never trails

USC needed 39 seconds to take the lead. Quarterback Jayden Maiava found freshman receiver Trent Mosley for a 69-yard touchdown at the 14:21 mark of the first quarter, and Waymond Jordan’s 9-yard run made it 14-3 before the end of the period. The Trojans led 20-9 at halftime after a 54-yard field goal by R. Sayeri and a 36-yarder by C. Chittenden with one second left in the half, according to the ESPN scoring summary.

King Miller’s 1-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter pushed the lead to 27-9. Maiava finished 15 of 22 for 222 yards and a touchdown, Mosley caught five passes for 101 yards, and Miller ran 13 times for 78 yards. Deven Bryant led USC with 11 tackles.

The win came one week after USC lost 24-7 at Wisconsin, a defeat that dropped the Trojans out of the AP poll. The school had announced on Oct. 22 that the Ohio State game was sold out.

Ohio State’s quarterback problem shows up in the red zone

Ohio State played without starter Julian Sayin, who injured his throwing arm in the fourth quarter of the Buckeyes’ 19-15 win over Indiana on Oct. 17 and was ruled out indefinitely, AP reported. Fahey went 21 of 38 for 260 yards, with his only touchdown a 1-yard pass to Jeremiah Smith with 2:12 left. The two-point try failed, and Chittenden’s 32-yard field goal with 1:46 left closed the scoring.

Before that late touchdown, all of Ohio State’s points came from kicker C. Hawkins, who made field goals of 39, 34, 23 and 47 yards. Bo Jackson ran 21 times for 121 yards, and Smith caught 10 passes for 83 yards. The Buckeyes were also flagged 11 times for 71 yards.

By the numbers: how Ohio State lost the game but won the stat sheet

Ohio State outgained USC by 126 yards, or 37%, and ran 81 rushing and passing plays to USC’s 50, a 62% edge, according to TBR calculations from the ESPN box score. The Buckeyes held the ball for 39 minutes, 28 seconds, nearly twice USC’s 20:32. Each team lost one fumble, so turnovers did not decide it.

The gap was efficiency. USC averaged 9.7 yards per pass attempt to Ohio State’s 6.8, and turned its yards into points far more often: 8.9 points per 100 yards of offense, compared with 3.9 for Ohio State (TBR calculations). Ohio State converted 7 of 16 third downs and failed on its only fourth-down try.

No. 1 Miami survives a shootout at North Carolina

Miami, a 13.5-point favorite according to DraftKings odds listed by ESPN, trailed 28-24 early in the fourth quarter after a 1-yard touchdown run by North Carolina’s Demon June. M. Fletcher Jr. answered with a 2-yard run at 7:49, his second rushing touchdown of the night, and Darian Mensah hit Malachi Toney for a 9-yard score with 2:33 left to make it 38-28. North Carolina’s Billy Edwards Jr. threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to T. Kekahuna with 1:38 left, but Miami held on.

Mensah completed 22 of 29 passes for 274 yards and three touchdowns, two of them to Toney, who had seven catches for 75 yards. Edwards was 28 of 34 for 341 yards and four touchdowns for the Tar Heels (4-4), with two scoring catches by Jelani Thurman. Miami did not commit a turnover and moved to 8-0.

Source: ESPN box score.

What comes next

The rest of the top 10 held serve on Saturday: No. 3 Georgia beat No. 17 Florida 27-8, No. 4 Indiana beat Minnesota 23-16 in overtime, No. 5 Notre Dame beat Navy 35-13, and unbeaten Utah and UCLA both won, according to AP. Next Saturday brings Miami at Notre Dame, Oregon at Ohio State and BYU at Utah. USC has an open date before visiting Indiana on Nov. 14.

For more college football from Saturday, see our recap of Duke’s 47-2 rout of Boston College and our earlier look at Harvard football’s 6-0 start atop the Ivy League.

Sources

• ESPN: Ohio State vs. USC box score and scoring summary, Oct. 31, 2026
• ESPN: Miami vs. North Carolina box score and scoring summary, Oct. 31, 2026
• AP: Ohio State QB Julian Sayin out indefinitely after injuring throwing arm
• AP: No. 2 Ohio State travels to face desperate USC
• AP via WTOP: How the AP Top 25 fared
• On3: Luke Fahey makes first career start at quarterback for Ohio State vs. USC
• USC Athletics: football news archive (sellout announcement, Oct. 22, 2026)