LOS ANGELES (AP) — Makai Lemon made 10 catches for 153 yards and a second-half touchdown, and No. 17 Southern California scored 19 unanswered points to keep its College Football Playoff hopes alive with a 26-21 victory over Iowa on Saturday.
Jayden Maiava passed for 254 yards and Bryan Jackson rushed for two touchdowns for the Trojans (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten, No. 17 CFP), who faced their largest deficit of the season when they trailed 21-7 late in the second quarter at a rain-soaked Coliseum. USC mounted five consecutive scoring drives, capped by Jackson’s go-ahead TD run with 13:36 to play.
Mark Gronowski threw a touchdown pass, made a TD run and caught a scoring pass during the first half, but his Hawkeyes (6-4, 4-3, No. 21 CFP) got shut out in the second half of another heartbreaking loss to a ranked team.
Iowa finally mounted a decent drive in the closing minutes, but turned it over on downs at the USC 29 with 1:59 to play. The Trojans were able to run out the clock after an Iowa assistant coach was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct with 1:25 left.
Steady rain had been falling on Los Angeles for more than 24 hours before kickoff, and it didn’t stop during the wettest USC home game in recent memory. The Hawkeyes appeared to handle it better early on, with receiver Reece Vander Zee’s 5-yard TD pass to Gronowski on a picture-perfect version of the Philly Special highlighting a strong first half.
USC persevered and won thanks to another phenomenal game from star receivers Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane, who had seven catches for 65 yards.
Shrugging off the rain, run-first Iowa surprisingly threw the ball five times on its opening drive, capped by Dayton Howard’s 2-yard TD catch from a scrambling Gronowski on fourth down. After USC failed to score in the first quarter at home for the first time all season, Gronowski rushed for a score early in the second.
Jackson’s 1-yard TD on a direct snap got USC on the board. Iowa then made another strong drive capped by the TD catch by Gronowski. He has caught a pass in all five seasons of his college football career, which began at South Dakota State.
After Lemon’s 12-yard TD catch, USC’s Jahkeem Stewart intercepted a deflected pass in Iowa territory, leading to Jackson’s second score.
Takeaways
Iowa: This is a very good team, but it’s going to miss out on being a great one. A week after taking a lead into the final minute of a painful loss at Oregon, the Hawkeyes lost another gut-puncher in their school’s first visit to the Coliseum since 1976. Iowa has been beaten by four ranked teams this season by a combined 15 points.
USC: Lincoln Riley has a title-contending team in mid-November for the first time since his debut season in 2022. Showing team-wide resilience and the ability to make defensive adjustments, the Trojans improved to 6-0 at the Coliseum this season and put themselves in position for a hugely meaningful game at Autzen Stadium next weekend.
Up next
Iowa: Hosts Michigan State on Nov. 22.
USC: At No. 7 Oregon on Nov. 22.
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AP college football: https://apnews.com/college-football
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
