Posted September 2, 2024 | lasvegasbowl
Special to the VKC by W.G. Ramirez
LAS VEGAS — The largest crowd in Allegiant Stadium history was treated to one of the most exciting games in the building’s history as well, kicking off the 2024 college football campaign on Labor Day Sunday in the Modelo Vegas Kickoff Classic.
USC’s Woody Marks rumbled 13 yards with 8 seconds left in the game to lift the 23rd-ranked Trojans to a 27-20 upset win over No. 13 LSU in front of 63,969 frenzied fans.
“It was just one of those calls that (USC) coach (Lincoln) Riley called and trusted me with the ball,” said Marks, who finished with 68 yards and two touchdowns. “The O-line took me to the promised land, we got in the end zone and sealed the game.”
Miller Moss, named the Trojans’ starter less than one month before the season-opener, showed poise as the new leader of USC’s offense as he passed for 378 yards and a touchdown.
Moss – who took over for Caleb Williams, the No. 1 overall pick by the Chicago Bears in the 2024 NFL Draft – completed 27-of-36 passes against the SEC Tigers.
Moss’ 20-yard completion to Kyron Hudson and a subsequent targeting penalty on LSU with 18 seconds to play put Marks in position for the winning score.
“The thing that is most concerning for me is the personal fouls – the penalties that were selfish,” LSU head coach Brian Kelly said. “They’re undisciplined penalties. They fall back on me. We take pride in running a disciplined program, but we clearly have not done a good enough job there.”
LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier completed 29 of 38 passes for 304 yards with two touchdowns and an interception on the final drive.
Marks said it was a goal of the Trojans to make a statement in the season opener of their inaugural year as a member of the Big Ten Conference.
“Nobody has seen us, the way we worked in the summer and the spring, nobody has seen the work we put in,” Marks said. “We were in the dark, now we’re coming into the light. And it’s gonna be coming every week.”
Equally impressive was USC’s defense, facing an opponent that ranked No. 1 in the nation with 45.5 points per game last season.
“Defense played phenomenal, great stops when we needed it,” Marks added. “Offense, we didn’t come up on drives and defense came out and got stops and we tip our hat to them. We had to come back and score, so, I salute the defense for that.”
LSU scored 34 or more points in 11 of its 13 games last season, and talled in 24 and 28 the other two. The 20 points scored by the Tigers was their lowest output since Jan. 4, 2022, in a 42-20 loss to Kansas State in the Texas Bowl.
“You get inside the 15-yard line three times and come away with six points, it’s going to come back and bite you,” Kelly said. “We left a lot of points out there. Our offense needed to be better because we needed to score in those situations.”
After a relatively quiet first half dominated by both defensive units and saw the teams head into the locker room tied at 10, the Trojans and Tigers jockeyed back and forth to the tune of three lead changes and another tie before Marks’ game-winning score.
The game marked the second Vegas Kickoff Classic, following Arizona and BYU meeting here in 2021.
