NO. 20 USC 28, ARIZONA STATE 27 COLORADO 48, UCLA 42

LOS ANGELES – Drake London caught a 21-yard touchdown pass with 1:20 to play, and Southern California rallied from a late 13-point deficit for a victory over Arizona State on Saturday in the Pac-12’s long-delayed season opener.

Bru McCoy caught a deflected 26yard TD pass with 2:52 left for the Trojans (1-0), and Max Williams recovered the onside kick. On fourth and 9, Kedon Slovis fired a pass down the middle to London, and the two-sport athlete beat double coverage to haul it in for an electrifying score.

USC’s defense then stopped Arizona State (0-1) on downs near midfield with 50 seconds left to preserve an astonishing comeback for perpetually embattled coach Clay Helton’s team.

Until their rally, the Trojans were struggling through a game that began at 9 a.m.

USC agreed to its earliest kickoff in at least 70 years for a national television audience, but it looked like another embarrassment for Helton and his Trojans – before it abruptly turned into a thrilling triumph.

Slovis passed for 381 yards for USC, while Stephen Carr and Markese Stepp made scoring runs in the first half. London also caught eight passes for 125 yards.

BOULDER, Colo. – Tailback Jarek Broussard scored three times in his first start, Colorado’s defense produced two big fourth-down stops in the final quarter and the Buffaloes opened the Karl Dorrell Era by holding off UCLA.

It was far from easy even after amassing an 28-point lead. UCLA cut the deficit to 48-42 with 1:45 remaining on a 9-yard TD catch by Mike Martinez. But the onside kick was recovered by Colorado’s Dimitri Stanley and the Buffaloes (1-0) ran out the clock.

Broussard finished with 187 yards rushing as the Buffaloes won their fifth straight season opener. The game was played in front of 554 fans made up of family and friends due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The Buffaloes built a 28-point lead late in the first half on mistake-prone UCLA (0-1), which turned the ball over four times before halftime that Colorado cashed into 21 points. But the Bruins shook off the rocky start and scored 21 straight to turn what looked to be a rout into a back-and-forth encounter.

There were no punts in the second half, but there were two blocked field goals by UCLA and Colorado made a pair of fourth-down stops. The crucial one was stuffing UCLA on fourth-and-1 at the Colorado 30 with 13:13 remaining and leading 45-35.