USC 17, Utah State 14: Andre Heidari kicked the tiebreaking 25-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter as the host Trojans held off the Aggies.

Tre Madden rushed for 93 yards and USC (3-1) controlled play defensively by taking away the scrambling lanes of quarterback Chuckie Keeton. The Utah State standout had minus-15 yards on 12 rushes while going 21-of-39 for 179 yards and two touchdowns.

Keeton was stopped three yards short of a first down with 3:33 left while scrambling on fourth-and-9 and the Aggies (2-2) never saw the ball again. USC converted two first downs and ran out the clock.

The Trojans led 14-7 at halftime before the Aggies tied the game midway through the third quarter on Keeton’s 10-yard pass to Travis Reynolds. Later in the quarter, Utah State’s Jaron Bentrude shanked a punt that traveled just 12 yards to the Aggies’ 24-yard line and USC took advantage with Heidari’s go-ahead boot with 13:35 remaining.

USC took a first-quarter led on Madden’s 1-yard scoring run and Utah State knotted the contest early in the second quarter on Keeton’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Swindall. The Trojans went back ahead on Cody Kessler’s 30-yard toss to Xavier Grimble with 5:13 left in the first half.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Trojans WR Marqise Lee caught six passes for 72 yards to raise his career count to 214, two behind second-place Dwayne Jarrett (216 from 2004-06) on the school’s all-time list. … Utah State was just 5-for-17 on third-down conversions after entering the contest with a 65.2 percent success rate, fourth-best nationally. … USC starting RB Silas Redd (knee) missed his fourth consecutive game.