LOS ANGELES – WSU went scoreless in the second half as they lost to USC 30-14.

It was noticeable the “juice” on the sideline was missing. There was no energy from the Cougs, they were dead in the water and they knew it in the second half.

In past weeks they have been skipping during warmups coming out of halftime and dancing on the sideline. But not this week.

Brennan Jackson, a WSU captain, hit on it during the post-game press conference.

“I think juice happens when we’re all locked in, we see what’s going on. I wouldn’t say they weren’t locked in, but to me guys were letting the environment get to them,” Jackson said. “I think a lot of guys just let the noise of the stadium or just what was going on in the game kind of affect their own mentality. I think that’s something we can work on as a group.”

The first half was a close matchup as the WSU defense kept USC quarterback, Caleb Williams and his offense to only 17 points.

The Cougs made it look like they might compete in this game. They scored on two straight drives at the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the second. They went from being down 10-0, to holding a 14-10 lead in a matter of three minutes.

USC wasted no time to begin the game, scoring on their first two drives but then stalled until the end of the half.  But nearing the end of the third quarter and during the fourth quarter they scored a touchdown and two field goals. USC did not look incredibly strong however, they had four three-and-outs during this game.

Caleb Williams barely completed more than 50% of his passes going 15/29 for 188 yards and two touchdowns and rushing for 34 yards. He was contained by the defense and did not escape very often.

Travis Dye also helped kill the clock and ran 28 times for 149 yards and a touchdown. Dye didn’t really have too many long gains, but nickel and dimed the Cougs with six to eight yard gains all game.

WSU had multiple chances to take this game into their own hands but were unsuccessful during the second half with three punts and a turnover on downs.

The turnover on downs was a questionable decision as well, going for it on the USC 38 on a fourth-and-nine. After this is when the momentum truly shifted and USC took over. The next three possessions for USC were the important scoring drives.

Cam Ward finished the day 19/32 for 172 yards and two touchdowns. Jaylen Jenkins had a breakout game where he gashed USC multiple times for 15-plus yard gains. He finished with 130 yards with a long of 41. Daiyan Henley led the defense again as he had 11 total tackles and 0.5 tackles for a loss.

“We didn’t get the results, it would have been much better to get this win. I guess you would feel much better. But I mean, it’s home. So having an opportunity to play at home is always a great feeling for me,” Henley said. “Being able to get that opportunity to do it today is amazing and I tried to just make the most of it.”

WSU also led themselves in a bad direction with 11 penalties. Seven defensive penalties, mostly in the secondary, with holding and pass interference. Also four on the offense, with a very questionable call of targeting on the right guard Grant Stephens.

“We’re not going to use [the penalties] as an excuse. We made some mistakes in the key critical situations that really hurt ourselves,” WSU head coach Jake Dickert said.

The referees were truly questionable throughout the entire game, part of the reason WSU lost was due to these penalties, some earned and some not so much earned.

Dickert spoke about what the next step was in bouncing back after this loss.

“Right now it’s picking up the team in the locker room and getting those guys ready to go. Those guys left it out there, they have each other’s back. I think you go through a tough loss. Gutsy loss like this. It shows the type of passion of this football team when we come back ready to work on Monday.”