Senior cornerback Damante Horton intercepted two passes and carried one back for a touchdown in a 10-7 upset over the No. 25 ranked USC Trojans on Saturday night.

The Washington State Cougars brought a stalwart defense to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and held the Trojans to single-digit points at home for the first time since 2001, according to ESPN.

“It means a lot,” Horton said. “It’s a stepping stone for our whole team and just trying to get better every day.”

Quarterback Connor Halliday praised the defense’s play against USC and said the team came together to play as a collective unit, which led to the win.

Halliday also recognized the Trojans’ strong defense in suppressing the Cougar running and passing game.

“I just want to congratulate the other 10 guys on offense,” Halliday said. “If this was a couple years ago, we would’ve went in the tank mentally with not being able to move the ball.”

The Cougars got off to a rough start. On the second drive of the game, Halliday led the team down the field and into the red zone, where he threw an interception on a third and goal play.

On the next drive, Halliday coughed the ball up to the Trojan defense on a fumble. USC took advantage of the fumble and scored their only touchdown of the game on a 4-yard run by quarterback Cody Kessler.

The Cougars found a way to answer before halftime, when Horton picked off Kessler and ran 70 yards for the score.

The second half told an entirely different story. The Trojans only had five drives in the final 30 minutes and missed key opportunities to pull ahead. The USC offense in the second half, led by quarterback Max Wittek, took eight plays to get down the field on the first drive.

The Trojans had to settle for a field goal and could not even convert on that because Kalafitoni Pole blocked the kick. The next drive lasted eight plays and ended in a field goal attempt, which USC kicker Andre Heidari missed from 43 yards out.

The Trojans continued to falter on offense, which senior Andrew Furney took advantage of with a 41-yard field goal with just over three minutes to play in the game. On the ensuing drive, Horton intercepted his second pass of the game and sealed the score.

“We just need to be able, when things do go wrong on the field, to battle through adversity, which we did tonight,” Halliday said.

Only positivity came out of the players’ mouths following the Trojan upset.

“We expected to come down here and win,” freshman Daquawn Brown said. “We’re not coming down here thinking we’re going to lose. This is a new team this year.”