The USC Trojans emerged victorious over San Jose State in their first contest of the year, but it wasn't all smooth sailing in the early going for Lincoln Riley's team.

The Trojans only led by one score going into the half, sitting up 21-14. Caleb Williams and his freshman WR Zachariah Branch took over in the second, widening the gap to 28 points before it was all said and done. The head coach commented on their struggles to shut down the opposing offense in the first half, per Paolo Uggetti of ESPN.

“No matter what the score was, if this was a three-point game, if it was a 28-point game, if it was a 50-point game, there's gonna be that climb to the next step,” Riley said postgame. “And that's where our focus is gonna stay. A lot of work to do, and we're the right people to get it done.”

The Trojans won't be able to afford a slow start defensively in many of their matchups later in this final year of the PAC 12. They face four top-15 opponents, including a highly anticipated showdown against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, who also rolled in Week 0.

Riley's squad will be back in action next Saturday night when they host the Nevada Wolfpack. They will look to tighten up defensively as they use their non-conference games to get polished before the Pac-12 portion gets underway. USC is currently the favorite to win the conference, sitting with +200 odds on FanDuel Sportsbook. They are chased closely by the Oregon Ducks (+320) and Washington Huskies (+340) which will make for some heated matchups this fall.