Arizona State Stuns No. 16 USC 38-34 On Game-Ending Touchdown

   LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Jaelen Strong caught a 46-yard touchdown pass from Mike Bercovici as time expired, and Arizona State scored three TDs in the final 3:53 to shock No. 16 Southern California 38-34 on Saturday night.

Bercovici, capitalizing on USC's repeating prevent defense, capped his 510-yard, five-touchdown passing performance with his third scoring pass to Strong, who slipped in front of USC's Hayes Pullard at the goal line and pulled in the Hail Mary throw. Arizona State's bench stormed the field to celebrate the first win at the Coliseum since 1999 for the Sun Devils (4-1, 2-1 Pac-12).

Cody Kessler passed for 273 yards for the Trojans (3-2, 2-1), who led 34-25 with 3 minutes to play.

USC recovered two onside kicks and got a 53-yard TD run by Buck Allen in the final minutes, but the Trojans' pass defense still couldn't stop Bercovici in his second start.

Kessler scrambled for an 8-yard TD in the fourth quarter, and Allen rushed for 143 yards and two TDs for the Trojans, who appeared to be on the way to an impressive win. USC's defense held the Pac-12's best rushing offense to 31 yards, a whopping 231 below its average.

But the Trojans, who hadn't allowed a passing touchdown all season, couldn't do a thing about Bercovici with the game on the line.

Arizona State burned its three timeouts in the third quarter and couldn't get rolling on offense until a drive starting at its 2 with 6:26 to play. Bercovici hit D.J. Foster with a 21-yard touchdown pass with 3:53 to play, capping a 98-yard march.

Randall Telfer recovered the onside kick before Allen broke straight up the middle for his second scoring run. But Bercovici hit Cameron Smith for a 73-yard score moments later when cornerback Kevon Seymour gambled on an interception

Pullard recovered another onside kick, but USC couldn't move the ball. Arizona State got it back with 23 seconds left, and Bercovici hit Gary Chambers for 26 yards before launching his final throw into a thicket of USC defenders -- and watching Strong emerge untouched with a TD.

Arizona State has won three of the schools' last four meetings, including a 62-41 victory in Tempe last season that led to USC coach Lane Kiffin's firing a few hours later. New coach Steve Sarkisian's first loss to the Sun Devils also stings in a totally different way.

Bercovici hit Strong for a 77-yard TD midway through the second quarter while making his second straight start in place of injured Taylor Kelly. The San Fernando Valley product followed up his record-setting, 488-yard passing performance last week in a loss to UCLA with an even bigger night.

With the game-time temperature at 93 degrees during California's October heat wave, Nelson Agholor injected excitement into the first quarter with a 53-yard TD punt return straight up the middle of Arizona State's coverage unit.

USC's receivers struggled with several early drops. Darreus Rogers was wide open when he botched a sure TD throw from Kessler in the second quarter.

After the teams traded field goals in the third quarter, Kessler and Allen led a 79-yard scoring drive to open the fourth. Kessler avoided a sack and scrambled 8 yards through the heart of Arizona State's defense, taking hits and stretching over the goal line.

Arizona State burned its three timeouts in the first 13 minutes of the second half, preventing the Sun Devils from challenging a third-down incompletion call that appeared to be a catch late in the third quarter to put USC up 27-18.

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