LOS ANGELES – – Woody Marks ran for three touchdowns, Miller Moss had two scoring passes and a touchdown run, and Southern California snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Rutgers 42-20 on Friday night.

The Trojans (4-4, 2-4 Big Ten) scored on all four offensive possessions in the first half, while their injury-depleted defense — missing four starters in the secondary — came up with some timely stops.

“I don’t know if it’s a relief, but just an affirmation of who we are, what we believe in,” said Moss, who was 20 of 28 passing for 308 yards. “I give a lot of credit to the guys in that locker room, the staff, really the whole program for how they seem to come together and fight through adversity. And yeah, it’s great to finish one off, and hopefully we can come up with this in the second half of the season.”

Marks had 142 yards from scrimmage. Makai Lemon had 134 yards receiving on four grabs with a touchdown, plus an 80-yard kick return in the first quarter that set up Marks’ second TD run.

Athan Kaliakmanis threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to Christian Dremel and Antwan Raymond ran for a touchdown, but the Scarlet Knights (4-4, 1-4) dropped their fourth straight game.

With a consistency in moving the ball more like the previous two seasons in the Pac-12 with Caleb Williams at quarterback, USC went up and down the field in the first half. The passing game accounted for 172 of the offense’s 244 total yards through two quarters, with Moss hitting 14 of 16 attempts and finding Kyle Ford for an 11-yard touchdown.

Rutgers cut the score to 28-20 early in the third quarter when Kaliakmanis covered 70 yards on consecutive plays with throws to Dymere Miller and Dremel, followed by a 2-point pass to Chris Long’s quarterback on a trick play.

But Lemon ripped off a 70-yard catch-and-run on the first play of the ensuing drive, and Moss strolled into the end zone on a 7-yard keeper to put USC back by two possessions.

“We didn’t make the same mistakes that plagued us,” Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley said. “I know it sounds simple, but we just played better.”

Kaliakmanis finished with 313 yards passing, and Kyle Monangai had 86 yards on 18 carries.

Pass rush gives a boost

Getting to the quarterback made defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn’s one season at UCLA such a success, but the start of his tenure at USC was marked by a staggering inability to create sacks. That turned against Rutgers, with the Trojans recording four takedowns from Kaliakmanis on the season.

“I thought today was just a good representation of the true identity of our defense, playing physical for four quarters,” linebacker Easton Mascarenas-Arnold said.

The takeaway

Rutgers: The defense has fallen apart over the last three games, giving up 119 points to Wisconsin, UCLA and USC. The Trojans gave them a cut of 8.7 yards per play, while the Scarlet Knights recorded no sack and had one tackle for loss.

USC: The offense has been looking for a main receiver, and Lemon could be that difference-maker. His smooth 40-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown late in the third quarter to put the game away was the kind of explosive play the Trojans noticeably lacked during their recent skid.

Next

Rutgers: Hosts Minnesota on Nov. 9.

USC: Visits Washington on November 2.

—— Receive poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 all season long. Sign up here. AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football