It wasn't pretty at the Coliseum on Saturday. Since Matt Barkley's departure from Troy, USC's offense has been anything but. Yet, it was enough. On a day where the grittiness of the Trojans' much-improved defense limited a previously-juggernaut of a Utah State offense to a flurry of punts, quarterback Cody Kessler and his offensive colleagues did just enough to grind out a 17-14 win over the visiting Aggies.

After Utah State answered each Trojan touchdown, Andre Heidari's 25-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter ended up being the deciding points. Utah State had three chances after the field goal to even the game or take the field, but thanks to a staunch Trojan defense, the Aggies never even made it into Trojan territory. 

"When we were up by 3 points, we knew we had to come out and stop the offense, and we just did it," said USC defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who finished with three of the Trojans' 10 tackles for loss. 

The Trojans move to 3-1 (0-1 in Pac-12 play) on the season, while the visiting Aggies fall to 2-2. 

Kessler completed 13 of 27 passes for 164 yards and a picture-perfect 30-yard strike over the middle to Xavier Grimble for a touchdown with a little over five minutes to go in the second quarter. Running back Tre Madden had 24 carries for 93 yards, 66 of those coming in ground-and-pound first half. Marqise Lee, who has publicly expressed his frustration with USC's inconsistent offense this season, had six catches for 72 yards. No. 2 wide receiver Nelson Agholor had 2 catches for 38 yards, while Grimble finished with 2 catches for 39 yards. 

Yet after Kessler's toss to Grimble, the Trojan offense was a sight rarely seen. The Trojans had 95 yards of offense in the second half, as Kessler completed just 5 of 14 passes for 58 yards in the final two quarters. 

"I thought the first half was going fine until the sack caused the fumble," USC head coach Lane Kiffin said. "We had two big plays we missed on. The sack-fumble happened and it kind of pulls you back. It became an eight-man front day."

Fortunately for USC, its own defense continues to make its case for one of the best units across college football. It did allow the Aggies to rush for 106 yards, the first opponent to rush for over 100 yards against the Trojans this season, but limited an offense averaging nearly 50 points to just two touchdowns and about half its average yards on offense. With the offense stalling, a defensive crackdown was less of a benefit and more of a lifeboat. "When we see them (USC's offense) struggling, we say "alright, we got to go hard and get a turnover," said linebacker and captain Hayes Pullard. "We're still not satisfied as a defense because we didn't get a turnover."

While the ball-hawking Trojan defense didn't notch a takeaway, they did remove USU quarterback Chuckie Keeton's threat as a runner. After rushing for just over 70 yards per game in the Aggies' first three match-ups, a swarming front seven limited the senior QB to -15 rushing yards on 12 carries. The sides combined to punt 15 times, with no touchdowns being scored in the game's final 23 minutes and nine seconds. Keeton passes for 179 yards on just 39 attempts. 

"He was the best quarterback we've played so far, and we got into his face," Pullard said. "We just contained him and kept him in the teeth of our defense."

In front of an announced crowd of 63,482 at the Coliseum, the Trojans started strong for the second straight week. USC marched 45 yards on their second drive into the end zone, with a 19-yard catch from Agholor and two straight pass interference calls on Utah State culminating in a one-yard scamper outside into the end zone by Tre Madden. 

On their first drive in the second quarter, Aggies running back Joey DeMartino scrambled to the right sideline and found himself in the clear, running 55 yards before being knocked down within the USC 10-yard line. Three plays later, USU wideout Brandon Swindall skied up in the end zone to snatch a Keeton toss out of the air, evening the score at 7 with 13:17 to go in the first half. USC tight end Randall Telfer dropped what would have been an easy 30-yard lob pass from Kessler on the next drive, but USC forced an Aggies three-and-out, then drove 70 yards on their next drive to retake the lead at 14-7. Kessler completed a 33-yard pass to Lee on the next Trojan possession, but fumbled the ball while being sacked on the next play as both sides remained scoreless in the half. 

After USC's first drive in the second half resulted in Andre Heidari's 46-yard field goal attempt zooming wide left, the Aggies responded with another march down the field. Running back Joe Hill ran for 33 yards on two straight balls, the Keeton found Travis Reynolds open near the goal line for a 10-yard touchdown pass to even the score. Thanks to a series of unimpressive Utah State special teams plays, including a 12-yard shanked punt followed by a direct snap on 4th and 11 that failed miserably, USC started their drives at the Aggies' 34 yard line or closer on three straight drives.. The Trojans finished with three points to show for it. 

"Our defense and special teams kept getting us great position, but we weren't able to blow the game out at those positions," Kiffin said. 

The Aggies couldn't convert on their final drive in the fourth quarter, with defensive lineman George Uko tackling Keeton three yards shy of the first down. 

Yet as the announced crowd of 63,482 saw (the actual attendance appeared closer to 45,000-50,000), these Trojans still have work to do. Lee and Telfer both dropped long throws from Kessler. The usually-immaculate Trojan defense allowed two big plays of over 40 yards to the Aggies. The punt coverage was brilliant, pinning Utah State within their own 5 yard line twice, but the return game was near-invisible while Heidari appears to be still looking for his accuracy from 2011.

And don't forget injuries. "We were extremely banged-up going into the game," Kiffin said. "Very low numbers." With Kessler icing his hand after the game and Lee "not even close" to 100 percent according to Kiffin, the issue doesn't appear to be improving down the road either. 

The Trojans are 3-1, but with the offense struggling during stretches, Saturday's win reminded more of USC's 10-7 loss to Washington State than last week's 35-7 surge over Boston College. Still, the Trojans had the same 3-1 record at this point in 2012's 7-6 campaign, as well as four games into 2011's 10-2 season. 

The defense looks elite; the offense lukewarm. But for the embattled head coach, with a trip to Arizona State looming next week, the focus is not on the result but on what comes of it. "Nobody remembers that," Kiffin said on the game's low score. "That's the topic for the next 48 hours and that's fine. Every team has games like that early on. You got to win those games, and we did that today."

Reach Senior Sports Editor Jacob Freedman here or follow him here.