Darron Thomas threw four touchdown passes, Jeff Maehl caught three scoring passes and LaMichael James rushed for 239 yards and three touchdowns as No. 1 Oregon defeated host USC 53-32 in a Pac-10 game on Saturday night.

Thomas hit Maehl on touchdown plays of 15, 45 and 30 yards, the latter of which gave Oregon (8-0, 5-0) a 36-32 lead midway through the third quarter.

James, who set a school-record with his 15th career 100-yard rushing game, scored on a 42-yard scamper in the second quarter and had second-half scoring runs of 2 and 8 yards.

Maehl caught eight passes for 145 yards.

USC (5-3, 2-3) trailed 29-17 at halftime but scored 15 points early in the third quarter to take a three-point lead. Matt Barkley tossed a 5-yard scoring pass to Ronald Johnson for one touchdown, and later scored on a 1-yard run and threw a two-point pass to Johnson.

Marc Tyler rushed for two first-half touchdowns for the Trojans.

Thomas was 19-of-32 passing for 288 yards. He also connected on a 33-yard scoring pass to Lavasier Tuinei in the second quarter.

Barkley passed for 261 yards but was intercepted twice.