LOS ANGELES -- With their path to the Pac-12 title game suddenly in peril, No. 17 USC stepped on the gas and left No. 22 Arizona behind them.

Ronald Jones II rushed for 194 yards and three touchdowns as USC outlasted Arizona for a 49-35 win Saturday night at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

USC (8-2, 6-1 Pac-12) took sole possession of first place in the South Division.

"It's great knowing we control our own destiny," Jones said. "We're really looking forward to going to Colorado and competing in the Pac-12 Championship Game."

A win on Nov. 10 seals the South's berth, with USC now holding head-to-head wins against both of the division's two-loss teams, Arizona and Arizona State.

Jones scored from five yards out with 6:04 remaining in the third quarter as USC built a 28-6 lead before holding on.

He later scored twice on one-yard runs in a span of 2:28 in the fourth after Arizona tied the game at 35-35 on a short TD run by Zach Green.

The Trojans needed the assist from their offense once Arizona quarterback Khalil Tate got rolling.

"I was one of the main people hyping (Tate) up on the sideline," Wildcats linebacker Tony Fields II said. "I knew once he scored one, it was going to be a big deal, and that's what happened. Our whole momentum changed."

Stymied throughout the first half, Tate's two passing touchdowns to Shun Brown and J.J. Taylor, a rushing score before Green scored and a two-point conversion brought Arizona (6-3, 4-2) roaring back from down 28-6 to force a 35-35 tie with 8:23 left.

Jones' first TD in the fourth capped a 72-yard drive with 5:37 remaining. His second TD occurred shortly after Ajene Harris intercepted Tate at the Arizona 25.

"I was expecting them to run that play," Harris said of the deep route on which he picked off Tate. "When they ran it, I made a play on the ball."

USC's ability to exploit what Fields described as "small mistakes" made a big difference down the stretch. In addition to Harris' interception, the scoring drive that broke the tie got a huge lift on a 33-yard Sam Darnold pass to Jones, on which Fields said he was simply beat.

"He's pretty fast. Great ball, great catch," Fields said.

Tate came into Saturday's contest with 926 rushing yards, accrued almost entirely over the four-game stretch preceding the USC matchup. He finished with 161 rushing yards, but was sacked five times.

Arizona allowed five sacks total in its previous eight games.

Darnold completed 20-of-26 pass attempts for 311 yards with three touchdowns.

Aca'Cedric Ware added 122 yards on the ground and scored on a 42-yard TD run early in the fourth.

Tate completed 14-of-31 passes for 146 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

"He's a very special player," USC head coach Clay Helton said of Tate, a Los Angeles native. "I told him afterward he honored his family and his city. We've watched him grow up. He's going to be a true talent in this league."

USC built a 21-6 halftime advantage on the strength of two Darnold touchdown passes and a physically imposing effort from the Trojans defense.

USC hammered Arizona on both lines in the first half, rushing for 151 yards by intermission while limiting the Wildcats to just 34. Arizona averaged 2.4 yards per carry for the half, almost five full yards below its season average.

"We had played so poorly in every phase, it's hard to play much worse," Arizona head coach Rich Rodriguez said of Arizona's first-half performance.

The Trojans did not score an offensive touchdown until midway through the second quarter, however, when Darnold found wide receiver Tyler Vaughns on a 22-yard scoring strike. Darnold struck again in the quarter on a 27-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Steven Mitchell.

Arizona scored in the first half on Lucas Havrisik field goals of 44 and 43 yards.

NOTES: USC RB Ronald Jones II became the first Trojan with back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons since LenDale White in 2004 and 2005. ... Arizona QB Khalil Tate became the first Pac-12 quarterback to rush for at least 1,000 yards in a season. ... DB Dane Cruikshank's first-quarter interception extended Arizona's streak of games with at least one interception to four. The Wildcats' 14 interceptions before Saturday's game tied them for third most in the FBS. ... USC TE Daniel Imatorbhebhe, who had been limited by a hip injury much of the season, made a 17-yard reception in the second quarter for his first catch since Sept. 2.