USC Defense Shuts Out Arizona State 28-0

On a day when USC could have been beaten, the Arizona State offense was not up to the task.  On a day when the USC offense would commit five turnovers, including four consecutive miscues by Mark Sanchez, the Sun Devils could not dent the stifling USC offense despite having so many short field opportunities.

Pete Carroll could not be pleased with those five tunrovers.  If he should happen to talk up this game and say he was satisfied with the offensive effort, don’t believe him. Although the Trojans won, it was a case of bad to worse for the middle parts of both halves.

Mark Sanchez and the offense exploded out of the gate, going 72 yards in 8 plays capped off by Sanchez sneaking it in from the one. The score was set up by a 34-yard play-action pass to Ronald Johnson.

Both offenses bogged down for the rest of the first quarter and well into the second, punting the ball back and forth. Although Arizona State was unable to move the ball, they did manage to keep USC pinned deep in their own end. And the Trojans seemed satisfied to bide their time.

Finally, late in the quarter, USC broke out of the doldrums and drove 80 yards in 7 plays. Sanchez hit Patrick Turner for a first down. Then on a third-and-three scramble, Sanchez hit Ronald Johnson down the sideline. Damian Williams got into the act, not catching as usual but running on an end-around to take the ball down to the four. Again Sanchez dialed up Williams’ number, this time hitting him with a the four-yard bullet for the score.

The Trojans immediately followed this score with another as Kevin Thomas, stepping in front of ASU’s Michael Jones, picked off Rudy Carpenter’s pass and took it back 45 yards for a 21-0 USC lead.

An errant ASU snap sent the ball rolling all the way back to the 15, where USC recovered but came up short on a fourth-and-five fake field goal.

Arizona State actually had more first downs than USC (12-9) in the first half, and Pete Carroll wasn’t very pleased about that. He felt the Trojans couldn’t open up their offense because they were backed up a number of times in their own end. He blamed that on the defense. “We’re giving up too many yards,” he said as he went into the locker room.

The second half started off as a series of mishaps for Mark Sanchez and USC.

Arizona State sacked Sanchez and recovered his fumble on Trojan 25. A face mask penalty put the ball on the 12, but the Trojan defense stiffened and Fili Moala blocked a 29-yard field goal attempt.

As if ASU didn’t have enough opportunities to get on the boards, Mark Sanchez gave them yet another when he should have thrown the ball away or taken a sack. Instead he forced a flair pass that was intercepted inside the 20.

Once more, the Trojan defense was up to the task. Rey Maualuga knocked Rudy Carpenter out of the game, and Fili Moala blocked another field goal attempt – an NCAA record.

But then Mark Sanchez committed his third consecutive turnover. This time he underthrew Ronald Johnson, and Omar Boldon intercepted.

The Trojan defense held the Sun Devils to three and out.

The usually reliable Damian Williams uncharacteristically bobbled a pass right into the outstretched hands of Troy Nolan for the Trojans fourth consecutive turnover.

Again USC forced a three and out. Although the Trojan offense couldn’t move the ball, at least they did manage to avoid their fifth consecutive turnover but only barely. Sanchez nearly had another errant pass picked off.

The Trojan defense again did what they had done all during the second half – stop the Sun Devils cold. Finally, the Trojan offense, or I should say, Joe McKnight got into gear. After Number 4 ripped off a couple of long runs to put the ball on the 2, Stafon Johnson took it in from there.

McKnight accounted for 68 of the 91 yards on the 8-play drive to put USC up 28-0.

But with under two minutes in the game and the defense pitching a shut out, Marc Tyler mishandled a pitch from Mitch Mustain and the Sun Devils recovered on the USC 38.

It was the Trojans fifth turnover of the half. The Sun Devils drove down to the USC 10 but true freshman, T.J. Bryant came up with his first interception to end the drive and preserve the shutout.

Sanchez was 13 out of 26 for 179 yards with 1 TD and 3 interceptions. Rudy Carpenter was 11 out of 20 for 126 yards with 1 interception.

Ronald Johnson had 3 receptions for 71 yards. Patrick Turner also had 3 catches for 38 yards. Damian Williams grabbed 2 passes for 23 yards.

Michael Jones had 4 catches for the Sun Devils for 51 yards. Dimitri Nance caught 5 passes out of the backfield for 31 yards. Chris McGaha had 1 catch for 39 yards.

Joe McKnight had his best game rushing with 143 yards on 11 carries. C.J. Gable rushed for 30 yards on 7 carries. Wide receiver Damian Williams ironically enough matched his receiving totals, running for 23 yards on 2 carries, and Stafon Johnson had 16 yards on 9 carries.

Dimitri Nance racked up 64 yards for the Sun Devils on 14 carries while Keegan Herring gained 34 yards on 8 carries.

Besides their 5 second-half turnovers, USC drew 10 penalties for 88 yards. They were 7 for 16 on third downs compared to ASU’s 3 for 18. Both teams had 16 first downs.

After the game, T. J. Bryant, whose first collegiate interception iced the shutout for USC, spoke about how it felt waiting to finally get his shot. “It took a lot of patience. I just had to maximized my opportunities.”

Pete Carroll praised his defense for the effort they expended to keep the Sun Devils out of the end zone. “The guys played fantastic football. Time and time again when we made mistakes on offense and put the ball back in (ASU’s) hands, the defense would just not hear of it. It was a really dominant game. We stopped them on third down and had four great turnovers and could’ve had six or seven easily.”