USC Blows Out Washington State, 69-0…Defense!!

The Trojans started off pretty much as expected.  Using the right side of the line where Nick Howell was filling in for Butch Lewis, the 43-point favorites drove 77 yards in 5 plays. Mark Sanchez ended the drive, hitting Patrick Turner on a 23-yard touchdown pass.

After a WSU three-and-out, It was Sanchez connecting with Turner again, this time for 14 yards and a score to complete a 6-play, 63 yard drive. A fade route to Ronald Johnson down the right sideline set up the score.

Following another Cougar three-and-out, Sanchez hit Johnson again on another fade route this time down the left sideline to set the Trojans up at the nine. On a third-and-three, Ronald Johnson caught a toss from Sanchez to finish off the 6-play, 49-yard drive.

On a third-and-four, Kevin Lupina threw his first pass of the game and hit Jeshua Anderson for a Cougar first down. The Trojan defense clamped down after that and forced the Cougars third punt of the game to end the first quarter with the Trojans up 21-0. The Trojans had 7 first downs and 194 yards to the Cougars 18 yards and 1 first down.

A 22-yard pass to fullback Stanley Havili put the Trojans on the 17, and C.J. Gable took it in from there, waiting for Havili to take out a blitzing linebacker and then bursting into the endzone.

The Cougars did manage to block the conversion attempt to limit the Trojan lead to 27-0 for the moment anyway.

After David Buehler’s fourth straight kickoff into the endzone, the Cougars started out at the 20 once again and another three-and-out.

Mixing runs with passes, the Trojans drove down to the 19, where Sanchez overthrew Turner on two consecutive plays. C.J. Gable could only manage 1 yard on a third-and-ten student body left.

So what did the Trojans do on a fourth-and-seven? Sanchez threw to Ronald Johnson for a 16-yard TD, and USC was up 34-0.

Buehler put it in the end zone again. Then on a third down screen pass, Josh Pinkard stripped the ball from Jeshua Anderson and USC recovered on the 28.

On a third-and-three from the 21, Sanchez faked twice then hit tight end Anthony McCoy over the middle. McCoy bounced off two tacklers and tipped-toed down the right sideline for a TD.

With that play, Sanchez tied a USC record of five TD passes in a game and set a USC record of five TD passes in a half.

The Trojans took the ball down to the 10 but let the clock run out – mercifully if nothing else – and went into the locker room up 41-0.

USC had 20 first downs to the Cougars 1. They racked up 253 yards in the air and 155 on the ground to just 12 yards passing and only 5 yards rushing on 16 carries for the Cougars. That’s a total of 408 yards to just 17.

At halftime, Pete Carroll said the Trojans would run the ball in the second half. True to his word, Carroll and his offensive coordinator, Steve Sarkisian, would call only one pass play the entire half.

The Cougars actually started out the second half with a would-be first down but Brian Cuashing strippped the ball away from Logwone Mitz, the tailback, and Josh Pinkard recovered for Trojans.

After a holding penalty and a couple of running plays, the Greg Woidneck came in for the Trojans first punt of the day and put the ball in the end zone for a touchback.

With the Trojans playing without Cushing and Maualuga and several other starters, Mitz redeemed himself with a first down burst and then ran through Malcolm Smith on the next play for his second consecutive first down. But a holding penalty set the Cougars back, and they were forced to punt once again.

Mitch Mustain took over for Mark Sanchez, but the O-line remained intact for the 5-play 74-yard drive. Mustain hit Travon Patterson for a first down. (USC’s only pass of the second half.) Then Stafon Johnson went straight up the middle for 41 yards. Johnson pulled up lame on the play, and C. J, Gable came into the game to finish off the drive from three yards out.

Buehler did his thing again, and the Cougars did theirs, going three-and-out once more.

The Trojans kept it on the ground with C.J. Gable picking up two first downs. Then Broderick Green went 27 yards to the one, and on the first play of the fourth quarter, Green finished off the drive with his first career touchdown and a 55-0 Trojan lead.

The Cougars decided to bring out the Buehler kickoff and only reached the 14. But a reverse to Jeshua Anderson fooled the Trojan backups, and the Cougars had their fourth first down at the 38. It would be their last.

Malik Jackson hit Lupina just as he threw, and Will Harris intercepted taking the ball back 27 yards to the Cougars 18.

From there Broderick Green scored his second career touchdown on consecutive touches and a 62-0 Trojan lead.

After another Buehler end zone kickoff and yet another Cougars three-and-out, Aaron Corp took over for Mustain. Broderick Green continued to run the ball as Pete Carroll cleared his bench.

The Cougars forced the second punt of the game from Greg Woidneck and took over at their 8-yard line with 8:29 left and trying to avoid their first shutout since 1956. They got as far as the 10.

Garrett Green came in at quarterback, the fourth one of the day for USC. Green, the quarterback, threw a block to spring Green, the running back, for 28 yards down to the 9. Green took it down to the four, and C. J. Gable took it in from there to make the score 69-0.

And for the first time since 1956 and 181 games, the Cougars were held scoreless. It was the Trojans first back-to-back shutout (last week they shutout Arizona State, 28-0) since 1971 when they shutout Florida State and Illinois in consecutive games.

USC had 28 first downs to 4 for the Cougars. The Trojans racked up 624 yards to 116 for WSU. Sanchez was 15 of 20 for 253 yards, and Mitch Mustain was 1 of 1 for 10 yards.

The Trojans had 361 yards rushing to 88 for the Cougars. The Trojans also had three 100-yard running backs. Broderick Green rumbled for 116 yards on 18 carries. Stafon Johnson gained 111 yards on 10 carries. C.J. Gable ran for 104 yards on 16 carries.

After the game, Pete Carroll said he was pleased with his team’s energy. “We had a lot of energy on the sidelines. We had a good push into the second half of the season. This is why these road games are so criticial in the Pac-10. So, I’m really pleased with the game we played.” Carroll added, “I feel bad for these guys (Washington State). They’re struggling trying to get their program going. It was a hard day for them.”

Talking about the way his defense has played the last few games, Carroll said, “Hopefully, we can to keep this thing rolling and just keep building on it. We got out of here healthy, and we got a chance to be good again next week. So, you know, it’s just one game, and we’ve got another one now.”

This will be the 95^th consecutive week that Carroll’s USC teams have been ranked in the Top 25.

Next week the Trojans take on the Arizona Wildcats in Tempe, Arizona.