USC-Cal: All Defense, Penalties and Missed Calls

To give you some idea of how bad it really was, there were a total of 18 penalties for 173 yards. USC broke the century mark. They had 10 for 105 yards.

The final score was Trojans 17 – Bears 3. But the actual score should have been 10-10 and gone into overtime. This, despite the Trojans outgaining the Bears 411 yards to 165.

The defense has only given up 7 touchdowns all season. Again, they kept Cal out of the end zone with the help of a penalty and held the Bears to more than 40 yards below the Trojans average of 211 yards that leads the nation.

For the Trojan offense it was a completely different story. The offensive line gave up four sacks. At one point late in the fourth quarter, the Trojans were just one-for-seven on third down conversions. And those 10 penalties – most were on the offense.

Here’s how the play-by-play went for the most part.

The game started with the Bears at their 30. Taking a page from the Oregon State playbook, the Bears tried to beat USC up front but a direct snap to Jahvid Best on a third-and-one was high, and Best had to leap just to keep it from sailing downfield.

After Stafon Johnson returned a punt to the 33, C.J. Gable ran for a first down, a play action to Gable and a roll out pass from Sanchez to tight end Rhett Ellison got it to the Cal 30. Then a pass to Damian Williams brought it to the 15. Two rushes gained only five yards. Then an end zone pass to Williams was incomplete.

Cornerback Darian Hagan had perfect coverage on Williams, and David Buehler came in and kicked a 27-yard field goal to put USC up 3-0.

After Cary Harris batted away a third-and-ten pass, the Trojans took over at the 21. Joe McKnight slid past Syd’Quan Thompson for a first down, but a holding penalty negated another first-down pass to McKnight.

Gable sprinted off a Jeff Byers block to get back the penalty yardage and a first down to the 42. But another false start dropped USC back five yards, and Mike Mohamed sacked Sanchez to end the drive.

After a poor punt, Cal took over at their 19. A third-down pass to Best gave Cal a first-down at the 30. Then Longshore hit Cameron Morrah for another first down at the USC 48 to end the first quarter.

Longshore started the second quarter, hitting Nyan Boateng and so did Cary Harris. But Boateng held on for another Cal first down.

Then the penalty flags began to fly, and I do mean fly.

Kevin Thomas intercepted a Longshore pass, but Brian Cushing got a roughing the passer penalty to keep the Cal drive alive.

Backed up to their own 18, the USC defense went to work. This time Taylor Mays intercepted, but a pass interference penalty on Kaluka Maiava put the Bears at the USC 11.

Turnabout as fair play, a holding penalty pushed the Bears back to the 25. The seven-minute, penalty-riddled drive ended with a 35-yard field goal by Georgio Tavecchio.

After their long layoff, the Trojan offense started at the 29, and Sanchez promptly hit McCoy for a 20-yard pass and run. On third down from the Cal 48, Sanchez found a wide open Damian Williams across the middle and took it down to the Cal 16.

Then guess what? A false start against Charles Brown brought it back to the 21. A screen to McKnight went absolutely no where. No problem. On third down, Sanchez stepped back and threw a laser to Patrick Turner in the end zone. 10-3 Trojans.

But wait a second! The replay showed that Turner trapped the ball. The officials missed it. Jeff Tedford missed it. Pete Carroll rushed in the kicking team for the PAT, and Trojans stole one.

At best the score should have been 6-3 with a Buehler field goal and a 3-3 tie if Buehler missed it. But 10-3 was on the board and in the books.

After Emerson Griffen and Clay Matthews sacked Longshore with 57 seconds left in the half. Two running plays and a short pass to McKnight got the ball to midfield, but the half ended on a sack of Sanchez.

Although the Trojans outgained the Bears 211 yards to 83, allowing only 4 yards rushing, the key stat was 6 penalties for 60 yards. Two of them negating two Trojan interceptions that allowed Cal to kick their field goal.

USC opened the second half with a dropped pass and a fumbled snap and had to punt to the Bears.

Kevin Riley, who suffered a concussion last week, took over for Longshore and completed his first pass out to the 35. Then he hit Verran Tucker on a 32-yard pass and followed it up with a perfect TD strike to tailback Shane Vereen.

But an ineligible player downfield brought the play back. The score should have been Cal 10 – Trojans 6 or 3.

After a pass interference penalty on the Will Harris gave Cal another chance at the USC 15, Will Harris made up for the penalty by deflecting a pass into Josh Pinkard’s hands, and the Trojans took over at their own four.

Gable ran the ball out to the 20, but the Bears stymied the Trojan offense from there.

Syd’Quan Thompson ran the ensuing punt back to the Trojan 37. Kevin Thomas blitzed and sacked Riley at the 43. Taylor Mays and Will Harris broke up a pass intended for Morrah. Next Mays hit Boateng to break up a third-down pass, forcing a Cal punt.

A nice run by Havili after a flare pass from Sanchez went for naught as a couple plays later the offensive line broke down once more and gave up another sack to ring up yet another three-and-out.

After the defense had stopped the Bears, another roughing the passer penalty – this one on Everson Griffen – gained Griffen a seat on the bench and the Bears renewed life.

A quick hitter to the fullback Will Ta’fu’ou gained 21 yards. The Trojan defense again stiffened, and the Bears had to punt.

The third quarter ended on a Stafon Johnson first down run with USC still ahead 10-3.

At this point, I could care less who won. I just wanted to see this sloppy, undisciplined, penalty-riddled, poor excuse for a football game end.

With Texas Tech, Florida, Oklahoma and Texas destroying their opponents tonight, there was absolutely no question that USC did not belong in the national championship game – unless they left their offense back in L.A. and just sent the defense.

If there were any doubts, the first series of the fourth quarter should have ended them.

A first down run by Stafon Johnson and a pass to McCoy for another first down set up an amazing run by Joe McKnight. Only problem, he twisted, shifted and juked once too often and lost the ball. Cal recovered.

The Trojans tenth penalty negated another sack on Riley. But Cushing burst through untouched on the next play to take Riley down again. After an incomplete pass, Cal punted back to the so far inept Trojan offense.

McCoy racked up another 20-yard pass and run to the Cal 43. But the drive quickly sputtered as the Trojan failed to convert on third down for the sixth time in seven tries.

Unbelievable!

Again the stellar Trojan defense came up huge and turned another three-and-out.

Then, finally, the offense converted a third down as Sanchez hit Turner for 17 yards along the sideline. Gable ran off tackle for nine more. Stafon Johnson picked up the first down for the Trojans second-consecutive third down conversion.

Sanchez found Williams for more 11 yards. Gable bounced outside for another 12 yards to put the Trojans well within David Buehler’s field goal range.

On a third-and-two from the 6, Sanchez threw a quick flare to Ronald Johnson in the flat. Damian Williams’ block cleared the path for RoJo, and the Trojans finally hit paydirt after a long, long draught. 17-3.

After a penalty, a Kyle Moore and Clay Matthews sack, and a short completion, Cal went for a fourth-and-nine. Fili Moala caught up to Riley and wrestled him down just as he flipped the ball up. And that was the game.

Not a very crisp game as far as the offense was concerned. In fact, they looked dreadful for a long stretch from the second quarter all the way to their last drive late in the fourth quarter.

The Trojans entered the season with their offensive line being somewhat suspect. I think the way they have played so far against a few of the better teams in the Pac-10, namely Arizona, Cal and Oregon State, bear this out.

But as sluggish as the offense looked for most of the game, the defense was nothing short of spectacular. Allowing only two TDs in their last six games and none in the second half is a remarkable accomplishment, especially against teams like Arizona and Cal that are averaging close to 40 points per game.

So, the Trojans are now 8-1 and looking forward to a revenge matchup at Stanford next weekend. Until then, fight on!