USC thumps Stanford

LOS ANGELES – There was little drama in the first game pitting longtime friends Pete Carroll and Walt Harris against each other as head coaches.

Southern California saw to that.

USC scored on each of its seven first-half possessions to take an insurmountable lead, and Carroll’s top-ranked Trojans went on to beat Stanford 51-21 Saturday night.

Matt Leinart passed for 259 yards and four touchdowns, Reggie Bush rushed for 113 yards and another score, and the Trojans (9-0, 6-0 Pac-10) had no trouble extending their conference-record winning streak to 31 games.

USC, shooting for an unprecedented third straight national championship, also has a 25-game winning streak at home and a 21-game streak against Pac-10 opponents. The Trojans’ last loss at the Coliseum was a 21-16 setback to Stanford on Sept. 29, 2001 – Carroll’s fourth game as coach.

The victory before a crowd of 90,212 boosted USC into undisputed possession of first place in the Pac-10. No. 7 UCLA lost at Arizona 52-14 earlier in the day to fall into a second-place tie with No. 15 Oregon.

Leinart completed 20 of 25 passes for 245 yards and four touchdowns in the first half, and wound up going 22 of 28 with no interceptions. He played just one series in the second half.