Trojans outrun Sun Devils
TEMPE, Ariz. – After another shaky start, No. 1 USC turned loose those Trojan horses in the backfield.
The strength and speed of LenDale White and Reggie Bush lifted the two-time defending national champions out of trouble on a sweltering Saturday in the desert.
White rushed for 197 yards in 19 attempts, Bush gained 158 on 17 carries, and the Trojans rallied from 18 points down at the half to beat No. 14 Arizona State 38-28, breaking a Pacific-10 Conference and school record with their 26th victory in a row.
Southern California (4-0, 2-0) abandoned Matt Leinart’s big-play passing game in favor of the run, and the Sun Devils (3-2, 1-1) were helpless to stop it.
“They didn’t try anything fancy in the second half,” Sun Devils coach Dirk Koetter said. “They just ran the two tailbacks at us.”
The Trojans outrushed the Sun Devils 373-68 in a matchup of two of the nation’s most prolific offenses.
“We just pounded the football in the second half,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “It was a beautiful job by the offensive linemen, a beautiful job by Reggie and LenDale.”
Bush had touchdown runs of 24 and 34 yards, the second one giving the Trojans the lead for good 31-28 with 3 minutes, 44 seconds to go. White scored on romps of 32 and 46 yard, the latter putting USC up 38-28 with 2:22 left after Arizona State’s Sam Keller was intercepted for the fourth time.
“They came out and fought real hard for a couple of quarters,” White said. “Here at ‘SC, we teach ‘finish.’ It’s not about how the first and second quarter ends or the third, it’s about how you finish in the fourth quarter.”
Keller completed 26 of 45 for 347 yards and two TDs but was intercepted five times, four in the second half. Keller had been intercepted only twice going into the game, both in the season opener.
He had thrown 131 passes without a pick before Oscar Lua’s interception in the second quarter.
“We very well could have won that game, and I think they were scared, too, at a lot of points in that game,” Keller said. “A few bad plays by me, if they don’t happen, then we win.”
Terry Richardson’s 84-yard punt return gave Arizona State a 7-0 lead and the Sun Devils led 21-3 at the half, letting their fans revel in the 97-degree heat.
It was the second week in a row that USC fell behind on the road and rallied. Last week at Oregon, the Trojans trailed 13-0 but scored the next 45 points.
“We have our way at halftime,” Carroll said. “Our guys know that situation well enough now that they know what’s going to come from me, I know how they’re going to respond, and we’re going to go about our business in a particular manner that gives us a chance to win – because basically they believe they can’t be beat.”
USC has outscored opponents in the second half 140-28 this season, including 35-7 in front of a capacity Sun Devil Stadium crowd of 71,706.
Still, after Leinart’s 1-yard sneak put USC ahead for the first time, 24-21 with 8:46 to play, ASU overcame a personal foul penalty that made it first-and-25 at its 15 to go the length of the field.
Keller’s 24-yard pass down the sidelines to Rudy Burgess and Burgess’ 6-yard run to the 1 set up a scoring toss to Lee Burghgraef that put Arizona State up 28-24 with 5:57 to play.
The Trojans needed five plays, three of them on the ground, to retake the lead. Bush’s 34-yard ramble capped the drive.
On the next possession, Derek Hagan went high to catch Keller’s pass over the middle. The ball slipped out of his hands and into the arms of USC’s Kevin Ellison. White’s 46-yard TD run gave USC a comfortable lead for the first time.
Hagan had 10 catches for 162 yards.
USC punted four times in the first quarter, equaling its previous total for the entire season. The usually poised Trojans were penalized eight times in the first quarter, four for false starts.
“For the second week in a row we just were on a torrid pace to self-destruct in the first quarter,” Carroll said.
On one series, the Trojans were at the Arizona State 35 after a roughing-the-passer penalty, but a false start, personal foul and false start on consecutive plays pushed the ball back to the USC 44.
The first penalty occurred after Leinart left the game for a play. He was shaken up on an ASU roughing call.
“I got my head hit pretty good,” said Leinart, who completed 23 of 39 for 258 yards and was not intercepted. “I don’t know if I was all there the whole game, but I just battled.”