TROJANS SURVIVE PENALTY-FILLED EVENING; DEFENSE FLAGS DOWN CALIFORNIA 17-3

There were a number of story lines behind the Trojans’ victory, including the near awesome performance by Pete Carroll’s defense, the fourth quarter gut-drive by the Trojans’ inconsistent offense, and the incredible continuation of the penalties that have been the bane in the backside of both the Trojan coaching staff and their legion of fans.

First, let’s start with the Trojans’ defense. When this unit of future pros isn’t making a penalty that allows a team like Cal a chance to continue on offense and use the clock, man are they good. Like Trojan history good, my friends. This Cal offense didn’t score a touchdown. That’s right, a Jeff Tedford offense did not score a single touchdown in sixty minutes of college football, the first time since 2003.

“The defense was playing like crazy, lights out tonight, “ said a gregarious Pete Carroll afterwards. “I really felt the game was more in control than the score showed.

“I love how our guys kept playing, but we were getting a bit over-aggressive at times keeping their drives alive. We have a high regard for Cal and to hold them the way we did tonight is a major accomplishment. We have a chance to be a really good team with this defense.”

We should say so, coach. With just three games remaining against Stanford, Notre Dame, and UCLA, the verdict is already in. This team’s defense is already good and may be bordering on great. A defensive sweep of those remaining three schools and a big bowl challenge will place this defense amongst the best in the school’s history, at least statistically. Now 5-0 thus far in the Coliseum in 2008, the Trojans have also outscored their opponents 180-16 at home and that second number is mighty impressive by any standards. Notre Dame, the Trojans final home opponent should be thrilled to hear those numbers.

Speaking of statistics, the Trojans also won the war of numbers on Saturday evening. In total offense, it was a mismatch with the Cardinal and Gold holding a commanding 411-165-yard advantage. In the rushing yards department, the Trojans made the Bears look silly 173-27. Passing yardage was little more competitive at 238-138. Of particular note was that this Trojan offense had the most offensive yardage against Cal by an opponent this season. So there, you offensive critics. Okay, so the Trojan offense again scored 21 points or less for the third time this season, but that’s a discussion for another time.

For those gridiron bean counters, let’s make sure we also mention that Pete Carroll is now 25-0 in the month of November with Stanford and Notre Dame still on this month’s agenda.

The night belonged to the defense, a defense that was lead by superstar senior linebackers Rey Maualuga (10 tackles),Brian Cushing (9 tackles) and junior free safety Taylor Mays.

“We’re playing really well right now,” Cushing said. “We have a lot of seniors out there who know their roles. We are playing aggressive. We just know how to play.

“Taylor (Mays) really showed up for us tonight, especially in the deep passing game. He was flying around. He was really showing off his speed and aggression. He made some big plays for us.”

The Trojans’ offense, which has so many individual stars, was again a conundrum for most of the way, but the pieces all fit together in the decisive fourth quarter 73-yard scoring drive that put the Bears out of their misery and into hibernation.

“We really felt a sense of urgency,” Sanchez said. “The defense had been playing well all night and we needed to step up. We did a good job of keeping the ball away from them. RoJo (Ronald Johnson) made a nice catch and punched it in. I thought we also did a good job running the ball.”

In that final drive which began with 7:48 remaining in the game and the Trojans holding onto a 10-3 lead, quarterback Mark Sanchez led his team on a gutsy 13-play drive that covered 13 plays, mixing in the run and the pass, and culminating with a quick strike of 6 yards to sophomore receiver Ronald Johnson, who got some key blocks from Patrick Turner and Damian Williams to slither into the end zone with 2:29 remaining in the game.

It was the type of drive, devoid of penalties, that Trojan fans have been waiting to see. David Buehler added the extra point and the game was in the Chick Hearn refrigerator 17-3. Did we mention the drive shaved off four and a half minutes off the game clock?

“We made some big plays in that final drive,” said Steve Sarkisian, the Trojans’ offensive coordinator. “We started to get confidence, but before that we seemed to be just running plays. Early in the game, we were effective, but then we would just shoot ourselves in the foot and just did it to ourselves.”

For Trojan quarterback Mark Sanchez, 18 of 29 for 238 yards, two touchdown passes, and no interceptions, it was all about following orders. The Trojan coaching staff did not want the junior to try and beat a Cal defense that was leading the nation in interceptions. Sanchez fulfilled the request of offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, especially on the final scoring drive.

The play of the offense, until the final drive, certainly got the attention of Pete Carroll, who tried to explain the inconsistency.

“It got shaky at times, but I thought we ran it consistently,” Carroll said. “You have to give Cal credit for some of that. To have no interceptions tonight is an accomplishment, especially against that defense. I like how we played tough.”    

Saturday night’s game was also another classic battle between Pete Carroll and Jeff Tedford. These two, despite the now lopsided dominance of Carroll over Tedford, remains a hotly contested battle. However, you can bet next month’s salary that this Saturday night’s game will never be shown on ESPN Classic. This baby had enough penalty flags to stretch from Los Angeles to Berkeley. The flags were as distracting as a baby’s cry at a dinner table at Lawry’s. Maybe fingers down a chalkboard might also apply. Yes, the flags were that distracting, like 105 Trojan yards worth of cloth.

“I am fighting like heck trying to get calls our way, but we had some obvious calls,” Carroll said. “The late hits and the pass interference calls are a concern and we’re on it. It hasn’t cost us games, but it could.”

What wasn’t distracting was another prime effort by the Trojans’ superlative defense, when they, too, weren’t committing mind numbing penalties. When the Trojans defense wasn’t being flagged, they were an awesome force of sacks, speed, and violent collisions. Just ask Cal’s twin quarterbacks Nate Longshore (11 of 15 for 79 yards) and Kevin Riley (4 of 16 for 59 yards and one interception) just how tough the Trojan defense is. Even dynamic, explosive tailback Jahvid Best was just plain suffocated (37 yards in 13 carries). Speaking of Best, the Trojans also held the speedster to 45 all-purpose yards, quite a feat when you consider he entered the game sixth in the nation with an average of 173.7 all-purpose yards per game.

“They bring a lot of pressure,” said Cal sophomore quarterback Kevin Riley, who relieved senior Longshore who started the game. “We knew that going in. I was trying to move around the pocket but they stepped up and kept getting hands on me. There were people open, but I just missed them.”

Speaking of rushing the ball, the Trojans finally agreed with their critics that running the ball was the key to victory, especially when the Bears standout defense would drop eight men into coverage. Providing the Trojan rushing balance was C.J. Gable  (81 yards on 10 carries) and Stafon Johnson (62 yards on 14 carries), both of whom displayed their talents effectively. For Gable, his slashing, darting style kept the Bears on their toes while Johnson displayed his pinball strength and balance.

The Trojan running backs didn’t go unnoticed after the game, and a number of Cal players were impressed with coach Todd McNair’s stable of thoroughbreds.

“They were very evasive,” said Cal defensive end Cameron Jordan, who finished with 6 tackles against the Cardinal and Gold. “They could run well. We thought we had them in the backfield some plays and they got by us.”

The first half of play was literally an unfunny comedy of penalty flags. It was so bad after the end of the first half that when the officials followed both teams to their respective locker rooms, a chorus of boos rained down on the Coliseum floor.

Was it justified? Well, the Trojans, who were averaging 75.4 yards in penalties per game, had already accumulated 60 first-half yards in penalties while Cal added their own laundry with an additional 20 yards. Eighty yards in first-half penalties? If it was a TV show, they would have cancelled it. It got so bad in the second quarter that in one segment, 5-of-6 plays were penalized in one form or another. Regardless of whom you wanted to blame, it created a very uneven flow and, from the Trojans’ point of view, gave Jeff Tedford’s Cal team more opportunities than they deserved.

Was the massive amount of penalties a case for the Trojans’ defense of being too aggressive or just plain sloppy?

“It could be a little of both,” linebacker Brian Cushing said. “We were trying to do everything we could to shut them down, but those penalties were hurting us a bit. We need to cut it down or it is going to hurt us down the road. Football is controlled chaos, but there’re rules. We’ll keep working at it.”    

The Trojans didn’t waste time at the game’s outset, sending an early statement to the Bears, as after the Men of Troy held Cal on their first possession, the Trojans marched 56 yards on their first drive in 8 plays to hatch a 27-yard field goal by David Buehler to make it 7-0 with 10:04 left in the first quarter. The drive was keyed by a beautiful Mark Sanchez pass to a wide-open tight end Rhett Ellison, who grabbed it for 25 yards.

The first quarter ended with the Trojans up 3-0, but Cal was on the drive at the Trojans 48-yard line.

The Trojans missed a golden opportunity to stop the Cal drive twice with interceptions, but both thefts (Kevin Thomas and Taylor Mays) were nullified by penalties by linebackers Brian Cushing (roughing the passer) and Kaluka Maiava (pass interference), which eventually led to a 35-yard field goal by true freshman Giorgio Tavecchio to tie the game at 3-3 with 8:21 left in the half. The Cal drive, which took a whopping 8:10 off the second quarter clock, was so full of penalty flags, you could hardly see the field. The Bears moved 63 yards in 12 plays.

“Hey, this was a Pac-10 game and Cal is a good team,” said Trojan senior defensive end Kyle Moore. “Tonight was a big-hitting game. Clay (Mathews) and Cush , the whole defense really came out hitting. It was a real banging game. We’re a defensive team and tonight it showed, but Cal came out really tough.”

With 5:01 left in the half, the Trojans struck back with a 19-yard touchdown pass right down Main Street from Mark Sanchez to Patrick Turner to cap a 70-yard drive in six plays. The drive, which took just a little over three minutes, was keyed by an explosive reception by Damian Williams, who rambled through the Bears’ secondary for 30 yards. David Buehler’s PAT made 10-3.

“We definitely had a few (offensive) players stand out,” Carroll said. “Patrick Turner really made some big plays for us. He did a great job layout for that touchdown and he came up with a big third-down reception, just owning the sidelines. Joe McKnight had an extraordinary run. It was unfortunate he lost the ball there.”

The first half ended with the Trojans ahead 10-3.

The Trojans statistically dominated the Bears in total offense 211-83, and may have silenced some of their critics who were urging more rushing, by outgaining the Bears 72-4 on the ground. The Trojans had more or less throttled the Bears offense in the first half of play, especially when the Cardinal and Gold weren’t being penalized.

Trojans’ quarterback Mark Sanchez was winning his personal first-half battle with Cal senior quarterback Nate Longshore. Sanchez was 9-of-12 for 139 and one touchdown. Longshore, who showed some surprising mobility by rolling out of the pocket, was 11-of-15 for 79 yards. Neither quarterback was credited with an interception, but that was a bit of a mirage, thanks to the penalty flags that took two PIs away from the Trojans.

The third quarter was more of the same with some ridiculous penalties by both sides and Cal doing most of the scoring threats but coming away empty handed. The best thing to say about this quarter for the Trojans is that they came away unscathed after some near, you guessed it, disastrous penalties.

However, the Bears tried to pick up the pace offensively in the second half by inserting Kevin Riley in at quarterback to get some additional movement in the pocket.

“With the pass rush they (USC) had in the first half, I felt like Kevin could move around and make some plays,” said coach Jeff Tedford. “Nate wasn’t playing poorly. He had a couple of bad decisions in the first half on interceptions that we were lucky to get back on penalties.”

Then came the final quarter and the offensive drive that could be remembered as the one that took the Trojans to yet another BCS game, destination still unknown.

“Tonight was like a championship game,” said wide receiver Damian Williams. “Cal was a great team, and we had to dig down deep and keep scratching and try to make things go our way.”

Speaking of going “our way,” now the Trojans await Sunday’s BCS rankings and with the Penn State loss at Iowa, it would figure that Pete Carroll’s club might climb a slot or two.

“We can’t play for other people, “ said Mark Sanchez, in answer to a question regarding if Saturday’s offensive performance and final score would have a sway on Sunday’s BCS rankings. “Tonight was a big win. Sometimes we win big and sometimes we struggle. We just can’t be playing for other people.”

Trojan Pigskin Review – Running back Broderick Green did not dress and reports are that the sophomore running backs intends to transfer…The Trojans reported no injuries in Saturday’s physical game…USC now lead the Cal series 61-39-5…Placekicker David Buehler’s 27-yard field goal improved him to 6-of-7 on the season and 3-of-3 of field goals inside of 30 yards. Buehler also finished the day with two touchbacks in four kickoffs… Mark Sanchez now has thrown at least one touchdown pass in all 12 of his career starts and at least two scoring passes in nine starts…Patrick Turner’s 19-yard touchdown reception gives him a team-best eight this season and 15 for a career… Temperature at kickoff was 73 degrees … Linebacker Clay Mathews was saluted as the Lowe’s Senior Salute for academic excellence… Another estimated 1,000 local youths were in attendance as part of the Trojans’ Kid’s Corner  program…There was an Air Force flyover during the National Anthem…Senior CB Josh Pinkard’s third quarter interception in the end zone was the third of his career… The Trojans honored former USC baseball player and current Phillie Geoff Jenkins with Geoff participating in the pre-game coin toss… The 1958 USC freshman men’s swimming team, which formed the nucleus of the Trojans’ first-ever NCAA team swim title in 1960, was recognized…The full Cal Bear Band performed pregame and halftime routines… The Trojans travel next Saturday to face the Stanford Cardinal (4:00 p.m., Versus).