After a potentially disastrous 2-3 start to the season, Oregon State has reeled off three consecutive Pacific-10 Conference victories, putting them back into bowl contention and saving another winning season. So playing a USC team that has gone an uncharacteristic 2-2 in its last four games would mean OSU has the momentum, right?
Wrong. From a purely historical basis, No. 13 USC has owned the series, leading the all-time series 57-9-4, having won 30 of the last 32 and having a 20-game win streak against the Beavers in Los Angeles. The last OSU victory at the L.A. Coliseum came in – gulp – 1960. And don’t forget that Pete Carroll has never lost in November while at USC, going 20-0.
Still, don’t count out the Beavers, who are quietly tied with the Trojans for third place in the conference. The Beavers held off then-No. 3 USC last season for the 33-31 victory in Corvallis, the Beavers’ second win against USC in the past six seasons. For Mike Riley, the win was even more special because he served as offensive coordinator for USC from 1993-96 under head coach John Robinson. Riley’s team has a three-year streak of beating a ranked team on the road, but would love to add a second-consecutive win over Troy to its résumé.
“USC looks great to me. They have a lot of talent and they are well coached, which is a bad combination for opponents,” said Riley in his weekly press conference.
And while Riley is known as an offensive mind, it’s his teams’ defense that has carried it. Behind the strength of its nation’s best rushing defense (54.5 yards per game allowed) and sacks total (4.25 per game) the Beavers rank 13th in the nation in total defense. What makes their success more remarkable is that the average win-loss record of each of the other nine teams in the rush defense top-10 is 7-1.
USC might want to look to the air, however. Oregon State has the 85th (out of 119) best pass defense, a welcome sign for maturing Trojan quarterback Mark Sanchez, who completed 26 of 41 passes for 277 yards and a touchdown against Oregon, his third career start.
“If John’s full speed, ready to go, he’s the starter,” Carroll said.
Sanchez – or John David Booty, who USC coach Pete Carroll said in his weekly press conference has regained the starter’s role in practice – has a talented wide receiver corps to throw to. Tight end Fred Davis leads the nation in yards per catch for tight ends and was named a candidate for the Mackey Award, given each year to the top player at his position.
The Trojans are also finding even more talented running backs in its stable. True freshman Joe McKnight’s 64-yard touchdown run against Oregon was nullified because of a holding penalty. Chauncey Washington and Stafon Johnson, meanwhile, have been proven commodities at tailback all season for USC.
Carroll expects All-American offensive tackle Sam Baker to miss the game due to injury.
For all of the gaudy statistics of the OSU defense, USC’s isn’t far behind. Led by 2007 Butkus Award semi-finalist and linebacker Keith Rivers, USC held Oregon’s fourth-ranked offense to 24 points and 339 total yards, 185 under its season average.
USC’s talented front four, including defensive linemen Sedrick Ellis and Lawrence Jackson, have contained their opponents’ rushing offenses to fewer than 80 yards per contest, seventh best nationally. Across the line of scrimmage, however, Oregon State rushing back Yvenson Bernard has averaged more than 101 yards per game. Bernard, however, was termed as “day-to-day” for the game because of a sprained left shoulder.
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