LOS ANGELES — Steve Greatwood smiled, mused on the question for a bit and said: “The tide has been reversed.”
The Oregon defensive line coach, who coached the offensive line at USC in 1998-99, has been on both sidelines of historic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“This win is very satisfying,” said Greatwood, who began his coaching career as Oregon’s offensive line coach from 1982-94. “The Ducks used to have to beat the Trojans to salvage their season, and then today, it was the other way around. Today put us in a great position.”
It certainly did, as Saturday’s 28-17 victory over the battered and beleaguered Trojans kept the Ducks perched atop the Pacific-10 Conference with a perfect league record of 3-0 (5-1 overall). The win moved the Ducks up to the No. 7 spot in the Associated Press poll and the No. 11 spot in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches poll.
The victory also marks the first time since 1970 that Oregon has swept the L.A. schools and its first win in the Coliseum since its Rose Bowl year of 1994.
Meanwhile, USC (3-3, 0-3) lost to both Oregon schools for the first time since 1957. The team, which was picked by many to be Rose Bowl-bound, finds itself in dead last after losing three straight games to Oregon State, Arizona and Oregon.
Three teams that, it turns out, are much more dangerous to play consecutively than say, UCLA, Washington and USC.
“This was a terribly disappointing loss,” said Trojan head coach Paul Hackett, whose job is in serious jeopardy. “I think the whole team feels awful.”
The Trojans started the game well after tailback Sultan McCullough — brother of former Duck, Saladin — took off on a 59-yard touchdown sprint to give USC the early 7-0 lead just two minutes into the game. It was the longest run of McCullough’s career, as he woke up the dormant Trojan rushing attack with a career-high 152 yards.
Hackett came into Saturday’s game with a defensive plan centered around Oregon tailback Maurice Morris. Sounded smart enough, considering that Morris had carried the Ducks throughout the season and that quarterback Joey Harrington had only completed 47 percent of his passes on the year.
But on the Ducks’ first drive, it was evident that Harrington had come ready to play.
Harrington completed his first pass to tight end Justin Peelle. He then connected on a 14-yard completion to wide receiver Marshaun Tucker down at the Oregon 46-yard line. Then he threw a 17-yard dart to wide receiver Keenan Howry down at the USC 34. On the next play, it was Harrington to Tucker for 13; then to Howry for 13 more on a third-and-11.
Finally, the drive was capped on a Harrington shovel pass to Morris, who scampered in from eight yards out to tie the game at seven with 8:24 to go in the first.
It would be a sign of things to come as the junior quarterback from Portland busted loose and completed 28 of 42 passes for four touchdowns and a career-high 382 yards.
“Joey was clicking,” said Tucker, who hauled in four passes for 80 yards. “We knew that when this offense started to click, it was going to be on.”
Harrington just kept rolling. He completed 12 of his first 14 passes, including a perfectly placed 23-yard touchdown pass to fullback Josh Line at the start of the second period to extend the lead to 14-7.
Later in the quarter, the Ducks appeared to be on their way to turning the game into a rout. On a third-and-four from the Trojan eight-yard line, Harrington found Howry in the right corner. Howry lunged toward the end zone, and appeared to have his head jerked around on a facemask as he fumbled the ball.
No penalty was called, and since the ball rolled out of the end zone, it went for a touchback.
“Howry’s a little sore after that facemask, but it didn’t get called, so I guess it didn’t happen,” said Bellotti of his sophomore receiver who finished with 126 yards on eight catches.
Oregon would extend its lead to 21-7 on Harrington’s 13-yard touchdown pass to tight end LaCorey Collins in the third quarter, but the Trojans wouldn’t quit.
USC’s John Wall converted on a 25-yard field goal, and then got the ball back when an Oregon drive sputtered. Trojan tailback Malaefou MacKenzie’s 34-yard run then helped set up quarterback Carson Palmer’s seven-yard touchdown pass to tight end Antoine Harris to trim the lead to 21-17 with 12:41 to play in the game.
On the Ducks’ ensuing drive, Harrington’s near-perfect day was blemished when he was picked off by Troy Polamalu.
“At that point, we were worried, but we knew we just had to keep making plays,” Oregon defensive end Jason Nikolao said.
With its season presumably on the line, USC drove to the 50 and didn’t convert on a crucial third-and-one. So on fourth-and-two with just more than six minutes left, Hackett chose to punt — much to the “booing” displeasure of the 54,031 fans on hand.
Those six minutes went by fast as Oregon ran off the clock, punted, stopped USC’s offense and then drove the nail in the coffin. Oregon chose to go for it on fourth-and-three and Harrington connected with Peelle for an 18-yard touchdown strike to clinch the Pac-10 road win.
“It’s another big win for this team,” said Harrington, who became the first quarterback to throw for four touchdowns against USC since Notre Dame’s Steve Beurlein did in 1986. “We had such a tough stretch and it’s not over. It’s such a cliché to say, but it’s the truth: We need to take it one game at a time.”
That next game is the No. 21 Arizona Wildcats, who will enter Autzen Stadium Oct. 21 in a tie-for-first with the Ducks.
Said Nikolao: “USC’s over with.. It’s all about Arizona now, boy.”