It was supposed to be close, but it turned out to be anything but.
No. 8 USC scored 41 straight points to blow by Oregon 44-10 Saturday night in Los Angeles, erasing any question the Trojans were vulnerable a week after losing to Oregon State.
“USC answered their wake-up call from last week,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “Our wake-up call comes next week.”
Oregon (4-2 overall, 2-1 Pacific 10 Conference) had a 10-3 lead in the second quarter from a Jeremiah Johnson rushing touchdown and a Matt Evensen field goal when USC (3-1, 1-1 Pac-10) converted a fourth-and-two situation into a 34-yard touchdown pass from Mark Sanchez to Damian Williams.
It turned out to be the first seven of 24 second-quarter points that put Oregon in a hole it couldn’t recover from.
Also unable to be recovered was Oregon’s stock in the polls, as the Ducks dropped out of both major polls Sunday.
“We were controlling the game for most the first quarter and it started to slip away,” Bellotti said. “We made some mistakes on defense that gave them some plays. We lost momentum offensively.”
The running game, where Oregon had averaged more than 300 yards entering the game and by far its most consistent offensive attack all season, typified the Ducks’ struggles.
As a team, Oregon finished with 60 rushing yards on 39 attempts.
Jeremiah Johnson’s 45 yards were a team high.
LeGarrette Blount, averaging 96 yards per contest with 8 touchdowns, didn’t record a single rushing yard on 9 carries.
“We really played a very simple game plan tonight,” USC head coach Pete Carroll said. “It was just a matter of seeing what they were trying to get going and talking about it on the sideline.”
The loss was Oregon’s worst, home or away, since losing to Arizona State 59-14 on Oct. 11, 2003.
Oregon expected to meet an angry USC team bent on redemption after its loss to the Beavers on national television,
The Trojans, however seemed to still be feeling the effects of the loss in the first quarter.
Oregon used a costly USC penalty for roughing Evensen on a field goal to extend its
opening drive. Johnson then wriggled his way to a one-yard touchdown run.
When the Ducks held the Trojans to a field goal, then added three points of their own on a 24-yard Evensen field goal with 11 minutes left in the second quarter, the Ducks appeared to be in business.
Turns out, it was the other way around.
In the second quarter, USC scored 24 points, despite possessing the ball nearly four and a half minutes less than the Ducks.
The Trojans scored 10 points in the last 40 seconds of the half that pushed their lead to 27-10.
Without any standout individual performance, other that of Mark Sanchez, who threw for 332 yards and three touchdowns, USC pulled away using the big play.
All but one of USC’s touchdowns came from at least 20 yards away.
No USC running back rushed for more than 60 yards and none of Troy’s wide receivers caught more than 86 yards through the air.
Oregon returns home to play UCLA this Saturday at 7:15 p.m.
Andrew Greif
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