For half of a football game, the 24th-ranked Ducks were on the brink of upsetting the top-ranked, two-time defending national champion USC and looked as though they were going to reclaim the glory they had two years ago after beating No. 3 Michigan.
The Trojans squashed those dreams in a hurry.
Southern California (3-0 overall, 1-0 Pacific-10 Conference), led by the dynamic Reggie Bush and bruising LenDale White, erased an early 13-0 deficit and reeled off 45 straight points to defeat the Ducks (3-1, 0-1) 45-13 Saturday in front of the largest crowd in Autzen Stadium history.
“It was a game for a half, and it wasn’t a game for the second half,” Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti said. “We did not keep pressure on them with our offense, which we felt we needed to do, and our defense got worn down.”
For USC head coach Pete Carroll, the game signified a good test for his football team – a team that has won 25 straight games.
“I was a little concerned, but history has shown that we’re strong in the second half and particularly in the fourth quarter,” Carroll said. “Oregon is a good football team and they taxed us to the max. It was one of the better wins we’ve had in a long time.”
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“That offensive line is as good as I’ve ever seen,” Bellotti said. “We did not get a lot of pressure and stop the plays and the backs were able to get into the second level.”
The ground game opened things up for Heisman winner Matt Leinart in the second half. He went 11 of 14 for 170 yards and two touchdowns in the final two quarters. He was 12 of 25 in the first half for 145 yards.
“We didn’t get into a rhythm early,” Leinart said. “We were just hurting ourselves. In the second half they got tired and we just kept going.”
For Oregon quarterback Kellen Clemens, he easily had his worst game of the season. The senior went 15 of 30 for 168 yards and a touchdown, but was constantly pressured by the USC defense.
“Kellen Clemens was not in sync,” Bellotti said. “That was not the guy who has been playing for us thus far”
Clemens said USC’s talent got the Ducks in the end.
“They had athletes everywhere,” Clemens said. “They deserve to be number one. It’s too bad we couldn’t play the second half like the first.”
The Ducks’ running game didn’t help either. Oregon’s leading rusher Terrence Whitehead had only seven carries for 14 yards. As a team, Oregon ran for a mere 65 yards on 29 attempts.
The game started off well for the Ducks as they used Trojan turnovers to score 10 first-quarter points.
Oregon’s first break came when an Aaron Knowles punt on the first Oregon drive of the game came down and appeared to skip off the foot of USC’s William Buchanon and Oregon’s Dante Rosario jumped on top of it before being mauled by multiple players on USC’s 40-yard line. The Ducks drove 20 yards before being stalled and Paul Martinez kicked a 37-yard field goal to make it 3-0.
Leinart – though he finished the day 23 of 39 for 315 yards and three touchdowns – struggled in the first half and a first-quarter interception led to another Ducks touchdown. Clemens’ 36-yard pass to Demetrius Williams gave the Ducks a 10-0 advantage.
Oregon had an opportunity to go up 17-0 when Whitehead appeared to score on a screen pass from Clemens, but Palauni Ma Sun was called for a personal foul and the Ducks had to settle for a Martinez 48-yard field goal and a 13-0 lead.
That was the beginning of the end for Oregon.
“More than anything else it was the touchdowns that got called back that hurt us the most,” Bellotti said. “When you actually score and then it gets taken away from you, that hurt us. We can’t allow that to happen.”
The Trojans finally got on the board with 5 minutes 8 seconds left in the first half when Leinart found Bush on a slant down the middle for a 19-yard touchdown pass. On the drive, the Ducks had USC third and 20 but allowed a 21-yard completion to seldom-used David Kirtman. Oregon struggled all night with USC on third down, allowing the Trojans to complete 10 of 14 third down attempts.
“We got them into some good third-and-long situations,” Bellotti said, “but it seemed like every time they had the answer.”
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The Trojans came out firing in the second half as shadows crept over Autzen Stadium. It took only five plays and 1:46 for USC to take the lead from the Ducks for good, capped by an 11-yard touchdown pass from Leinart to Dwayne Jarrett. The wide receiver caught eight passes for 94 yards and two touchdowns.
Another three and out for the Ducks led to more good field position for the Trojans. This time USC took a more methodical approach, covering the 61 yards on eight plays, eating 3:56 off the clock. A one-yard touchdown run by White put the Trojans up 24-13.
The Trojans’ third touchdown of the quarter came on a six-yard fade pass to Jarrett to increase their lead to 18 points at 31-13.
Two more Trojan touchdowns in the fourth sealed Oregon’s 45-14 fate.
“This was a great game for us,” Leinart said. “It was a tough test against a great team.”
Bellotti said his team will need to regroup for Saturday’s game at Stanford.
“I have some huge concerns about Stanford,” he said. “They’re coming off what they might consider the worst lost in their history to UC Davis and they’ve had two weeks to stew on that … what better way to erase the memory of that loss than by coming out and beating us.

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