USC routs Ohio State
Published 5:00 am Sunday, September 14, 2008
LOS ANGELES — Southern California turned the most anticipated September game in years into another Trojans’ victory march.
Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes, Joe Mc- Knight rushed for 105 yards on 12 carries, and the top-ranked Trojans crushed No. 5 Ohio State 35-3 Saturday night in a matchup of two of college football’s most successful programs.
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Ohio State (2-1) played without star tailback Chris “Beanie” Wells, sidelined with an injured right foot. But moving the ball wasn’t the Buckeyes’ biggest problem before the Trojans made it a rout. Instead, they were done in by a handful of crucial mistakes.
A holding penalty nullified a touchdown in the second quarter, and an errant throw by Todd Boeckman was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Rey Maualuga.
By the time it was done the only question left was: Can anybody left on USC’s schedule beat these Trojans (2-0) and keep them from playing for a national championship in January for the fourth time this decade?
“It worked out beautifully for us,” USC coach Pete Carroll said. “Over the years, when we prepare this well and we have our guys, we’re hard to beat. It doesn’t matter who we play when we do that. This is what we’re capable of doing, we didn’t do anything out of the ordinary to get there. We had a nice night.”
Ohio State had the ball for more than 20 minutes in the first half and gained 177 yards to USC’s 172, but left the field trailing 21-3. Sanchez threw two touchdown passes to Damian Williams in the third quarter to put the Buckeyes away.
Once they fell behind, the Buckeyes were helpless against Maualuga and the swarming Trojans. Ohio State gained only 30 yards in the second half.
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The Trojans won for the 39th time in their last 40 home games before a partisan crowd of 93,607 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. In the first game between the storied programs since 1990, USC won its sixth straight over Ohio State and eighth straight against the Big Ten.
Also on Saturday:
UNLV 23
No. 15 Arizona State 20
TEMPE, Ariz. — Malo Taumua blocked a field goal to lift UNLV to a 23-20 overtime upset of Arizona State.
Taumua’s block on a 35-yard field goal attempt by Thomas Weber came after Kyle Watson kicked a 20-yard field goal on the Rebels’ overtime possession.
For the Sun Devils (2-1), this was supposed to be a tuneup for next week’s long-awaited game against No. 2 Georgia. But they let the Rebels hang around for too long.
UNLV (2-1) tied it at 20 with 18 seconds left on Omar Clayton’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Phillip Payne, who made a leaping one-handed grab.
No. 3 Oklahoma 55
Washington 14
SEATTLE — Sam Bradford completed 18 of 21 passes for 304 yards, matched his career high with five touchdowns and ran for a sixth score to help the Sooners beat Washington.
Ryan Broyles caught two of Bradford’s touchdown throws for Oklahoma (3-0). Washington (0-3) was handed its largest margin of defeat at home since 1929, when it lost 48-0 to Southern California.
No. 18 BYU 59
UCLA 0
PROVO, Utah — Max Hall tied a school record with seven touchdown passes and BYU handed UCLA its worst loss in nearly 80 years.
The Cougars improved to 3-0 for the first time in seven seasons and grabbed control with four touchdowns in the first 5:18 of the second quarter.
BYU forced four turnovers and blocked a field goal attempt while stunning UCLA (1-1) in Rick Neuheisel’s second game coaching his alma mater.
Maryland 35
No. 23 California 27
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — Maryland scored touchdowns on its first three possessions en route to a stunning upset.
Da’Rel Scott ran for 87 yards and two touchdowns before leaving with a shoulder injury and the Terps (2-1) used a relentless defense to harass the Golden Bears (2-1) from the start.
Cal’s Kevin Riley made up for his team’s surprisingly ineffective running attack by going 33 of 58 for 423 yards and three scores. The 58 passes were a school record.
California scored three touchdowns in the final seven minutes, but it was too late.
New Mexico 36
Arizona 28
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Rodney Ferguson ran for 158 yards and two touchdowns and freshman James Aho tied a school record with five field goals to help New Mexico beat Arizona.
Ferguson, a bruising tailback, also tossed a 25-yard trick play scoring pass to quarterback Donovan Porterie and the Lobos (1-2) beat the mistake-prone Wildcats (2-1) for the second straight year.
Willie Tuitama, who was 27 of 50 for 321 yards and three touchdowns, got the Wildcats to 36-28, throwing a 28-yard strike to Juron Criner with 4:38 to play.
TCU 31
Stanford 14
FORT WORTH, Texas — Ryan Christian scored the go-ahead touchdown and Steven Coleman made a key interception to help TCU beat Stanford (1-2) in a game moved up six hours because of Hurricane Ike.
Christian, who rushed for 82 yards on 19 carries, gave TCU (3-0) the lead for good on a 1-yard scoring run with six minutes left in the third.