Despite committing a miraculous four straight turnovers in the third quarter, the No. 8 USC football team sat comfortably with a 21-0 lead going into the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game in Los Angeles.
The Trojans charged out of the gates on the game’s first drive, taking the ball 72 yards in eight plays for a Mark Sanchez 1-yard touchdown run. Sanchez gained 61 of the drive’s 72 yards through the air.
USC went on to rush for 109 yards on 17 plays to finish the first half.
Throughout, the USC defense abused senior Rudy Carpenter and ASU’s offensive line, sacking the already-injured quarterback three times before forcing him out of the game midway through the third quarter.
Junior Danny Sullivan would enter the game for Carpenter but completed just 4 of 17 passes, including two interceptions, forcing the Sun Devils to use their depleted run game.
Looking to control the clock and limit the possibility of additional turnovers, USC coach Pete Carroll moved almost exclusively to the rush in the fourth quarter, running the ball 12 times for 80 yards.
The Trojans fourth and final touchdown came on junior Stafon Johnson’s 2-yard run with 8:09 left on the clock. The drive consisted of eight plays for 92 yards and officially put the Sun Devils back on their flight back to Tempe.
Reach the reporter at Joshua.spivack@asu.edu.
