It's All Gravy for the Trojans

USC was a favorite on the road against a higher ranked team, but Arizona State wasn't supposed to be a turkey. That's why USC's pilgrimage to Sun Valley was a statement game.

The Trojan defense spent most of its night stuffing the run (16 yards on 35 attempts) and gobbling up Rudy Carpenter (six sacks). Several hits (notably by Lawrence Jackson and Rey Maualuga) were bone giblet jarring.

John David Booty feasted on the secondary for one of the best nights of his career. It helped that his receivers sliced their way for 265 yards-after-the-catch. Chauncey Washington mashed his way for 80 more.

Final score: USC 44, ASU 24.

USC's cornucopia is still full. Their dynasty in the Pac-10 is not over.

Other, less pun-intensive observations on the game:

Play-calling was vastly improved. Credit offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian for an aggressive start, regaining momentum later on, and productive play-action calls. A reverse-toss by tailback Desmond Reed was a good idea under the circumstances, and rolling out Booty when Sam Baker was hurt created some much-needed breathing room. A lone criticism? The running game wasn't established well enough. Otherwise, it was nice to see what Sarkisian can do with a healthy team and more experienced freshmen (especially going vertical).
...
Fred Davis is the man. While Booty's numbers were certainly impressive (375 yards, 4 TDs), you have to remember that a whopping 265 of those were after the catch (thank you ESPN for tracking that -- something not usually seen on the stat sheets). Fred Davis was particularly impressive after the ball was in his mitts, rolling for 119 yards and a touchdown on five catches. He's the MVP of this game, and probably the season. It's hard to believe that it's only his third 100-yard game of the year. It's also hard to believe he's a tight end.
...
USC hit hard in this game. Not that they don't hit hard in every game, but this one was particularly brutal. The Trojans punished anybody wearing maroon and gold. Lawrence Jackson did a lot of the damage, but Rey Maualuga probably had the nastiest hit of the night on Carpenter. Poor kid.
...
While USC struggled with penalties again, at least one call was completely bogus (so much for this so-called "methodical" officiating crew). Sedrick Ellis was tagged for a 15-yard personal foul after celebrating a big sack. It would have been 3rd and 20+. Instead, ASU was set up for a score and the momentum swung over to ASU. The call was so bad that NBA legend Charles Barkley, yappin' on the sideline, acknowledged that it was a terrible call -- and he was rooting for the Sun Devils.

So what atrocity did Ellis commit? Flexing his muscles.

How rude!

On the other side of things, USC got lucky when the officials stuttered on a ball thrown by Booty to Ronald Johnson. They eventually ruled it an incomplete forward pass. In reality, ASU recovered a fumbled lateral. In the greater scheme of things, these were two momentum-changing plays that -- hopefully -- canceled each other out in some karmic way. Regardless, this continues a legacy of bad Pac-10 officiating that doesn't escape notice in the national spotlight.

Comments

[Not Surprised]

USC plays dirty. There were several head-down, helmet-to-helmet hits on Carpenter that the refs didn't call. It was great seeing known gambler Charles Barkley hanging out on the sidelines with Marcus Allen. I bet they both made a killing on the refs keeping their whistles in their pockets.
Rey Maualuga and Shareece Wright are two of the dirtiest players in the game, head hunters both of them.
Also what was that no-call in the third quarter when Carpenter got drilled after throwing the ball? It looked like he was yelling at the ref for calling intentional grounding, but the camera showed Carroll all riled up because he thought the flag was roughing the passer. Looked to me like the ref picked up the flag because Carpenter, who probably already had a concussion by then, mistakenly got in his face. There was something strange going on in that game and after the NBA's Donaghy scandal, I wouldn't be surprised by anything.

[Shad]

...and I'm not surprised, given your flagrant bias, that you failed to account for the late, lowered-helmet hit on Desmond Reed after his pass attempt, the borderline pass interference in the endzone against Patrick Turner (in the 3rd quarter?) or the aforementioned B.S. penalty on Sedrick Ellis. All these missed/poor calls from refs who were supposedly in our pocket. Also, I'm sure you didn't see Rey help ASU players up after several plays in the game. Seriously, are you a troll?

[PK-IN-THE-MESA]

Also what was that no-call in the third quarter when Carpenter got drilled after throwing the ball? It looked like he was yelling at the ref for calling intentional grounding, but the camera showed Carroll all riled up because he thought the flag was roughing the passer. Looked to me like the ref picked up the flag because Carpenter, who probably already had a concussion by then, mistakenly got in his face. There was something strange going on in that game and after the NBA's Donaghy scandal, I wouldn't be surprised by anything.

Posted by: Not Surprised | November 22, 2007 at 11:45 PM

Well i guess you were really not paying attention on that play QB was in the grasp and going down and the was for grounding, but the refs figured out that he was out of pocket. In the nfl he would have been ruled down, anyway there were bad calls boyh ways.

[Gerrrg]

Dirty? That's just whining.

ASU had the 2nd worst sack numbers in the country, what did you expect? Did you expect USC players to walk up to Carpy and gently tap him on the the shoulder, "Hey, I'm about to shove the football down your facemask, would you kindly get down on the ground for me?"

-or-

"Sir, I'm coming from your blindside. Before I hit you, would you consider crouching down on the ground so that I won't hurt your fragile body?"

[Gerrrg]

That was gravy. I saw the stats earlier this week and I was drooling. I wanted to see ASU on offense, so that I could see USC on defense. I was frustrated when Burgess ran one back for a TD, as it delayed watching the defense.

Ironically, the USC offense finally showed what I think was the best performance since the Rose Bowl game against Michigan. It was as though they had crafted the perfect game plan, and execution was near-flawless - not perfect, because as we all observed, there was that one 4-and-out in the 4th that made many of us wonder...why are they letting up and going to the ground? Keep that machine running and ATTACK!

[djinni]

I'm Not Surprised you're an ignorant troll.

Charles Barkley was rooting for the Sun Devils, so take your slander to ASU's blog.

And in case it slipped your notice, football is a contact sport. However, I'm, sure your fellow participants on Miss Nellie's Ring-Around-The-Rosy message board share your disgust when football players complete their assignments.

Oh, and here's a hint: before posting about college football, try learning its rules. The refs threw the flag for intentional grounding, then picked it up because after looking at where it was marked, they realized Carpenter was out of the pocket and therefore the play was legal. Carpenter is an excitable boy - the Arizona Register had an article on how emotional he is - so he was merely running true to form.

I hope you're Not so Surprised any more.