A closer look at one scary moment

This is why moms worry when their kids play football.

When USC quarterback Mark Sanchez went down after a painful-looking sack in the third quarter against Oregon, he tweaked the same knee that had suffered a dislocated patella during training camp.

"It just kinda bent a little funny. Nothing too serious. Nothing popped," explained the redshirt junior. "It was a good thing I wore the brace and the patella stabilizer brace too. Looks like another best case scenario."

The worst case scenario had nothing to do with his knee.

For about a minute, many observers were more concerned about his neck. Sanchez was brought down with a horse-collar tackle and his head seemed to bounce awkwardly. It wasn't nearly as bad as it looked. "I didn't even feel that," exclaimed Sanchez when it was brought up in a news conference. "Somebody asked me about my neck after the game. I was like, 'What are you talking about?' I didn't even know."

The sack was made by Oregon defensive end Nick Reed, who used to be teammates with Sanchez at Mission Viejo High School. They were text messaging before the game, with Reed telling Sanchez he was going to get a sack after missing out on the opportunity last year.

There were no bad feelings over the play, which was legal in the pocket. A few weeks ago, the NCAA banned horse-collar tackles in the open field.

As an effective scrambler, Sanchez's eagerness to bolt for a few yards (or even hustle downfield and throw a block) increases the odds of these scary moments. When he went down, Mitch Mustain stepped into one of those weight-of-the-world situations -- and threw an interception.

Ultimately, Sanchez returned for long enough to show that he was OK, and then Mustain came back and had an effective performance. Ignoring that first series, Mustain was 6 of 7 for 111 yards and a touchdown in mop-up-duty.

One question the Trojans hope they don't have to answer -- who would really be the starter if Sanchez couldn't play? So far this season, Mustain, Aaron Corp and Garrett Green have served at least one game as the official backup on the depth chart.

-- Adam Rose
Photo: Mark Avery / Associated Press

Comments

[jeannette rodriguez]

Although USC was in the lead when #6 Mark Sanchez went down I thought that without theie key player the team was not going to be able to score once again. The number one question everybody wanted to ask was who was going to be was who would really be the starter if Sanchez couldn't play? But after a while Sanchez got back up on his feet.