USC-Stanford gameday musings

• This was the first game all year that a team scored after a David Buehler kickoff. The Cardinal did it three times.
• USC had -4 net rushing yards at one point in the second quarter. Yes, that's a minus sign before the four.
• Stanford's Stadium is a couple of years old, but this was the first game I've been to since the complete overhaul. It's immaculate. I'd say it qualifies as a shrine to football. It has everything money can buy (seriously -- granite counter tops for the press to work on). I can't say I had a good experience logistically, but at least it was aesthetically pleasing.
• With the first sellout in the new stadium's history, I don't think Stanford fans were outnumbered but they may have been out-shouted by Trojans. The record crowd was announced at 50,425.
• Brian Cushing's hit on Tavita Pritchard late in the first half will make highlight reels for a long time to come. Ow. Ow. Ow.
• Pac-10 officials disgraced themselves. Again. How does a USC player rip a Stanford player's helmet off by the facemask and get no flag? Disgusting. It's not like that's a "letter of the rule vs. spirit of the rule" situation. You've gotta' protect these guys.
• That reminds me, today's Minnesota-Wisconsin game featured one of the scariest moments I've ever seen on a football field. Badger wideout Kyle Jefferson took a nasty hit and was on the ground for several minutes. An ambulance came on the field to take him away. He managed to give a thumbs up before disappearing from view, and reports are coming out that tests results are "very encouraging." A quick search on YouTube reveals that Jefferson seems to be a magnet for hard hits.
• Vidal Hazelton made a catch tonight -- his first since the opener against Virginia.
• In the third quarter, the referee made an announcement that was mostly unintelligible, except for one word. It's not his fault that the PA made him sound like Charlie Brown's teacher, but it doesn't instill confidence when the only thing you hear is "however."
• How about those legendary Pete Carroll halftime adjustments? After moving the ball at will against USC in the first half, the Cardinal started the second half with drives of 9, 6 and 2 yards.
• With all those Bush-McKnight comparisons, does anybody remember guys being able to catch Bush in the open field? Maybe it's time to put that one to bed. A better one might be C.J. Gable, who hurdled a Stanford defender a-la Reggie. Early in the year I wasn't very high on Gable compared with McKnight and Stafon Johnson, but he's won me over. If I'm ranking these guys right now, it's 1-Gable, 2-Johnson, 3-McKnight. Gable also galloped for a 93-yard touchdown on a Stanford kickoff, the first time the Farm has surrendered one since 2002.
• Stanford rushing yards by quarter: First - 106, Second - 50, Third - 18, Fourth - 28. Again, notice the halftime adjustments. It adds up to 202 yards, besting Oregon State's 176 as the most surrendered by USC on the ground this year. Stanford's 367 total yards and 23 first down were also tops by a Trojan opponent this season.
• Quarterbacks Mark Sanchez, Tavita Prichard and Alex Loukas (plus Ronald Johnson) combined for a monster game, going 25-of-45 for 301 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. Whoops, no sharing stats allowed. OK, this was definitely a ground war. USC had 304 yards rushing to Stanford's 234.
• Special teams not only won the momentum game for USC, they also produced jaw-dropping numbers. The Trojans returned four kickoffs for 230 yards -- an average of 57.5 yards. Talk about good field position!
• Stanford led in time of possession, 18:59 to 11:01, in the first half. USC led in the second half, 17:17 to 12:43.
• LSU was almost defrocked by Troy tonight. The Tigers always wanted a chance to beat the Trojans, but they could barely get past the other Trojans.
• Postgame observation: When faced with difficult obstacles like a door, Rey Maualuga doesn't knock politely. He kicks loudly. At least that's a step down from his other alternative, which is to huff and puff and blow the whole locker room down.
• USC's locker room celebration sounded like it included the nerd chant from "Revenge of the Nerds" (watch the clip for a good laugh -- and imagine Maualuga as Ogre). I'm not positive, but I'm also not the only one who heard it that way.
• Lots of good photos taken at this game, so keep your eyes peeled for a photo gallery or two.

-- Adam Rose
Photo by Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images

Comments

[pk-mesa]

Adam, looks like Sark finally figured it out in second half was impressed by his play calling. What-up with Harbough and that FG then TD at end of game? Did Pete shake his hand at end? Went to SC UCI game today and Taj looked great as did most of them in sec. half.

[JT]

"LSU was almost defrocked by Troy tonight. The Tigers always wanted a chance to beat the Trojans, but they could barely get past the other Trojans."

You couldn't be more wrong. LSU is scared to play us. This is them making sure they're not high enough in the BCS rankings to perhaps get the SEC's second spot and matched up with us.

[Frank]

In the first half, USC attempted only 11 runs and gained 51 yards. Why would you ever pass the ball if you're averaging 5 yards per carry? Sark out-thinks himself a lot, and I think he finally just used what was working in the second half. I hope he keeps it up in future games.