By Tim Peterson
(Los Angeles) – Stanford sored first and never trailed in the game in a 42-28 win over USC Saturday night before a stunned crowd of 56,945 at the LA Memorial Coliseum.
The score wasn’t nearly as close as the final indicated. The Trojans scored two touchdowns late in the fourth quarter after the Cardinal had built a 42-13 lead.
USC was down by just eight points early in the third quarter until Stanford blew it open with a 21-0 run that began with a pick six.
In an apparent sign of things to come USC kicker Parker Lewis was ejected from the game on the opening kick off for targeting.
Stanford got on the board first on an 87-yard touchdown run by Nathaniel Peat with 9:04 left in the first quarter. Peat simply beat the Trojan defense to the edge and took it to the house down the near sideline.
USC got even marching 95 yards on 15 plays with Keontay Ingram capping it with a two-yard run to tie it at 7 with 13:28 left in the second quarter.
Stanford responded with a nine play, 75 yard drive. Tanner McKee hit Elijah Higgins with a three-yard strike to put the Cardinal up 14-7 with 8:34 left in the second. Stanford took three points off of the board when USC was guilty of an offsides penalty.
Alex Stadthaus booted a 24 yard field goal to get the Trojans within four but Stanford again had an answer. The Cardinal needed just four plays to go 66 yards. McKee fired a bullet over the middle which Brycen Tremaine hauled in for a six-yard score with just nine ticks left on the first half clock.
Stanford took the momentum and a 21-10 lead into the half. USC and head coach Clay Helton ran off the field to a chorus of boos.
Stadthaus kicked a 33 yard field goal on the Trojans opening drive of the third quarter. USC, now down by only eight, then held Stanford and got the ball back and just for a moment the Trojans seemed to be back on track. Then disaster struck.
Kyu Blu Kelly intercepted Kedon Slovis and returned it 31 yards for a touchdown. The pick six extended Stanford’s lead to 28-13 with 5:02 left in the third quarter. Slovis’ pass was behind Drake London and off his hands and Kelly was there to make the play.
After a USC punt Stanford took advantage of two pass interference penalties on the Trojans to go 56 yards on five plays. McKee finished it with a one-yard run. The Cardinal took a 35-13 lead at the end of three.
If it wasn’t over already it was on the next series. The USC offense again stalled and punted the ball away. Stanford put together another drive. This time they moved the ball 67 yards on 10 plays. Isaiah Sanders scored on a two-yard run and the rout was officially on at 42-13. There was still 9:16 left on the clock but everybody in the now silent Coliseum knew it was over.
The Trojans scored two late touchdowns on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Slovis to London and a four-yard run by Darwin Barlow with 46 seconds left to account for the final score.
Slovis completed 27 of 42 for 234 yards and a touchdown but the one interception was crucial. Vavae Malepeai had 15 carries for 94 yards on the ground.
For Stanford McKee went 16 for 23 for 223 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions. Peat led a solid ground game with 115 yards and a score on only six carries.
With the loss the Trojans dropped to 1-1 and will try to regroup next week at Washington State. Stanford improved to 1-1.
Why do USC and UCLA cheer leaders wear panty hose? I even saw one girl with them rolled down to her ankles.
Being so soundly destroyed on 9-11 means just one thing: the Trojans must attack Iraq to set things right. Yeah, they could just fire Helton, but it’s better to do this indirectly.
It was really 42-14 but Stanford gave them 14 in the last 5 minutes. A top ranked team can lose but only in the last minute. Not an entire half of garbage time.