Stanford won’t surprise USC this time
November 13, 2009
LOS ANGELES (AP)—A mere two years after Stanford’s last trip to the Coliseumended with arguably the biggest college football upset of the decade, coachesJim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll both clearly want to forget it.
It’s easy to understand why Carroll wouldn’t want to rehash a one-point lossto a 41-point underdog that cemented No. 11 Southern California’s reputation forinexplicable defeats in otherwise flawless seasons.
It’s a bit tougher to figure out why Harbaugh has so little to say about themost impressive win of his coaching life—until he insists he’s got no time tothink about anything but the challenges faced by 25th-ranked Stanford in itsreturn to USC on Saturday.
“It was a great thrill of winning, the ultimate feeling of victory,”Harbaugh said. “Everything we’ve been through up to this point has built us towhat we are now. The good and the bad, the horrible and the great. This team hasmatured a lot from 2007.”
Stanford (6-3, 5-2) will need that maturity to keep up its late-breaking runat the Pac-10 championship after consecutive wins over Arizona State and Oregon.Yet if the Cardinal can keep rolling at USC (7-2, 4-2) in a game that amounts toa conference title eliminator, it won’t be nearly as shocking as that 24-23 winin 2007—still the Trojans’ only loss in 48 home games since 2001.
Stanford won with a script that would have been rejected for its rampantimprobabilities by the famed USC film school, particularly that fourth-down TDpass thrown by a backup quarterback in the final minute after a franticlate-game rally. The Cardinal left a stunned Coliseum in their wake—and backhome on The Farm, students still walk around campus today in T-shirts reading“Biggest. Upset. Ever.”
Carroll didn’t plan to mention the loss to his team.
“I won’t bring up the visit to their place last year, either,” Carrollsaid of last season’s business-as-usual 45-23 win at Stanford Stadium.
Stanford tailback Toby Gerhart sat out the 2007 game with a knee injury thatconsumed almost his entire sophomore year, while quarterback Andrew Luck hadcommitted to the Cardinal, but was still in high school in Houston. Luckremembers watching the game with friends, saying they “all went nuts” whenStanford ended it with its fourth interception of injured USC quarterback JohnDavid Booty, whom Carroll kept in the game with a broken finger on his throwinghand.
Two years later, the Cardinal appear to be in top shape for arguably theirmost important game since their 1999 run to the Rose Bowl, with a sturdy offensebuilt around Pac-10 rushing leader Gerhart. Stanford is back in the AP Top 25and bowl-eligible for the first time since the close of the 2001 season.
“This is another huge opportunity, if not bigger than last week,” Gerhartsaid. “We won’t get any satisfaction by just beating Oregon and getting to abowl game.”
Nothing is so clear-cut at USC after an inconsistent season from an offensethat still hasn’t meshed with freshman quarterback Matt Barkley—and whichwon’t have top receiver Damian Williams, who’s out with a sprained ankle.
The Trojans’ seven-year run of Pac-10 titles is in trouble after a thrashingfrom Oregon followed by last week’s unimpressive win over Arizona State, whichfeatured just one offensive touchdown and Barkley’s worst performance.
“There’s a lot of things that go into it, (but) I’ll take theresponsibility for that because it starts with the quarterback,” said Barkley,28 of 60 for just 299 yards with two interceptions in the Trojans’ last twogames. “We’ve made a lot of corrections. I’ve corrected a lot of things in mygame, mentally and physically.”
For all the Cardinal’s apparent advantages, USC still is practicallyunbeatable at the Coliseum, where the Trojans have played just twice in the pastnine weeks. They’ll finish the season with three straight home games—and witha little help from Oregon’s opponents, the Trojans could still be in the mix foranother conference title and a BCS bowl game.
“It feels like it’s been a whole year since we’ve been back to theColiseum,” USC tailback Joe McKnight said. “We’ve done a lot of work ongetting it back to normal this week, and I think we’re going to be fine.”
Comments
Got something to say?