USC's play was ugly and uninspiring for the Nth consecutive week, but they may have found a savior this season: Joe McKnight.The massively hyped recruit, rotting on the bench for the duration of USC's season so far, came alive in the second half against Arizona. McKnight returned a punt 45 yards early in the 4th quarter. The next play, quarterback Mark Sanchez flung a 25-yard touchdown pass to post a 17-10 lead.
Two series later, McKnight took off for a 69-yard dash to set up the field goal that provided USC it's winning margin of 20-13. The offense was uninspiring. Makes you wonder what he's been doing on the bench all year, and whether he might have made a difference last week against Stanford?
USC lives for another week and has a new offensive centerpiece (if they y'know, play him at all next week or opt for subpar veteran Chauncey Washington rinse lather repeat bad offensive performance). However, that offense is still very, very sad. The penalties are still there. The turnovers are still there. But it's a win which looked fleeting for much of this Saturday as the fans once again booed the team off the field at halftime.
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. While I'm not going to defend much of that performance, 5 penalties for 35 yards has little, if anything, to do with the Trojans struggling to put Arizona away in this one.
In fact, the offense didn't look good, but how can you assail that performance without calling out the 250 passing yards the defense gave up.
I'd expect a subpar offensive performance from a first-time starter at QB. But 250 yards allowed by a supposedly top defense is inexcusable, and is the long and short of the story today.
Posted at 8:28PM on Oct 13th 2007 by Kyle Bunch
2. Just win. By week 12 everything could be upside down for all we know. Scary thought, Ohio State could be #1 by tomorrow and they haven't played a D-1 team yet. OK, if you call lower echelon Big 11 teams D-1 then I'm wrong. SC vs LSU for National title if they keep winning, let it play out.
Posted at 8:53PM on Oct 13th 2007 by KGar
3. SC won't be playing anyone for anything at the end of the year. South Florida will be playing Kentucky for the national championship. Sportswriters go by won-loss records, not by who you've played. Until we get a playoff, you might as well schedule the worst
non-conference teams you can.
Posted at 10:42PM on Oct 13th 2007 by Nelson Kane
4. Nelson, your dreaming!
Posted at 10:50PM on Oct 13th 2007 by TJ
5. usc at last in the 3rd quarter sent 5 or 6 people to rush the quarterback, and that stopped the passing game of arizona. to bad we didnt do that at stanford or washington. at last our defensive coaches are catching on. its our first pass rushing all year.
Posted at 12:17PM on Oct 14th 2007 by c janes