The Oregon Ducks, led by quarterback Darron Thomas, made a case for a #1 ranking with a 53-32 win over USC
Once upon a time, an undefeated Oregon team playing a night game at the Coliseum would’ve almost certainly left L.A. as a one-loss team.
But as a national television audience saw this weekend, times have changed.
Prevented from playing in a bowl game by NCAA sanctions, and for an undefeated season by two last-second losses earlier this year, USC directed all its energy and focus at spoiling Oregon’s chances of making it to the national title game. But all that energy and focus was only good enough for a 53-32 loss to the Ducks.
Playing in front of a “Red Out” crowd for Homecoming, the Trojans came out firing. Quarterback Matt Barkley completed his first pass to Robert Woods for 17 yards, Marc Tyler came in to run for 8, the Trojans went to the wildcat formation for another first down, and then Stanley Havili came in to run for 10 more yards.
It looked like the Trojans were rolling toward the end zone, until the drive stalled. Tyler slipped on a four-yard carry, Barkley’s pass on 3rd and 7 was broken up by Talmadge Jackson, and the Trojans had to settle for a 32-yard Joe Houston field goal. It put points on the board, but as head coach Lane Kiffin said after the game, if you’re going to beat the Ducks, you have to score touchdowns.
Oregon’s offense had no problem scoring touchdowns. On their first possession of the game, they quickly went downfield for eight points. Star running back LaMichael James got things started with a 19-yard run to set up pass plays to Lavasier Tuinei and Jeff Maehl, who caught both the touchdown pass and the two-point conversion. The 9-play drive went 76 yards and the Ducks looked as sharp and flashy as advertised. The Trojans’ defense, on the other hand, looked as confused and porous as it had all year – not a good sign so early in the game.
USC’s offensive line looked just as bad on the Trojans’ next possession, which started with a first down on a Barkley pass to tight end Jordan Cameron, then ended quickly with a sack, a tackle for a loss, and another sack that almost resulted in a fumble near the goal line. Recovered by Khaled Holmes, the Trojans punted on 4th and 17 but got a lucky break from a roughing the punter call. USC couldn’t take advantage though, turning their second chance into a 3 and out.
Momentum started to shift back to the Trojans, as the defense forced a rare 3 and out for the Ducks, after Shareece Wright made a beautiful hit to knock the ball away from Maehl and save a first down. Ronald Johnson returned the punt 27 yards, and the Trojans took off toward the end zone.
Oregon penalties, another rarity, helped the USC drive. On first down, Tyler took the direct snap then flipped the ball back to Barkley, who threw downfield to Woods. The pass was incomplete, but a pass interference call moved the sticks. Tyler again took the snap, kept the ball, and got nothing – except an offsides penalty on the Ducks for five more yards. A few more plays for short yardage put the Trojans at the goal line, and Tyler took it in for a touchdown to put USC back on top.
They didn’t stay there long. Oregon and USC traded punts on their next two possessions before James found his legs and broke out for 42 yard touchdown run. But the Trojans weren’t down. They got the ball back and promptly went downfield. A 13 yard reception to Woods, a pair of short runs from Havili and a 25 yard reception by RoJo had the Trojans back in the red zone, and again Tyler powered into the end zone for another touchdown.
USC was gaining strength and confidence and containing Oregon’s uptempo offense. The defense forced another Ducks 3 and out, and the Trojans had the ball and the momentum. It was a big chance for USC…and they blew it.
On first down, Barkley completed a long pass to Brandon Carswell. On the next play, Barkley was flushed from the pocket and had to throw the ball away. The offensive line looked discombobulated, and the entire offense was out of sorts. It looked like Barkley was ready for the snap, but center Kris O’Dowd held the ball, snapping it just as Barkley looked to the sideline to get an adjustment from Kiffin. The ball richocheted off the quarterback and was recovered by Oregon’s Boseko Lokombo.
The Ducks, unlike the Trojans, didn’t let the opportunity go to waste, as Thomas threw a 45-yarder to Maehl for a touchdown. It was a spectacular diving grab that bounced off Maehl’s fingertips before he could secure it, and had Shareece Wright been in tighter coverage, it may have fallen incomplete.
Oregon scored again before the end of the half, off a drive that began with a 40 yard punt return from speedy Cliff Harris and ended two plays later with a 33 yard touchdown pass to Tuinei to make the score 29-17.
With just over a minute to play in the first half, the Trojans had a chance to score again, but a bad decision by Barkley gave the ball right back to the Ducks. Barkley held the ball for what seemed like minutes, waiting for someone to come open, but the receiver he finally targeted was not open and Cliff Harris snagged the ball for the interception at the two-yard line.
The Ducks had less than a minute left before halftime, but in Oregon, that’s more than enough time to march downfield – especially when your first down play is a 57 yard pass. Fortunately for USC, DaJohn Harris sacked Thomas and knocked the ball loose and USC recovered, possibly saving another score.
The Trojans returned from the half fired up. The Ducks started with the ball, but USC’s Jurrell Casey intercepted a ball that was tipped by Wes Horton and the Trojans got a Duck-speed touchdown to narrow Oregon’s lead to five.
The defense stood firm and forced a punt, which RoJo returned for 56 yards to set up another Trojan TD. This time Barkley took it in himself, and tossed an easy pass to Johnson for the two-point conversion.
The two drives capitalized on Oregon’s mistakes and made the crowd, and the players, begin to believe that the Trojans really might be able to pull off the upset. But as has been the case for Oregon’s opponents this year, the Ducks’ speed and depth takes over in the second half. After the Trojans went up 32-29, Oregon started milking the clock.
Two long, unanswered touchdown drives in the third quarter put the Ducks up, 43-32, and the extended stretches on the field wore away at the Trojans’ thin defense. The first drive was twelve plays long, and the Ducks were able to convert third downs three times before reaching the end zone. USC did a decent job bottling up LaMichael James, but when the Trojans stopped the run, Jeff Maehl was nearly always open to catch a pass, often for a touchdown.
The energy on the field waned midway through the third quarter, except for the Oregon Ducks in white, and by the fourth quarter, the Trojans were down by a manageable 11 points, but the game felt like it was over.
The crowd, which had been loud and boisterous early, when USC was driving, had mostly emptied out of the Coliseum, and it seemed like the Trojans’ motivation exited with them. The offense stalled and the defense, looking like it was running through quicksand, gave up another field goal halfway through the fourth quarter.
With just over seven minutes left, the Trojans had the ball, but they couldn’t do anything with it. Barkley threw dangerous, desperate passes incomplete, looking anything like a composed NFL quarterback, as Kirk Herbstreit had described him early in the game. When the O-line gave Barkley plenty of time to throw, there was no one open, but on run plays, they didn’t block. After struggling their way closer to the end zone thanks to two improbable first downs, Barkley was intercepted in the end zone, effectively ending the game with 5:45 left.
The entire drive had been an interception waiting to happen, between Barkley’s frustration at the lack of open receivers to the receivers not fighting for the ball to questionable decision-making by the team leader, and eventually Oregon wore them down and got the ball back, marching all the way downfield for another score, 53-32.
By the end, the Trojans looked physically spent and mentally out of the game. LaMichael James, contained well for much of the game, racked up over 100 yards in the fourth quarter alone. After the game, Barkley said USC never stopped fighting, and Kiffin said the extra two weeks of conditioning drills helped, but the Trojans were clearly struggling and demoralized by the time the clock finally ran down.
It was no secret that the Trojans, or any team facing Oregon’s prolific offense and well-conditioned defense, would need to have stamina as well as a near-perfect game to get the win. The Ducks were challenged in the first half, but USC didn’t take full advantage of the opportunities they had and, in the end, they just couldn’t keep up.
