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Articles
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USC, First in Ten Reggie Bush, 270 total yards, headed for stardom By: Malamute, 25 October 2003
The Trojans have a wrecking crew that is the most formidable in the nation--both defensively and offensively. QB Matt Lienart threw for 351 and 4 touchdowns and completed 19 of 27 passes with no interceptions. True freshman Reggie Bush caught 5 passes for 132 yards, with a long of 60 yards that went for a touchdown. On that pass play, Lienart caught the Dawgs in a cover two and hit Bush up the middle where he split the UW safeties and outraced them to the goal line. Later, in the fourth quarter, Lienart hit Bush on a wheel route and he streaked down the sidelines for 37 yards and a TD; appearing almost unstoppable, Bush, out of San Diego, ran 12 times for 81 yards. After losing to Cal in triple overtime, USC has roared back with wins over ASU, Stanford, Notre Dame and now Washington. It was an especially disappointing loss for the UW as it was coming off an impressive win over Oregon State after losing to Nevada the week before. After a USC drive ended in a missed field goal, the UW scored first on an 8 play, 80-yard drive, capped by an impressive 15-yard run up the middle by redshirt freshman Kenny James. With the score knotted at 7-all and the large crowd in the game, QB Cody Pickett committed an unforgivable turnover, especially considering he's a senior. With third and a dozen on the USC 42, Pickett, who was under intense heat, threw the ball up for grabs and Ronald Nunn ran it back on a 57-yard interception TD return, which gave the Trojans a 14-7 lead in the first quarter. Washington finished the second quarter with an 80-yard drive to close a 13-point gap, making the score 20-14. As it turned out, Washington played one of its on-and-off games, six of them before this one, when, in each game, it has played one good half and one not so good. At halftime, most fans thought it was an interesting ball game, with the gift TD being the difference. At that time, USC had 13 first downs, with 127 yards passing and 118 yards running, for a total of 245 yards. The UW (11 first downs) accumulated 238 total yards on 193 yards passing and 45 yards running. In the second half, the Trojans' defense closed down the Huskies' offense, which had lost WR Charles Frederick to injury on Nunn's interception return in the first quarter. Meanwhile, the unbelievable Bush, "The President" as his teammates call him, did his stuff. USC finished the day with 565 total yards to Washington's 360. Dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball, USC rushed for 214 yards while giving up 86 yards on the ground to Washington.
Mimicking the Thundering Herd from years of yore, running backs Bush, Hershel Dennis, LenDale White and Chauncey Washington give USC an interchangeable array of punishing runners to compliment its devastating passing game. Washington is 4-4 on the season and 2-2 in Pac-10 play. USC (7-1), still in the hunt for the Roses, is 3-1 in the conference standings. Husky Stadium looked almost empty near the middle of the fourth quarter. Husky fans were prepared to yell and confuse sophomore Lienart to help the Husky defense, and they were at their vocal best. However, you can't stop a freight train with either concordant notes or a cacophony of sounds. The past few years, Coach Pete Carroll has "robbed" the Southern California gold mines, the richest in the nation, and has converted the ore into 24-carrot gold. If Washington is ever to be a formidable power again, it must mine this wealth of prospects more effectively, something former coach Rick Neuheisel failed to accomplish, and it showed today. This year, Husky fans need to realize this is a conference of Carroll and the Seven Dwarves, Stanford and Arizona not counting. Because any dwarf can beat any other dwarf on a given Saturday, there is still hope for the Dawgs and post season play. For Husky fans, the unveiling of the Owens statue was the highlight of the day. It will be placed in front of Husky Stadium as a symbol of an era that marked a return to football as played under Enoch Bagshaw, Jimmy Phelan and Gil Dobie, all eras when Husky teams overpowered their opposition, much like Owens' teams of the late fifties and early sixties. The fact is that Owens never was a bigot, racist or prejudiced. He was simply overwhelmed by the times, like most white Americans who had never suffered the prejudices of racism and profiling, all of them, both black and white Americans, caught ashore in a tsunami of misunderstanding and turbulence. Some of them have drifted out to sea and then back again, to rewrite a history that is never quite the same, the retelling of which, at times, suits the whims of a demagogue. Quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jim Owens exited Washington with these words to say, “We are the sum of our days, and should look sharp at how they pass. Of our days, they come and go like muffled veiled figures sent from a distant friendly party.” ---------------- Joe Toledo suffered a high-ankle sprain and was on crutches to start the second half. Charles Frederick sat out the second half with a bruised chest and sprained left shoulder. With Frederick out, Reggie Williams failed to catch a pass in the second half as he was doubled and triple teamed.
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The USC Trojans
overpowered
the Washington Huskies 43-23 at Husky Stadium, on a day in which a statue
bearing the likeness of former coach Jim Owens was unveiled at halftime.
Appearing almost unstoppable, the Trojans' Reggie Bush accounted for 270
all-purpose yards on the game, while USC posted its first win in 10 years at
Husky Stadium.
One bright spot for
the Dawgs was Kenny James' running, which accounted for 58 yards on 11
carries. Cutback ability, acceleration, strength, and hanging on to the ball
all characterize James.