Post by MizzouTiger on Jan 2, 2008 16:29:32 GMT -5
www.kansascity.com/sports/story/426789.html
USC Stomps Illinois For 2nd Straight Rose Bowl Win
PASADENA, Calif. | For the second straight season, Southern California slapped around an overmatched Big Ten foe at the Rose Bowl. And for the second straight season, USC can only wonder what would have happened if it had played a better team in a bigger game.
The sixth-ranked Trojans routed Illinois 49-17 on Tuesday and showed the rest of the country that, yes, maybe they are the best team in college football right now.
Certainly, a better test might have come against Georgia or Virginia Tech, or maybe next week against Ohio State in the BCS championship.
But the Rose Bowl wanted a Pac-10/Big Ten matchup, and the national title game didn’t want No. 6 Southern California. So, it wound up being USC-Illinois in the Granddaddy of ’Em All, and the Trojans made the Illini pay.
Freshman tailback Joe McKnight finished with 170 of USC’s Rose Bowl-record 633 yards. The 49 points tied a record, too, and the blowout gave the Trojans 11 wins for an unprecedented sixth straight season.
They have arguably been the country’s best team over that span, and might have been the best this season, too. Lacking the playoff that coach Pete Carroll favors or the trip to the title game he lobbied for, the Trojans, 11-2, will have to take this overwhelming display in Pasadena.
“Everything that was out there for us, we took,” Carroll said. “The rest of it is up for discussion. But would I love to still be playing right now? Sure would. We’d go out there anytime, any place, any venue and throw our football out there and see what we could do.”
Despite the margin, things were truly competitive for a brief moment. Illinois’ Rashard Mendenhall broke a 79-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter to trim what had been a three-touchdown deficit to 21-10.
Minutes later, Mendenhall scooted 55 yards with a screen pass from Juice Williams, and Ron Zook’s 13th-ranked Illini, 9-4, were looking as if they might really complete the impossible dream, from 2-19 over the last two years to Rose Bowl champions.
But two plays later, Kaluka Maiava popped the ball out of receiver Jacob Willis’ hands and USC’s Brian Cushing won a scramble in the end zone.
“You can’t turn the ball over,” Zook said. “Whether they were forced or we weren’t playing with consistency and the intensity you have to have, I’m not sure.”
John David Booty threw for 255 yards and three scores. USC linebacker Rey Maualuga had three sacks, an interception and a forced fumble for a defense that allowed only 79 yards in the first half.
Carroll, a proponent of a playoff, lobbied for the Trojans to have LSU’s spot in next week’s national title game, the first to include a team with two losses. But a 24-23 loss to 41-point underdog Stanford in October was USC’s undoing.
On this day at the sunsplashed Rose Bowl, it was hard to imagine the Trojans losing to Stanford.
“Let the argument go out there for the people battling with the BCS process to figure this thing out,” Carroll said. “I have no answer for them. I just wish we could keep going.”
USC Stomps Illinois For 2nd Straight Rose Bowl Win
PASADENA, Calif. | For the second straight season, Southern California slapped around an overmatched Big Ten foe at the Rose Bowl. And for the second straight season, USC can only wonder what would have happened if it had played a better team in a bigger game.
The sixth-ranked Trojans routed Illinois 49-17 on Tuesday and showed the rest of the country that, yes, maybe they are the best team in college football right now.
Certainly, a better test might have come against Georgia or Virginia Tech, or maybe next week against Ohio State in the BCS championship.
But the Rose Bowl wanted a Pac-10/Big Ten matchup, and the national title game didn’t want No. 6 Southern California. So, it wound up being USC-Illinois in the Granddaddy of ’Em All, and the Trojans made the Illini pay.
Freshman tailback Joe McKnight finished with 170 of USC’s Rose Bowl-record 633 yards. The 49 points tied a record, too, and the blowout gave the Trojans 11 wins for an unprecedented sixth straight season.
They have arguably been the country’s best team over that span, and might have been the best this season, too. Lacking the playoff that coach Pete Carroll favors or the trip to the title game he lobbied for, the Trojans, 11-2, will have to take this overwhelming display in Pasadena.
“Everything that was out there for us, we took,” Carroll said. “The rest of it is up for discussion. But would I love to still be playing right now? Sure would. We’d go out there anytime, any place, any venue and throw our football out there and see what we could do.”
Despite the margin, things were truly competitive for a brief moment. Illinois’ Rashard Mendenhall broke a 79-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter to trim what had been a three-touchdown deficit to 21-10.
Minutes later, Mendenhall scooted 55 yards with a screen pass from Juice Williams, and Ron Zook’s 13th-ranked Illini, 9-4, were looking as if they might really complete the impossible dream, from 2-19 over the last two years to Rose Bowl champions.
But two plays later, Kaluka Maiava popped the ball out of receiver Jacob Willis’ hands and USC’s Brian Cushing won a scramble in the end zone.
“You can’t turn the ball over,” Zook said. “Whether they were forced or we weren’t playing with consistency and the intensity you have to have, I’m not sure.”
John David Booty threw for 255 yards and three scores. USC linebacker Rey Maualuga had three sacks, an interception and a forced fumble for a defense that allowed only 79 yards in the first half.
Carroll, a proponent of a playoff, lobbied for the Trojans to have LSU’s spot in next week’s national title game, the first to include a team with two losses. But a 24-23 loss to 41-point underdog Stanford in October was USC’s undoing.
On this day at the sunsplashed Rose Bowl, it was hard to imagine the Trojans losing to Stanford.
“Let the argument go out there for the people battling with the BCS process to figure this thing out,” Carroll said. “I have no answer for them. I just wish we could keep going.”