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People have been hating on the Trojans recently after close wins over Cal and Stanford. Those detractors were quieted after USC blitzed Arizona State with 42 first half points in 45-7 victory. For once we saw the dominant USC team we expected to see all season long, as Matt Leinert flawlessly ran the offense, Reggie Bush did everything as usual, and Dwayne Jarrett finally emerged as a legitimate heir apparent to Mike Williams.
Rumors of USC’s demise were greatly exaggerated. The defense has always been superb Stanford is actually a really good team, and the Trojans made the proper second half adjustments to survive a close scare, which happens to everyone. Cal is good enough to make the BCS, so a 23-17 win over the Bears is something to be proud of. UCLA could tell you that.
But also with a new offensive line, without Herschel Dennis, Mike Williams, Dominique Byrd, and now Steve Smith, it was clearly going to take a little time for Norm Chow’s offense to gel again. It now has. So beware Pac-10.
And USC is now No. 1 in the BCS.
