After the rout, UCLA let it all come out.
Curse words flew from the mouth of muttering cornerback Ricky
Manning Jr. as he watched a Gatorade-drenched Pete Carroll lead a
Rose Bowl victory parade on the shoulders of his USC players.
Tears welled up in the eyes of senior tight end Mike Seidman,
who will never experience a win over his cross-town rival after USC
won its fourth straight game over UCLA.
The realization that the No. 7 Trojans were the superior team
was simply too much for the No. 24 Bruins to take after a 52-21
blowout loss.
USC (9-2, 7-1 Pac-10) spanked some sense into UCLA (7-4, 4-3).
These Bruins weren’t Rose Bowl contenders, just pretenders
who now at best can finish third in the conference. And they
weren’t the gutless little Bruins who the Trojans trounced
27-0 a year ago.
No, this UCLA team actually tried to win and ended up being
exposed as an even bigger loser.
“USC has a really good team, and they killed us,”
Seidman said. “I don’t know what the (expletive)
happened to us. At least we kept fighting.”
Still, it was a losing battle right from start when Tab Perry
fumbled away the opening kickoff ““ the first of five UCLA
turnovers. Then, on its first play from scrimmage, USC quarterback
Carson Palmer tossed a 34-yard touchdown pass to Kareem Kelly.
The Trojans scored again on their next possession as Palmer
threw a pretty play-action strike to Keary Colbert for a 51-yard
touchdown.
And they scored again on their next possession after
UCLA’s Rusty Williams snapped the ball over the head of
punter Nate Fikse, and Justin Fargas went in for a 1-yard
plunge.
“We had to play error-free football to win this game, but
we made way too many mistakes,” UCLA head coach Bob Toledo
said.
Toledo was right on target with that. His decision in the second
quarter to replace freshman quarterback Drew Olson with fellow
freshman Matt Moore was a big mistake in retrospect. Olson had just
led his team on a 10-play, 89-yard drive, resulting in a Manuel
White seven-yard touchdown run to cut the lead to 21-7.
An overly excited Moore came in on the next possession, bobbled
the first snap he took, and fumbled away the second, giving USC the
ball on the UCLA 14. Palmer eventually threw a two-yard dart to
fullback Malaefou MacKenzie for a touchdown to demoralize the
Bruins with a 28-7 Trojan lead going into halftime.
“We thought he could handle the snap and make a
play,” Toledo said. “He’s played in the past and
done a good job. Why not?”
Because ““ according to Olson ““ he was just getting
into his groove.
“I didn’t want to come out at all,” Olson
said. “It hurt. I was gaining momentum, and then I had to do
it all over again. By that time, it was too late.”
He finished an ineffective 8-for-17 for 121 yards and an
interception. Moore went 7-of-11 for 64 yards with a late
touchdown.
Palmer, meanwhile, was masterful. The fifth-year senior threw
for 254 yards and four touchdowns, including the one to Colbert
that made him the Pac-10’s all-time passing leader. He
completed his first seven passes against the confused UCLA
secondary, finished 19-of-32 on the day, and even had some deep
balls left late in the game.
“I’m sure (Carroll) wants a Heisman Trophy
candidate, so he did what he did,” Toledo said with a
snicker.
Colbert’s 34-yard touchdown run on a reverse, Gregg
Guenther’s three-yard touchdown catch, and three
third-quarter turnovers doomed the Bruins. A Hershel Dennis 38-yard
touchdown scamper in the fourth quarter put USC up 52-7.
“Their defense, well, sucked,” USC offensive lineman
Winston Justice said. “We just outplayed them.”
UCLA wasn’t much better on offense after getting out of
its game plan. Freshman tailback Tyler Ebell, who had rushed for
over 100 yards in his last six games, was held to 56 yards on only
12 carries.
The Bruins added two garbage-time fourth-quarter scores when
White caught a 10-yard touchdown from Moore, and tight end Marcedes
Lewis hauled in a 14-yarder from John Sciarra.
By that time, however, most of the Bruin fans in the sellout
crowd of 91,084 had left the stadium with the Trojan faithful
serenading them with Steam’s “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him
Goodbye.”
In the locker room, UCLA wasn’t so much steamed as it was
in a state of shock.
“It’s a total disappointment,” safety Ben
Emanuel said. “This is terrible in all regards.”