Ricky Manning hit Carson Palmer with his usual bravado, sending
the Trojan quarterback into a backflip on the Bruin 1-yard
line.
It was the kind of contact that could take a player out of a
game. But even one of UCLA’s few good hits on defense got
thrown back in its face.
“I was surprised when he got up like it was
nothing,” Manning said.
Palmer jumped up pumping his fist, having scrambled 22 yards to
set up a second Trojan touchdown on their second drive of the
game.
“He’s a big boy,” Manning added with a
shrug.
And it was the big boy’s big day Saturday. After his
cheerleader routine, Palmer spent the rest of the afternoon
validating his status as a Heisman Trophy candidate en route to a
52-21 blowout of the No. 24 Bruins at the Rose Bowl. He and the
receivers stymied the Bruin secondary at every turn.
“This can’t be happening,” Manning said,
reflecting on his thoughts during the game.
“But it is reality and it hurts.”
The secondary got hit hard early when Palmer threw a touchdown
pass to Kareem Kelly seven seconds into the game. It was the first
of many times USC would capitalize on Bruin turnovers, this time a
fumbled kickoff return.
“We didn’t execute our calls too well. Little things
were turning into big things,” sophomore safety Ben Emanuel
said. “It seemed like everyone was having their turn of one
little mistake and (USC) was capitalizing on it.
“We couldn’t afford that because our backs were
against the wall. It seemed like we were out there after a turnover
every time.”
Palmer followed the first touchdown with five consecutive
completions on the ensuing drive, capped off by a 51-yard
play-action pass to receiver Keary Colbert. Palmer did not throw an
incomplete until the end of the first quarter, going 7-of-8 for 128
yards to put his team up 21-0. By the end of the day the senior was
19-of-32 for 254 yards with four touchdowns and no
interceptions.
“He was throwing to wide open people,” sophomore
corner Matt Ware said with a sigh of disgust.
The failures of the Bruin secondary allowed the Trojans to run
up the score as they threw deep on first down well into the third
quarter.
“We did it because it was there,” USC head coach
Pete Carroll said. “Our receivers were wide open the whole
day. We absolutely did not run up the score. We respect them so
much that we played our best football game from the first to the
fourth quarter.”
Some of the Bruins had their doubts.
“It’s the ‘SC-UCLA game so they don’t
have no respect for us,” sophomore corner Matt Clark
said.
Saturday Palmer became the all-time leading passer in Pac-10
history. His 11,090 yards broke the record held by former Stanford
quarterback Steve Stenstrom.
“Palmer’s probably the best I’ve played
against next to Joey Harrington,” Manning said. “The Xs
and Os didn’t really matter. They just outplayed
us.”
But losing to one of the best teams ““ and quarterbacks
““ in the nation did not take any of the sting out.
“They basically came in and took over our stadium,”
Emanuel said. “They won in our house. And it was the UCLA-USC
game. And it was the score. It all makes it about 50 times
worse.”
As the Bruins walked off the field, Trojan fans crowding both
end zones, Palmer stood outside grinning in front of cameras
discussing his Heisman chances.
He looked like he could have backflipped the length of the
field.