| CAL OFFENSE HITS BOTTLENECK |
Cal’s defense did all it could to produce an upset of No. 7 USC, limiting the Trojans to one touchdown until the final three minutes. And even the Trojans’ first-half touchdown perhaps should not have counted.
But the No. 21 Bears could not score any touchdowns against a USC defense many consider the best in the country, ending with a 17-3 loss to the Trojans on Saturday at the Los Angeles Coliseum.
USC, which came into the game leading the nation in both total defense and scoring defense, has yielded only one touchdown and 13 points over its last five games. The Trojans throttled both quarterbacks the Bears used Saturday.
The loss nearly eliminated Cal (6-3, 4-2) in the Rose Bowl race, while USC (8-1, 6-1) remains in a virtual tie with Oregon State.
Cal coach Jeff Tedford is now 0-7 in Pac-10 games played in Southern California (0-3 at UCLA and 0-4 at USC).
Cal again finished the game with a different quarterback from the one who started the game. This time, Kevin Riley replaced starter Nate Longshore to begin the second half.
USC held a 10-3 lead starting the fourth quarter and was getting its offense going when Joe McKnight fumbled after a 17-yard run, giving Cal the ball at its 33-yard line, but the Bears were unable to score in the second half.
Riley started the second half at quarterback and drove Cal to the USC 10-yard line of the Bears’ first possession.
A remarkable, one-handed, 31-yard reception by Verran Tucker put Cal in position to score, and Riley hit Shane Vereen for an apparent 27-yard touchdown pass. However, the scoring play was negated by an ineligible-receiver penalty, as one of the Bears linemen ventured too far downfield.
Then, on a 2nd-and-5 play from the 10, Riley’s pass was tipped by USC’s Will Harris and intercepted in the end zone by Josh Pinkard.
USC did little offensively in the third quarter. The Trojans got to the Bears’ 43 on their first possession, but that was largely because they started on their 40-yard line after Cal’s Giorgio Tavecchio opened the second half by kicking the ball out of bounds.
Questionable officiating calls played a major role in the first half.
The Trojans dominated play in the first two quarters but their only first-half touchdown came on a 19-yard reception by Patrick Turner in the second quarter. Replays suggested the ball might have hit the ground for what would have been an incompletion, but USC was able to kick the extra point before play could be stopped for replay officials to review the play.
That score provided USC with its 10-3 lead and came immediately after Cal’s strange scoring drive that was aided by two USC penalties.
The first of those two penalties was debatable and critical. On a 2nd-and-7 play from the USC 33-yard line early in the second quarter, Longshore threw a pass that was picked off by USC’s Kevin Thomas. But soon after Longshore released the ball, USC linebacker Brian Cushing gave Longshore a rather gentle push. Longshore went flying out of bounds, and Cushing was called for roughing the passer, negating the interception and giving the Bears’ the ball at the USC 18-yard line.
Two plays later, a Longshore pass was intercepted by Taylor Mays, but USC was called for pass interference on the play. This time the penalty seemed deserved, as Kaluka Maiava hit Tucker, the intended receiver, before the ball arrived in the area.
Eventually, Tavecchio made a 35-yard field goal to tie the game 3-3 at the 8:21 mark of the second quarter. It ended a possession that milked more than eight minutes off the clock.
It was Cal’s only serious threat of the half, while USC had several chances. The Trojans had 211 yards of total offense in the first half, compared with 83 for the Bears.
USC’s first possession of the game produced a 56-yard drive that moved the ball to the Cal 10-yard line, but the Trojans were forced to settle for a 27-yard field goal.
Longshore completed 11 of 15 first-half passes, but was sacked for a 13-yard loss and fell on another play for a 5-yard loss. USC quarterback Mark Sanchez was 9-for-12 for 139 yards in the first half.
Dominant defense
USC has given up only 23 points since losing to Oregon State on Sept. 25. Here’s what the Trojans defense has allowed in those six games:
Result Opp. Run/Pass/Tot.
USC 44, Ore. 10 60/179/239
USC 28, Ariz. St. 0 75/154/229
USC 69, Wash. St. 0 88/28/116
USC 17, Ariz. 10 100/88/188
USC 56, Wash. 0 71/113/184
USC 17, Cal 3 27/138/165
