Peete’s 305 Yards Passing Help USC Roll Over Cal, 35-3

Rodney Peete passed for a career-high 305 yards and 3 touchdowns, and Cleveland Colter returned an interception 29 yards for another score Saturday as second-ranked USC overpowered California, 35-3.

Peete, who completed 22 of 29 passes with 1 interception, threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Scott Galbraith in the first quarter, an 11-yarder to John Jackson six seconds before halftime and an 8-yarder to Leroy Holt with 8:53 remaining in the game.

Peete did most of his damage in the first half, hitting 16 of 21 passes for 210 yards and the two touchdowns as the Trojans took a 28-3 lead. He didn’t play after throwing his scoring pass to Holt.

The Trojans sacked Cal quarterback Troy Taylor 10 times for 51 yards in losses. The Bears wound up with minus-20 yards rushing.

Colter made his interception return 5:17 into the game to put the Trojans, 6-0 in Pacific 10 Conference play and 8-0 overall, ahead to stay.

Cal’s Robbie Keen kicked a career-long 52-yard field goal 4:05 later to make it 7-3, but the Trojans scored touchdowns on 3 of their next 4 possessions.

Cal fell to 1-4 in Pac-10 play and 5-4 overall. The Bears have lost 10 of their last 11 games and 25 of their last 30 against the Trojans.

Ricky Ervins scored USC’s other touchdown on a 2-yard run midway through the second quarter, capping an 85-yard, 16-play drive.

Taylor completed 16 of 27 passes for 171 yards with 2 interceptions.

USC Cal drove from its own 20-yard line to the Cal 30 on its first possession before punting rather than trying a field goal.

Chris Sperle’s punt went into the end zone, meaning the Trojans picked up only 10 yards on the exchange of possession, but Colter’s interception return for a touchdown came on the next play.

The Bears then moved from their own 28 to the USC 35 before their drive stalled. Keen, a sophomore, then kicked his 15th field goal in 17 tries this season. The kick hit the crossbar and bounced over.

The Peete-to-Galbraith touchdown pass play capped an 87-yard, eight-play drive after Keen’s field goal. Galbraith caught a short pass from Peete at the Cal 38, broke a tackle by Darrin Green at the 30 and went the rest of the way untouched.

The Trojans took a 21-3 lead the next time they had the ball, eating up 7 minutes 35 seconds on their 85-yard, 16-play drive with Ervins scoring 1 play after he caught an 8-yard pass from Peete on third-and-6 from the Cal 10.

The Trojans went 58 yards in 5 plays plus a roughing the passer penalty to score on the Peete-to-Jackson pass with six seconds left before halftime. The drive was set up by Marvin Pollard’s interception at the USC 42 with 55 seconds to play in the half.

The Trojans appeared to be on their way to another touchdown after receiving the second-half kickoff and moving to the Cal 8, but Steve Hendrickson intercepted a tipped pass at the goal line and returned it 33 yards to get the Bears out of trouble.

USC’s Erik Affholter, who had 5 receptions for 92 yards, suffered what was announced as a slight ankle sprain in the third quarter and didn’t return.

USC’s Scott Lockwood led all rushers with 69 yards in 12 carries. Holt gained 50 yards in 10 carries.

The game was played before a crowd of 73,937 at the Coliseum. A Beach Boys concert followed the game.

The Trojans have 3 games remaining this season--at Arizona State next Saturday, against sixth-ranked UCLA at the Rose Bowl Nov. 19 and at home against top-ranked Notre Dame Nov. 26.

The Trojans can clinch a berth in the Rose Bowl game by beating Arizona State and UCLA.