ROSE BOWL: USC 41, Northwestern 32 : Turnovers Were the Wildcats’ Undoing

Turnovers have not been a trademark of the Northwestern football team this season, but two big ones led to the Wildcats’ 41-32 loss to USC Monday in one of the most exciting games in the Rose Bowl’s 94-year history.

Coach Gary Barnett wasn’t sure it should not have been only one turnover, referring to Brian Musso’s fumble that led to USC’s third touchdown and a 17-point lead as Musso’s “quote fumble unquote.”

“It was obviously a big play and it put us in a deep hole,” Barnett added.

Musso, a sophomore wide receiver, had caught a short pass from Steve Schnur when he was hit by Trojan safety Sammy Knight. As he fell to the turf, the ball bounced from his grip and defensive back Daylon McCutcheon scooped it up and raced 53 yards to a touchdown that put USC ahead, 24-7.

Northwestern had never trailed by that much in its 10-1 Big Ten championship season.

“I thought I was down. I don’t know, it happened so fast, but the refs were there and they have to make the call,” Musso said. “He [the referee] was right there, and whatever I think, it’s in the record books as a fumble.

“I learned a valuable lesson today in perseverance and I’ll be the better for it. I got knocked down early in the first half and suffered a lot, but in the second half I came back and made some plays. You always want to get the ball back in your hands after a mistake and the coaches were good enough to give me a second chance.”

Musso, whose father, Johnny, was an All-American running back at Alabama and later played for the Chicago Bears, caught four passes in the second half, giving him a total of 91 yards. Two of the catches set up scores as the Wildcats rallied to take a 32-31 lead early in the fourth quarter.

On the first play of the final period, Musso took a short pass over the middle from Schnur and fought his way for 23 yards to the USC 14.

“I thought I was going to go all the way,” Musso said. “Some guy got me by the foot. I could see the goal line.”

Three plays later, Darnell Autry scored his third touchdown, setting off a wild celebration of purple-clad Wildcat supporters.

It was the first time Northwestern had the lead, but it didn’t last long as the Trojans’ Adam Abrams kicked a 46-yard field goal.

“We’d come back once and we felt we could come back again,” Barnett said. “Then we had the second turnover. You can’t turn the ball over twice and expect to beat a team like USC was today.

“We played against two opponents today, USC and us. There were two great teams out there. We turned the ball over, and we lost.”

The second turnover was an interception thrown by Schnur after the Wildcats had picked up two first downs following the kickoff. The pass, intended for Mike Hartl, went 41 yards the other way when Trojan defender Jesse Davis caught it instead of Hartl.

“The fullback was open, but the ball just got away from me,” Schnur said. “It just slipped out of my hand.”

The Trojans marched in for the score that put the game out of reach, 41-32.

Schnur, a senior who plans to return next year (he did not play as a freshman) threw for a personal-record 336 yards, the first over-300 effort of his career.

“It was a great game, we just turned the ball over and lost,” Barnett repeated. “One [Musso’s fumble] led directly to a score and the other [Schnur’s errant pass that was intercepted] led indirectly to another.”

During the regular season Northwestern had giving up only six fumbles and six interceptions in 11 games, compared to 16 of each for the opposition.

USC quarterback Brad Otton did not have an interception in 44 passes and Trojan ball carriers coughed up the ball only once Monday. LaVale Woods’ bobble in the second quarter led to a Northwestern field goal.

“It was hard to swallow, seeing them come back after we passed them, but hopefully it will make me a better player and the team a better team,” Musso said. “We may have lost today, but when we look back on the season the memories will be sweet. When we started last spring, our objective was the Rose Bowl, and we made that.

“Now, we can regroup next year and come with a higher objective--not just to get to the Rose Bowl, but to win it. We learned a lot coming out here. It was a great experience, a once-in-a-lifetime sort of thing. It was tough to lose, really tough, but the experience is something we’ll cherish as long as we live.”