USC Secondary Is Giving Up Big Numbers

These are the numbers, and as they say, they do not lie.

Passing yardage against USC in five games this season: 276, 355, 284, 354, 292.

Another quarterback shredded a USC secondary that is supposed to be studded with All-Americans on Saturday.

This one was no Ryan Leaf, the Washington State standout. He’s not even Nevada Las Vegas’ Jon Denton.

It was Arizona State’s Ryan Kealy, who was playing only his sixth college game and threw for 281 yards and three touchdowns in the Sun Devils’ 35-7 victory over USC.

“Our offensive line really dominated play, and our receivers are awesome,” Kealy said. “We wanted to go out and challenge their great cornerbacks right away.”

They did, and hey, maybe Daylon McCutcheon will see his senior year in a USC uniform after all.

“We just didn’t fight,” said Brian Kelly, the Trojans’ other standout cornerback.

Three Arizona State receivers burned USC for receptions of 27 yards or more, led by Lenzie Jackson, who caught seven passes, including touchdown pass plays of 40 and 26 yards.

“Coach [Bruce] Snyder said a lot of teams are scared to go right at that defense,” Jackson said. “We thought it was a challenge. The key was that the line was able to pick up the blitz.”

Perhaps the ugliest play of all was the 27-yard touchdown pass play to wide-open tight end Kendrick Bates, who was never picked up by the USC secondary from the beginning and did a slow-motion prance and strut into the end zone from about five yards out.

Bates drew a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct before he crossed the goal line, but who cared? After the kick, Arizona State had a 28-7 lead.

As for Jackson, he twice leaped over McCutcheon for passes.

“You play that position, and you’re going to either make the play or look bad when you don’t,” said Keith Burns, USC’s defensive coordinator. “[McCutcheon] is a talented player. When it comes to making the play or not, it seems this year he hasn’t.”

Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder took note.

“Lenzie Jackson had quite a game,” Snyder said. “He went right up over Daylon McCutcheon and caught that one ball for a touchdown.

“And the guy of course who got all the talk going into today’s game was R. Jay Soward. But I think Lenzie was the best receiver out there today.”

Soward, the Trojans’ big-play speedster, caught only two passes for 19 yards, and went out of the game in the third quarter because of a sore hip but should be all right.

Arizona State’s Kealy has been inconsistent, but he wasn’t Saturday. Three passes went to Ricky Boyer, a receiver from Compton who had an eight-yard touchdown catch along with a 33-yard reception.

“This was a coming-out party for us,” Boyer said.

It was a come-down for USC’s defensive backs, who had been hoping for a breather since the Sun Devils were supposed to be a running team, in contrast to the teams USC had played so far.

“We shouldn’t be giving up 300 yards a game,” Kelly said.

But they did it again.

“We’re pretty much in the same situation as last season,” Kelly said. “But this team isn’t going to lay down. We have to much talent in here to do that.”