With a Late Kick, USC Is Duck Soup

Long gone are the days when USC can travel to Oregon expecting a victory. After a recent string of hard-fought games, it has gotten to the point where the teams don’t even wait for opening kickoff to go at each other.

Forty-five minutes before the start of Saturday night’s game, during warmups, they got into brawl worthy of a bar room. Players swinging at each other. Bodies flying. Even after the teams separated, coaches Pete Carroll and Mike Bellotti got into an angry-looking confrontation at midfield.

Oh, and yes, there was a football game. It was every bit as feisty.

Down by 15 points in the third quarter, the Trojans picked themselves up off the floor to take a fourth-quarter lead before falling to No. 7 Oregon, 24-22, on a 32-yard field goal by Jared Siegel with 12 seconds remaining. The sold-out crowd of 45,765 at Autzen Stadium rejoiced in the Ducks’ 23rd consecutive home victory.

“It’s tough,” said USC quarterback Carson Palmer, who threw for 411 yards in the Pacific 10 Conference opener. “You think the game is over. You think you’ve got it won.”

It was the kind of victory USC (1-2, 0-1) had dearly wanted, the kind that can put a rebuilding program back on the map. Palmer showed a fighter’s spirit, shaking off three interceptions to throw touchdowns of 75 and 93 yards. Kicker David Davis, who had zero field goals as a Trojan, kicked three of them.

It was a game in which Oregon (3-0, 1-0) and quarterback Joey Harrington once again showed their propensity for fourth-quarter comebacks.

“We threw everything at them,” Carroll said. “We tried to pressure them, but they did a nice job of picking us up.”

The theme of this game--for both teams--was improvement. After less-than-impressive victories over Wisconsin and Utah, Oregon wanted to play more like the seventh-ranked team in the nation. That meant a more consistent running game and a stronger defense against the run.

The Duck tailbacks did their part in the first quarter. On a second and 20, Maurice Morris ran a draw for 26 yards. His backup, Onterrio Smith, then took a pitch and lofted a 35-yard halfback option pass to tight end Justin Peelle for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

The Trojans, meanwhile, could not specify just one or two areas in which they hoped to improve. They were looking to take the next step in a rebuilding process that began with the hiring of a new coaching staff last winter.

“The scary thing about playing ‘SC ... they can improve dramatically,” Bellotti said earlier in the week. “With a new coaching staff, it takes a while to get everybody on the same page and, if and when they do, watch out.”

For added drama, USC was returning to the scene of what had been a disastrous game two years ago. Not only did the Trojans lose in triple-overtime, but Palmer broke his collarbone on a scramble just before halftime and was gone for the season.

In the days before this game, receiver Kareem Kelly sensed his quarterback was “really fired up because this is where he got hurt.”

Palmer found his rhythm just after Oregon’s first score when USC went to the no-huddle offense. Spreading the ball among six receivers, he engineered a pair of scoring drives. They ended with field goals of 32 and 43 yards by Davis.

But then came Palmer’s miscues. First, a fumble reminiscent of the one against Kansas State two weeks ago. The Trojans were fortunate to recover the ball. Then, in short order, came the three passes intercepted by Oregon cornerback Steve Smith. On the second one, late in the half, Smith raced 38 yards untouched for a touchdown that gave his team a 14-6 lead at halftime.

The second half began with the third interception, this one on a pass that glanced off receiver Grant Mattos’ hands. A few plays later, Joey Harrington found Peelle wide open up the middle for a 21-yard touchdown pass and a 21-6 lead.

All week, USC had had talked about making room for tailback Sultan McCullough against Oregon’s inexperienced front seven. That did not happen in the first half, when the offense managed only 28 yards on the ground. That did not happen at the start of the second half, when McCullough carried four times for minus-seven yards.

So midway through the third quarter, just when it seemed Oregon might take control of the game, Palmer rolled left on a misdirection play and tossed a short pass to McCullough, who slipped past Smith and raced 75 yards up the sideline for a touchdown that closed the gap to 21-13.

And on the first play of the fourth quarter, Palmer pump-faked a short pass threw to Kelly, who had snuck behind the defense, for a 93-yard touchdown pass.

The two-point conversion failed, but the Trojans had climbed back into the game at 21-19.

The next time Palmer got the ball, he found Kelly again for a 45-yard gain. That set up a 40-yard Davis field goal and, with 10:20 remaining, USC had the lead.