Trojans Are Tenacious

USC clinched the Pacific 10 Conference title and a berth in the Rose Bowl on Saturday night.

But the top-ranked Trojans are holding off on any celebrations.

USC hopes its 49-9 victory over Arizona is merely a checkpoint on the road to the Orange Bowl, the site of this season’s bowl championship series title game.

After a slow start, quarterback Matt Leinart, running back LenDale White and a stout defense made sure the Trojans remained on track.

Leinart passed for three touchdowns and White rushed for three as the Trojans improved to 10-0 for the first time since 1988, and 7-0 in conference, with the victory before a homecoming crowd of 80,167 at the Coliseum.

“We love the Rose Bowl, but it’s not our ultimate goal,” said White, who gained 118 yards in 16 carries and scored on runs of three, two and six yards in his fourth 100-yard game this season.

Said defensive lineman Shaun Cody: “It’s exciting, but we have bigger things on our minds.”

USC overcame three lost fumbles and a tougher-than-expected Arizona team to extend its winning streak to 19 games, its home winning streak to 20 and its Pac-10 streak to 14.

The Trojans are off this week and will conclude the regular season with games against Notre Dame on Nov. 27 and UCLA on Dec. 4.

“We’re in great shape, exactly where we wanted to be,” said Coach Pete Carroll, who is 12-0 in November games at USC.

The Trojans, who have won three consecutive Pac-10 titles, led only 14-3 at halftime but broke open the game with a 21-point third quarter.

“We’re sitting pretty, but it still means nothing,” said middle linebacker Lofa Tatupu. “We have a lot of hard work the next two weeks. We pride ourselves on the way we finish, and this game didn’t start too pretty, but we sure finished it.”

Leinart, a front-runner for the Heisman Trophy, completed 27 of 35 passes for 280 yards and threw two touchdown passes to wide receiver Dwayne Jarrett and one to fullback David Kirtman.

“We were able to hit them deep when we needed to, and a lot of underneath stuff,” Leinart said. “There were a lot of high-efficiency throws and completions and let the guys kind of do their thing and make people miss and get extra yards.”

After back-to-back trips to the cold Pacific Northwest, USC was looking forward to playing at home in relatively mild Southland conditions.

But it took the Trojans awhile to warm up.

“Early on, we had a couple of long drives we couldn’t capitalize on,” White said. “But we went in at halftime and we came out looking to dominate.”

USC quickly extended its halftime lead by taking the opening possession of the second half and marching 76 yards on a drive that White capped with a two-yard touchdown run.

After a fumble by Reggie Bush, Arizona cut the deficit to 21-9 on a nine-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Richard Kovalcheck to tight end Steve Fleming.

But White answered with a 54-yard run that helped set up his six-yard touchdown, which put USC ahead, 28-9, with 3:20 left in the third quarter.

Leinart then connected with Jarrett on two touchdown passes, a 13-yard completion late in the third quarter and a 12-yard play early in the fourth to put the game out of reach. Jarrett finished with six receptions for 144 yards.

The Trojans outgained Arizona, 585 yards to 255, and also intercepted two passes and sacked Kovalcheck three times. Tatupu had a team-high 11 tackles, including 1 1/2 sacks. USC had nine tackles for losses.

“We got outmanned, outplayed and outcoached,” said Arizona Coach Mike Stoops, whose team is 2-8 overall, 1-6 in the Pac-10. “That’s why they’re the No. 1 team in the country.”

The Trojans trailed, 3-0, at the end of the first quarter, then forged its 11-point halftime lead despite a missed field goal by Ryan Killeen and a fumble by Leinart that ended a threat at the end of the second quarter.

Arizona, which mainly relied on its running game, came out throwing in the first quarter and moved from its 20-yard line to midfield on the game’s first possession before it was forced to punt.

USC went three and out to set up Arizona’s first scoring opportunity.

Kovalcheck, who entered the game having completed only 43% of his passes, connected with Syndrick Steptoe for 13 yards and Biren Ealy for 23 to move the Wildcats from their 28 to USC’s 37.

Four plays later, Nick Folk kicked a career-long 48-yard field goal to put the Wildcats ahead, 3-0, with 6:02 left in the first quarter. Folk, who played at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High, had made only one of four attempts from beyond 40 yards, a 41-yarder against UCLA.

Bush ignited the crowd -- and the Trojans -- by returning the ensuing kickoff 38 yards.

Relying mainly on tight ends Dominique Byrd and Alex Holmes, Leinart drove the Trojans from their 43 to the Arizona 27. He completed a 10-yard pass to Holmes on a fourth-down play for a first down at the 17, and connected with Byrd for 11 yards to give the Trojans first and goal at the five.

On the first play of the second quarter, Leinart rolled to his left and hit Kirtman with a pass in the end zone for a touchdown that put the Trojans ahead to stay.

They missed a chance to add to their lead later in the period when Killeen pushed a 27-yard attempt wide left, dropping him to seven for 16 on field-goal tries this year.

But USC got the ball back with 5:12 left in the second quarter and used some razzle-dazzle to set up its second touchdown.

On first down at the USC 42, Desmond Reed lined up wide to the left. Leinart faked a handoff to White and gave the ball to Reed on a reverse. Just as Bush had done against Arizona State last month, Reed tucked the ball as if he were going to run, then passed downfield to Jarrett for a 55-yard gain.

White scored on a three-yard run on the next play.