Trojans Put Up Tough Barricade to Stop Sooners

Almost from the start, it had all the earmarks of a rout.

Missed defensive assignments, a stumble by a key player in the secondary, a receiver snaring a touchdown pass despite being sandwiched by two defenders.

Tuesday’s bowl championship series game did turn out to be a rout -- but not by the team that at first seemed primed to prevail.

It was the USC defense that stumbled and bumbled on Oklahoma’s first possession of the Orange Bowl, but not for long. Working in concert and led by some fine individual efforts, the Trojan defense held firm while the offense found a strong and successful rhythm.

The Trojans’ 55-19 thrashing of the Sooners will be remembered for quarterback Matt Leinart’s five touchdown passes and for a 38-point first half that was the team’s most productive in a bowl game, but all that might not have been possible without the staunch and smart efforts of the defense.

And they laughed when USC Coach Pete Carroll said he planned to emphasize defense at a Pacific 10 Conference school.

“It’s just unreal,” said linebacker Lofa Tatupu, who was credited with seven solo tackles and a team-high 12 for the game. “We worked hard for it and believed in the system and Coach Carroll.

“We thought that if we took away the run early and make them pass, pressure them, that would work. It seemed to work out.”

There’s an understatement.

Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson, who averaged 153.6 yards a game in becoming the runner-up to Leinart in the Heisman Trophy voting, was held to 82 yards.

Only two opposing runners have rushed for 100 yards in USC’s last 36 games.

Oklahoma’s Jason White, last season’s Heisman winner, did throw for 244 yards but had three passes intercepted and was sacked twice.

Oklahoma was kept below its season average of 28.8 points; with 128 net yards Tuesday, the Sooners fell short of their season average of 215.1. Their total offense, 372 yards, was also short of their average of 469.6

Carroll knew that defense wins championships, and his team’s defense played a huge role in the Trojans’ 13-0 record this season and second successive national championship.

“Defensively, we shut down a running game we thought was the best we’d seen in years,” said Carroll, whose team finished in the top 10 in the nation in every defensive category.

“It started as a normal game, but as the game took shape, our guys played well. As it went on, they wouldn’t let it happen any other way.”

Judging by the Sooners’ first possession, though, the Trojans looked to be in trouble.

On a third-and-eight play at Oklahoma’s 39, White found Mark Bradley on a 32-yard pass play, its impact heightened when cornerback Eric Wright fell.

Two plays later, White completed a five-yard touchdown pass to Travis Wilson, who managed to grab the ball with Darnell Bing and Justin Wyatt on either side of him.

The Sooner fans in the crowd of 77,912 exulted as one, a huge, writhing sea of red. They couldn’t know their team would not score another touchdown until 3 minutes 59 seconds remained -- and by then, the Sooner Schooner had departed. Many fans followed.

USC never faltered after it fell behind.

“We figured it was gong to be a close game. There was no panicking,” linebacker Matt Grootegoed said.

After initially saying the Trojans didn’t change any of their defensive schemes and that they “just kept playing,” he acknowledged they’d made some adjustments.

“We ran some stunts and some things that might have confused [White],” said Grootegoed, a senior from Huntington Beach. “And a couple of blitzes.”

White and the Sooners never knew what hit them, turning the ball over four times in the first half.

To the Trojans, that was the ultimate response to suggestions they were not as good as their Midwestern or Southern brethren.

“Notre Dame talked [trash]. Cal talked. We just stayed quiet,” defensive end Lawrence Jackson said. “I don’t think the Pac-10 is soft or the West Coast is soft.

“If Auburn wants a piece of us, that’s too bad. I think we’re No. 1 and national champions.”

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No. 1 vs. No. 2

Bowl meetings involving the No. 1- and No. 2-ranked teams in the Associated Press’ college football poll (The No. 1 team is 9-6):

*--* DATE RESULT BOWL Jan. 4, 2005 No. 1 USC 55, No. 2 Oklahoma 19 Orange Bowl Jan. 3, 2003 No. 2 Ohio State 31, No. 1 Miami 24, 2 OT Fiesta Bowl Jan. 4, 2000 No. 1 Florida State 46, No. 2 Virginia Sugar Bowl Tech 29 Jan. 4, 1999 No. 1 Tennessee 23, No. 2 Florida State 16 Fiesta Bowl Jan. 2, 1996 No. 1 Nebraska 62, No. 2 Florida 24 Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1, 1994 No. 1 Florida State 18, No. 2 Nebraska 16 Orange Bowl Jan. 1, 1993 No. 2 Alabama 34, No. 1 Miami 13 Sugar Bowl Jan. 1, 1988 No. 2 Miami 20, No. 1 Oklahoma 14 Orange Bowl Jan. 2, 1987 No. 2 Penn State 14, No. 1 Miami 10 Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1, 1983 No. 2 Penn State 27, No. 1 Georgia 23 Sugar Bowl Jan. 1, 1979 No. 2 Alabama 14, No. 1 Penn State 7 Sugar Bowl Jan. 1, 1972 No. 1 Nebraska 38, No. 2 Alabama 6 Orange Bowl Jan. 1, 1969 No. 1 Ohio State 27, No. 2 USC 16 Rose Bowl Jan. 1, 1964 No. 1 Texas 28, No. 2 Navy 6 Cotton Bowl Jan. 1, 1963 No. 1 USC 42, No. 2 Wisconsin 37 Rose Bowl

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