Sanchez gets back in game

A cheer went up, a big one, when Mark Sanchez led the USC offense onto the field at the start of the fourth quarter Saturday.

The redshirt freshman quarterback from Mission Viejo, who was considered a realistic candidate to be the starter this season, hadn’t played a snap since the Trojans crushed Arkansas, 50-14, in the opener two months ago. The games had been too close. John David Booty couldn’t get a breather.

But after pacing the sidelines for six games and three quarters, Sanchez got another chance against Stanford. On his first snap Sanchez took an eight-yard sack. His first pass attempt was incomplete (Patrick Turner dropped it). His first drive ended in a punt.

On his second chance, Sanchez did better. He completed a 22-yarder to freshman Travon Patterson. “It was a corner route to Peanut,” Sanchez said. “We call Travon peanut because he’s so small.”

He completed another pass to Patterson, also for 22 yards and at the end of an 11-play, 57-yard drive Sanchez ran for a four-yard touchdown.

The rapidly emptying stadium had been left to Trojans fans midway through the third quarter and some had been shouting Sanchez’s name. “It’s been a while,” Sanchez said, “and it felt good. Well, except for that first play.”

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UCLA beat Stanford, 31-0, at the Rose Bowl last month. When USC blanked the Cardinal it marked the first time in Stanford history that it had gone scoreless against both Los Angeles teams in the same season. In 1938 UCLA beat the Cardinal, 6-0, and USC won, 13-2.

-- Diane Pucin

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Tailback Chauncey Washington gained 74 yards in 12 carries and scored on a 15-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Washington fumbled twice against Oregon State, but did not put the ball on the ground against the Cardinal.

“We fixed the problem,” he said. “We didn’t have any turnovers.”

The Trojans finished with 108 yards rushing against a defense that was surrendering 255.5 yards a game and was last nationally in rushing defense.

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Troy Van Blarcom, whose kickoffs consistently went into or through the end zone during the first five games, struggled to reach the five-yard line for the second game in a row.

Van Blarcom has been bothered by a sore hip, but he said that was not the problem on Saturday.

“I just didn’t have it today,” he said.

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USC’s 42-point winning margin was its largest against Stanford since a 49-0 victory in 1977.... Dwayne Jarrett eclipsed 100 yards in receiving for the second time this season and the 11th time in his career. He extended his Pacific 10 Conference record with his 34th touchdown reception.

-- Gary Klein