It should play well on paper, USC's 28-0 shutout of Arizona State on Saturday at the Coliseum.
"Any time you get a shutout in this conference . . ."
USC coach Pete Carroll said.
He paused, then finished his thought: "You've got to have some factors going your way."
A determined defense was the one that mattered most. The Trojans' D hasn't been scored on in the past six quarters, and eighth-ranked USC (4-1, 2-1 Pac-10) outscored Oregon and ASU 72-10 after being stunned at Oregon State.
But Saturday's win also was about a Sun Devils team (2-4, 1-2) clearly hurting at quarterback more than USC was. Neither Mark Sanchez nor ASU's Rudy Carpenter, each trying to come back from an injury suffered a week ago, will want to watch this film.
"I can honestly say I don't remember being this ineffective on offense in my career,"
ASU coach Dennis Erickson said, trying to digest exactly how his Sun Devils could have been shut out after USC gave them the ball four times in 13 plays in a nightmarish third quarter.
"Give credit to USC, but whenever we get the football like we did in the third quarter as many times as we did, you've got to score points, and we didn't. I wish I knew why."
A "perplexed"
Carpenter said, "We're better than that."
But not on this day as the senior who was starting his 37th straight game, the second-longest active streak in college football, couldn't complete it. Carpenter was pulled in that third quarter after getting run over one too many times.
"It's like blood in the water,"
defensive tackle Fili Moala said of the pursuit of the limping Carpenter, and USC's defense seemed to enjoy the challenge of going back out four straight times in the third quarter after Sanchez fumbled and threw three straight interceptions.
"We have a sticker on our defensive board that says: Don't give up touchdowns after sudden changes,"
safety Taylor Mays said.
Thanks to a penetrating Moala, USC didn't give up a field goal, either.
Moala, who detected "some softness in their middle in film study,"
made his way through gaps to get an elbow on Thomas Weber's first field goal attempt, then a hand on his second. "Good thing I'm 6-foot-5,"
Moala said.
Meanwhile, safety Kevin Ellison jumped the gaps, as USC consistently brought him up to have eight defenders up close, something ASU's struggling offense had no answer for.
Not that the Trojans had all that much offense to talk about. However, tailback Joe McKnight stepped up to seal the deal, leading USC on a classic 92-yard, eight-play drive in the fourth quarter, and Stafon Johnson finished it with a 2-yard TD run.
McKnight had an explanation for his career-high 143 yards on the ground, including a 41-yard, season-long quick-hitter in the first quarter.
"After last year I stopped trying to be Reggie (Bush) and do what Joe needs to do,"
McKnight said, "and what my team needs me to do."
On this day, that was to run the ball when the receivers seemed to be playing through a case of the dropsies. And Sanchez clearly was trying to feel his way through the game after a sub-par week with much less than his normal practice time.
"It's incredible he played,"
Carroll said of Sanchez, who finished 13 of 26 for 179 yards and a touchdown. But he performed nothing like the player who won an unprecedented three Pac-10 offensive player of the week awards in his first four games this season.
"Don't blame Mark,"
said wide receiver Damian Williams, who caught a 4-yard TD pass in the second quarter after Sanchez carried it in from the 1 on USC's first drive.
"I had three drops today,"
Williams said, including one on the third interception. "It's hard for a quarterback when receivers are dropping balls."
One Trojan who didn't drop the ball was cornerback Kevin Thomas. Filling in for Shareece Wright, he made a perfect break on an underthrown pass to the sideline in the second quarter and took it 46 yards for USC's second interception return for a TD this season.