Trojans Squash Cardinal

PALO ALTO —  What do you know, USC is a bully again.

USC can strut. USC can squish and embarrass a loaded offense. And USC can even rest a little now, and envision a late November to remember.

Out of the chill night, after all the fumbles, USC rumbles and Stanford offensive crumbles on Saturday, there was one clear emotion emerging from the Trojans’ throttling 34-9 victory before an announced crowd of 43,250 at Stanford Stadium:

About time. And just in time for the final two huge games against UCLA and Notre Dame.

“This is the way I expected us to play,” said senior cornerback Daylon McCutcheon, who started the Trojans’ defensive masterpiece with a first-quarter interception.

“This is the type of defense I knew we could be.”

This was not at all about offensive pyrotechnics or scoreboard fireworks, but about silencing those things.

This was about the big-play USC defense, which forced four Stanford turnovers: three fumbles and an interception, leading to four USC scores.

The victory ensured that the Trojans, 7-3 overall and 5-2 in the Pacific 10 Conference, will be in a bowl game for the first time since after the 1995 season, but the vivid pieces of this performance added up to far more than that.

Against a Stanford offense that had percolated powerfully in back-to-back narrow losses at Arizona State and UCLA, the Trojans brought the Cardinal to a standstill.

The hero? Defensive lineman Aaron Williams forced a fumble, recovered two and ran one back 18 yards for USC’s third score of the game.

The silenced? Stanford quarterback Todd Husak, until Saturday the hottest player in college football, completed only 18 of 31 passes for only 138 yards, was sacked twice, fumbled twice and had a pass intercepted.

The injured? Receiver R. Jay Soward left the game during the Trojans’ first drive because of a sprained ankle, and tailback Chad Morton didn’t start because of his own sore ankle.

But what the Trojan offense did--which wasn’t superlative, but more than enough to win this game--almost was superfluous.

After scoring on its opening drive, Stanford (1-8, 0-6) never really moved the ball again. Stanford, which had been averaging more than 400 yards passing over its last three games, passed for only 166 against USC, and accumulated only 221 overall.

“I think the main thing that needs to be said is that our defense once again was a dominant force in the ballgame,” said Trojan Coach Paul Hackett, who said he called an overly conservative offensive game because he was so confident in his defense.

“I mean, this is a top-notch offense that we played against today. And our defense, from the very beginning, made a statement about controlling the game. And I’m not talking so much about the score, but how we played the game. I think that’s the part of it that was fabulous to me.”

McCutcheon’s interception of an overthrown Husak pass and 39-yard return set up Adam Abrams’ 37-yard field goal to give USC a 10-7 lead it never surrendered.

Soon after, star Cardinal receiver Troy Walters left the game because of a sore ankle.

That was followed by a sack by Zeke Moreno, who knocked the ball from Husak and into the hands of Williams, who rumbled into the end zone to make the score 17-7.

“I think that was kind of the play that shut the lid on them,” safety Rashard Cook said of the second-quarter turnover.

Slam the lid. Shut out the lights.

“I felt if we could shut down their offense, they’d really have no chance to beat us,” McCutcheon said.

Abrams made another field goal after Cook shook the ball loose from Stanford running back Eddie Gayles early in the third quarter.

Then Williams burst up the middle, hit Husak’s arm and dove on the ball when it tumbled loose.

Two plays later, quarterback Carson Palmer found Windrell Hayes for an eight-yard touchdown and USC was in command.

What happened to this defense, which also played solidly against Washington last week but fell apart at the seams in a loss to California?

“I don’t know what it is,” Cook said, “but it’s good.

“We feel it’s our job to get turnovers and give our offense a short field or even score ourselves. That’s what we’re supposed to do every week.

“The games we’ve lost, we didn’t make big plays, and we didn’t give our offense short fields.”

USC, which has won its last two games, gets a bye this week to rest Soward and the other walking wounded while UCLA, which struggled mightily to fend off Stanford last weekend, travels to Washington.

Then, it’s UCLA and Notre Dame to finish the USC schedule.

What looked like a sliding season suddenly might not end until Jan. 1.

“I think there’s a lot of ramifications to what happened today,” Hackett said. “Plus we have a bye. So we’re playing our best football and we have a bye. We’ve got two wonderful opportunities ahead of us in November.

“I think our team has confidence now. I think there’s this feeling we’re ready now. We’re ready to do something these next two games.”

McCutcheon, asked if the Trojans are currently one of the best teams in the nation, took what might be perceived as a subtle swipe at UCLA, which is undefeated but has battled to beat lesser teams in recent weeks.

“I was hoping we’d be this way from the beginning of the season, but we weren’t,” McCutcheon said. “The big thing is we’re getting stronger every week. And that’s the mark of a great defense.

“It’s better to be improving every week instead of being hot right from the start and using everything up before it’s over.”

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* SOWARD VOWS TO RETURN: R. Jay Soward says his ankle injury won’t keep him out of game against UCLA. Page 9