USC Gets a Lucky Break

TUCSON —  Something inside Kris Richard’s head told him the ball was coming his way. Call it instinct. Or experience. Maybe even karma.

“Something just triggered,” he said.

The USC cornerback had given up an embarrassing touchdown earlier in the game but there was no time to dwell on that failure, not with the score tied and time ticking away. When he saw his receiver curl toward the sideline, there was no time to be timid.

So Richard jumped on the short route and guessed right, intercepting the pass and racing 58 yards for the winning score in the final two minutes of USC’s 41-34 victory over Arizona, a game that was by turns ugly and thrilling and ultimately a salve for the struggling Trojans.

“We needed a game like this,” Coach Pete Carroll said.

“We needed a big win like this so our players know what it feels like to win and can continue to win in close situations.”

The fourth quarter had been a mystery to the Trojans this season, a twilight zone where crucial passes fell incomplete and the other guys always made the big plays. One after another, the Kansas States and Oregons and Washingtons on the schedule had prevailed in the final minutes.

This time a clutch play finally fell the Trojans’ way. The victory improved their record to 3-5 and kept alive the possibility, however slim, of a winning season and a bowl invitation.

By the same token, it was hardly an awe-inspiring performance, not against a team with a similar 3-5 record, a team that has gone more than a year since its last conference win. It probably shouldn’t have come down to the final moments.

Arizona looked finished at halftime, down by 18 points, its offense stagnant and the crowd, generously announced at 46,399, quiet. As receiver Bobby Wade said: “We’ve had a tough time spotting teams too many points.”

Though it sounds odd for such a high-scoring game, USC relied heavily on defense, especially at the start. After Arizona scored on a 60-yard interception return, the Trojans answered in kind when nickel back Kevin Arbet darted in front of a screen pass and raced 70 yards to tie the score, 10-10.

Coming into the game, Carroll was determined to put pressure on Wildcat quarterback Jason Johnson, who was returning from a concussion suffered last week. Outside linebacker John Cousins blitzed and forced him into getting rid of the ball. Richard came from the corner and leveled him. But most often it was middle linebacker Mike Pollard who hurried and harassed him.

“They stormed the fort,” Arizona Coach John Mackovic said.

Early in the second quarter, Pollard deflected a pass high into the air where it was intercepted by lineman Omar Nazel. The turnover sparked a USC run.

Tight end Alex Holmes made a one-handed grab on a one-yard touchdown pass and Sunny Byrd vaulted his 220 pounds over the pile for another one-yard score. Carson Palmer rolled right and found tight end Kori Dickerson for a 17-yard touchdown.

Though the Wildcats stemmed the bleeding with a field goal, the score was 31-13 at halftime.

The Trojans should have known better than to relax. But they didn’t.

“Maybe we thought about coming back out and just trying to hold the lead,” Palmer said.

Or, as Arizona halfback Clarence Farmer said: “When we’re down, people think we are going to give up, but they don’t understand.”

Last season, Farmer gained 134 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown run, in a Wildcat victory at the Coliseum. This time, USC held him to minus-4 yards in the first half, and 78 yards for the night. But the sophomore helped his team swing the momentum in the third quarter by bursting 22 yards around left end for a touchdown.

The rest of the Arizona comeback would rest upon Johnson. And a mistake by Richard.

Late in the third quarter, Johnson lofted a pass into the end zone and the cornerback had a bead on the ball. His 23rd birthday is today and he thought he was getting an early gift.

But, a little off-balance as he backpedaled, Richard let that pass sail through his hands and into the arms of receiver Brandon Marshall. The 24-yard touchdown made the score 31-27.

“It was just very bad judgment from me,” Richard said. “It stuck in the back of my mind in that I don’t believe how stupid I was.”

His chance at redemption would have to wait until after USC kicker David Davis made a career-long 47-yard field goal and Johnson answered by driving his team downfield, scrambling nine yards for a touchdown to make the score 34-34 with 7:05 remaining.

Johnson was on a roll, on his way to throwing for 311 yards, and it looked as if USC would suffer another fourth-quarter heartbreaker. But he was also on his way to four interceptions, the last of which nestled in Richard’s arms right in front of the Arizona bench.

There was clear sailing down the sideline, across midfield, until he saw Johnson from the corner of his eye.

“I had to take it back to Pop Warner days,” Richard said. Back to when he played running back as a child.

“The old dip in, dip out move.”

The Wildcat quarterback dived in a last-ditch attempt at a tackle but Richard blew through his grasp, racing the final yards to the end zone. Finally, he had his birthday present.

And, ugly or not, USC had won the kind of game it has lost all season.

“Karma,” he called it. “I guess when you keep battling, good fortune will come.”