USC gets win over Illinois in Rose Bowl
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) - January 1, 2008 The Trojans were every bit as good as advertised and the Rose
Bowl was even more lopsided than expected. Freshman tailback Joe
McKnight finished with 170 of USC's 633 yards in a record-setting
romp Tuesday, 49-17 over outmatched Illinois.
Sixth-ranked USC (11-2) tied a Rose Bowl record with the 49
points and the total offense was a record, too. The blowout gave
the Trojans 11 wins for an unprecedented sixth straight season and
made them 5-1 in their last six bowl games, all of them BCS
affairs.
The game featured 1,078 yards of offense. Despite the margin,
things were truly competitive for a brief moment. Illinois' Rashard
Mendenhall broke a 79-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter
to trim what had been a three-touchdown deficit to 21-10.
Minutes later, Mendenhall scooted 55 yards with a screen pass
from Juice Williams, and Ron Zook's 13th-ranked Illini (9-4) were
looking as if they might really complete the impossible dream, from
2-19 over the last two years to Rose Bowl champions.
But two plays later, Kaluka Maiava popped the ball out of
receiver Jacob Willis' hands and USC's Brian Cushing won a scramble
in the end zone.
Then came the play of the game, when John David Booty threw a
sloppy lateral to McKnight, who didn't catch it, but was able to
scoop it up on the bounce and run 65 yards. McKnight was chased
down by defensive back Vontae Davis - yes Zook is recruiting some
speed to Champaign - but four plays later, Booty hit Fred Davis
with a 2-yard touchdown pass and the rout was on.
Booty threw for 255 yards and three scores to set a Rose Bowl
career record with seven TDs.
USC linebacker Rey Maualuga had three sacks and an interception
for a defense that allowed only 79 yards in the first half.
McKnight, hyped as USC's next Reggie Bush, finished with 125
yards rushing and 45 yards receiving, and his broken play in the
third quarter wasn't the only time the Trojans made something crazy
and unexpected happen.
It started in the first quarter, when Booty lateraled to Garrett
Green, who is listed as a receiver-quarterback, and Green threw
crossfield to Desmond Reed for a 34-yard touchdown strike and a
14-0 lead. Reed was so open, he could've walked into the end zone,
but instead did a leaping front tuck. Stuck the landing, too, but
got six points instead of a perfect 10.0, and also was docked a
15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty.
That made no difference, and in the end, Illinois' nice little
stretch of competitiveness in the third quarter was only a blip, as
well.
Mendenhall finished with 214 total yards in what could be the
last college game for the junior. Williams had 245 yards passing
for the Illini, whose last Rose Bowl trip came 24 years ago and
ended in a 45-9 loss to quarterback Rick Neuheisel and UCLA.
The score this time was similar, and not totally unexpected.
The Illini were 13½-point underdogs - biggest of any of this
season's 32 bowl games - and the final score only added fuel to the
fire of those who criticized the Rose Bowl for passing on other
available teams, maybe Georgia or Hawaii, and insisting on a
Pac-10-Big Ten matchup.
Meanwhile, USC was said to be playing the best football of
anyone when the regular season ended, and didn't do anything to
debunk that theory.
Coach Pete Carroll, a proponent of a playoff, lobbied for the
Trojans to have LSU's spot in next week's national title game, the
first to include a team with two losses. But a 24-23 loss to
41-point underdog Stanford in October was USC's undoing.
On this day at the sunsplashed Rose Bowl, it was hard to imagine
the Trojans losing to Stanford.
Not that they were perfect.
Early in the game, a snap sailed over punter Greg Woidneck's
head and he had to scramble to get off a 20-yard punt. Later,
Justin Harrison picked off Booty's pass and returned it to the USC
20, but Illinois couldn't score off that. Also in the first half,
Harrison pulverized receiver Vidal Hazelton and sent the ball
flying out, only to redirect into the waiting hands of McKnight.
The common denominator in all was that was that Illinois gave
itself chances to make big plays but couldn't cash in on any.
And the Trojans, like any championship team, were in the right
place at the right time for all of it.