USC drops triple-overtime thriller to Stanford

A hushed silence fell over an announced sellout crowd of 93,607 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

For four quarters and nearly three overtimes, No. 20 USC fought, scratched and clawed with No. 4 Stanford in a back-and-forth affair. In the third overtime, junior tailback Curtis McNeal took a handoff, on the verge of bringing USC (6-2, 3-2) within a two-point score of Stanford (8-0, 6-0). But the ball popped loose and slipped from his grasp. With it, the Trojans’ chances of upending the Cardinal slipped away, too, as Stanford escaped with a 56-48 victory.

“It’s almost hard to be a winner or loser in that game,” USC coach Lane Kiffin said. “Both teams played extremely hard and played great football. It’s unfortunate that we were on the wrong end of it.”

Carlo Acenas | Daily Trojan

Though Stanford managed to put up 56 points, the offensive outburst was not indicative of USC’s defensive play. Sophomore cornerback Nickell Robey picked off Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck and returned it for a 33-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter and the Trojans also sacked Luck twice for a loss of 20 yards. Entering the game, Stanford’s offensive line had only allowed two sacks through seven games.

And it was the defense that kept USC within striking distance of Stanford in the first half, limiting the Cardinal to just 10 points and 168 total yards for an offense that came in averaging just less than 49 points and more than 500 yards per contest. USC was only able to manage two field goals in the first two quarters despite not much opposition from the Cardinal defense.

The Trojans, however, trailed 10-6 at halftime. But in the second half, the USC offense came alive. Junior quarterback Matt Barkley connected with sophomore wide receiver Robert Woods twice before the running game took over. On the third play of the drive, McNeal sprinted for a 61-yard touchdown run, giving USC a 13-10 lead. It was the first time Stanford had trailed all season.

A Stanford three-and-out gave way to USC’s offense, and it was McNeal who again gave the Trojans a lift. The Los Angeles native scampered 25 yards into the end zone for his second touchdown of the quarter, extending USC’s lead to 20-10. In the third quarter alone, McNeal finished with 11 rushes for 123 yards and two touchdowns.

“He played great for us all night long and came up with some huge plays,” Kiffin said. “He was banged up and it was great to see him play so well.”

Despite McNeal’s third quarter performance, Stanford hung around in part because of the play of Luck. The senior signal caller orchestrated drives of 75 yards and 86 yards to end the third quarter to give the Cardinal the lead at 24-20 heading into the fourth. In the final quarter and three overtimes, Luck completed 12-of-17 passes for 94 yards and one touchdown to help Stanford avoid its first loss of the season.

“Luck is a great player, a great quarterback,” Robey said. “I feel like he played one of his best games. He came at us with all he could. Our defense did our job and did everything coach asked us to do. The chips just didn’t fall the way we wanted them to.”

Despite taking a top-five opponent down to the wire and losing, the team remains optimistic and Barkley understands the team must not settle because of its performance.

“It hurts right now because we were so close,” Barkley said. “It’s good that we took them to the wire, but it’s not good enough for us.”