USC handles Sun Devil defenders
If anything separated the University of Southern California from ASU in its 44-24 victory Thursday, it was defense.
The Sun Devils (9-2, 6-2 Pac-10) got picked apart by USC quarterback John David Booty, while the Trojans (9-2, 6-2) ran rampant in ASU's backfield, punishing Rudy Carpenter.
ASU's junior quarterback had to leave the field after getting a bloody lip from USC defensive end Lawrence Jackson in the third quarter. It was a fitting display of USC's brute force along the line of scrimmage.
Jackson recorded a season-high four sacks, which were the most by a Trojan in a single game since Tim Ryan had four in 1989.
"They came to hit tonight," Carpenter said. "That is the one thing that they did do. They hit me and they hit me good."
USC also stuffed the Sun Devil rushing attack, holding it to a season-low 16 yards on 35 carries.
On the other end of the spectrum was ASU's defense, which surrendered 375 yards through the air and another 133 on the ground. ASU football coach Dennis Erickson attributed much of the Trojan's offensive success to their preparation.
"They had a great plan," Erickson said. "They probably ran the ball twice in the first quarter. Everything was bootlegs, getting out on the corner, and play action pass. They did a nice job of planning against us."
The Sun Devils didn't help themselves with an atrocious job of tacking, especially in the open field.
"Normally we're a very good tackling team," Erickson said. "Normally we get turnovers, get around the football and we didn't do that, for whatever reason."
USC's tight end Fred Davis torched ASU for 119 yards and a touchdown on five catches on top of embarrassing the Sun Devils on several plays.
The first came when he caught a ball on a crossing pattern from John David Booty in the second quarter. After the catch, he stiff-armed senior safety Josh Barrett to the ground en route to picking up 26 yards and a first down.
Davis made the Sun Devils look even more foolish on his third-quarter touchdown when he broke three tackles before trotting into the end zone to put the game out of reach at 44-17.
"We were just too excited and overwhelmed," junior safety Troy Nolan said. "We just didn't wrap up at times. They were just running through our tackles and making plays. We just got out played."
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