USC Trojans News

Washington 20, Southern California 26
Sat, Oct 7, 2006

LOS ANGELES (AP) -No. 3 Southern California barely resembles the juggernaut the Trojans have been over the past four seasons - with one exception.

USC is still undefeated.

Chauncey Washington did nearly all the work on a 74-yard fourth-quarter touchdown drive that lifted the Trojans to a 28-21 victory over Arizona State on Saturday night.

"This is a different year, and this is a different team," Trojans coach Pete Carroll said. "I think we're fortunate to be 6-0. It's really hard to win. How many teams have won all their games? We're really, really young. I'm thrilled we're 6-0 and we feel OK about ourselves."

Among those no longer unbeaten are Texas, Notre Dame, Auburn and Florida - all ranked No. 2 at the time they lost. There's a chance Trojans will fill that spot when the new AP poll comes out Sunday.

"Just win, baby," Carroll said, stealing a line from Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis. "I think we just need to keep getting better."

Washington, a junior tailback, scored the winning touchdown on a 2-yard run with 4:29 remaining to cap the 14-play drive that ate up nearly seven minutes. He gained 64 yards on 10 carries as the Trojans went strictly with a power running game following an ineffective performance by quarterback John David Booty.

ASU got only one first down after that, and the Trojans ran out the clock after a punt.

Washington, academically ineligible the last two seasons and slowed earlier this year by a pulled hamstring, made his first career start a big one, finishing with a career-high 108 yards on 22 carries.

"They saw me getting in that groove, so they just kept feeding me," Washington said. "Coach Carroll challenged me during the week."

John David Bootycompleted 12 of 25 passes for 148 yards and two touchdowns. He threw one interception and Keno Walter-White returned it 37 yards for a touchdown with 3:18 left in the third quarter to tie the game 21-all.

Trojans (4-0 Pac-10) was coming off six-point victories over Washington State and Washington in games that came down to the final play. It appeared the Trojans would have much easier time against the Sun Devils when they took a 21-0 lead in the first 17 1/2 minutes, but it wasn't to be.

"We gave them an opportunity to get back in the game, and they did," Carroll said.

The win was the Trojans' 30th in a row at the Los Angeles Coliseum and their 27th straight over a Pac-10 opponent. Trojans has won 38 consecutive regular-season games and 51 of 53 overall dating back to the 2002 season.

The Sun Devils (3-3, 0-3) routed by No. 10 California and No. 18 Oregon in their previous two games, were lethargic and mistake-prone in the early going. But suddenly, the ASU defense clamped down and turned in a pair of big plays, and the offense did its share.

"We had a lot out there go against us early," ASU coach Dirk Koetter said. "I'm pleased we were able to come back. This was the hardest we have competed all year. Apparently, it took us six weeks to find our personality. Tonight, we played like a team."

ASU's Rudy Carpenter completed 12 of 21 passes for 124 yards and one touchdown, and rushed for 49 yards on eight carries. Ryan Torain gained 57 yards on 20 carries for the Sun Devils.

"I'm just happy we stood toe-to-toe with Trojans ," Carpenter said. "If we could carry this over, we should be 9-3 at the end of the season."

Booty threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to freshman Allen Bradford on Trojans 's first possession.

Then Arizona State returner Terry Richardson couldn't handle a punt and Shareece Wright recovered at the ASU 11. The turnover set up a 2-yard scoring run by freshman C.J. Gable.

Trojans went up three TDs on a 14-yard pass from John David Booty to Dwayne Jarrett. It was the 33rd touchdown reception of Jarrett's career, breaking the Pac-10 record he shared with Stanford's Ken Margerum.

Trojans wouldn't cross midfield again until its game-winning drive.

Torain scored on a 6-yard run with 1:34 left in the second quarter to cap an 84-yard drive and make it 21-7.

With the help of two Trojans mistakes, the Sun Devils scored again early in the third quarter on an 8-yard pass from Carpenter to Zach Miller, making it 21-14. Booty fumbled when sacked by Kyle Caldwell on the first play of the second half, and ASU's Gerald Munns recovered at the Trojans' 30. An offside penalty against Brian Cushing on a third-down play gave ASU a first-and-goal at the 5.

Then came the interception return by Walter-White. John David Booty's pass for Dwayne Jarrett was underthrown and right to Walter-White, who ran untouched into the end zone.

"He misread it," Carroll said of Booty. "It's a thing you have to read. It was just a horrendous mistake."

Other USC Stars:
USC QB John David Booty will be pushing for the BCS Championship in 2007-2008, follow him around with the latest John Booty news, pics of the hottest John David Booty Jerseys and all other John Booty information.

Dwayne Jarrett USC Trojan wide reciever. View Dwayne Jarrett bio as well as complete Dwayne Jarrett stats. Check out the all of the different Dwayne Jarrett Jerseys.

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