Extended BoxNCAAF 1 2 3 4 F - - - - -- San Diego St 0 6 0 0 6 Usc (23) 7 14 0 14 35 FINAL
Usc-Morton 12 run (Abrams kick) Usc-Soward 53 pass from Vanraaphorst (Abrams kick) Usc-Soward 8 pass from Vanraaphorst (Abrams kick) San Diego St-Dam Gourdine 31 pass from Russell (kick failed) Usc-Miller 10 pass from Palmer (Abrams kick) Usc-Soward 74 punt return (Abrams kick)
San Diego St Usc First downs 11 25 Rushed-yards 39-137 46-232 Passing yards 94 239 Sacked-yards lost 6-33 2-8 Return yards 19 99 Passes 9-25-0 18-34-1 Punts 11-34.3 4-32.8 Fumbles-lost 5-2 2-0 Penalties-yards 11-101 15-114 Time of possession 29:31 30:29
Individual Statistics RUSHING: San Diego St-J Lewis 13-82, Ned 12-61, Dam Gourdine 1-14, Mitchell 1-0, Brinton 2-minus 8, Russell 10-minus 12. Usc-Morton 23-110, Soward 3-69, Papadakis 10-26, Parker 1-16, Strong 3-11, Ochs 1-3, Iacenda 1-2, Vanraaphorst 3-minus 2, Palmer 1-minus 3.
PASSING: San Diego St-Russell 8-21-0-89, Brinton 1-4-0-5. Usc-Vanraaphorst 13-26-0-189, Palmer 5-8-1-50.
RECEIVING: San Diego St-Dam Gourdine 3-39, Mitchell 2-28, Toccagino 2-16, Reyes 1-6, Ange 1-5. Usc-Soward 4-94, Miller 3-34, Morton 3-24, Hayes 2-33, Antoine Harri 2-21, Parker 1-16, Ford 1-12, Strong 1-3, Powell 1-2.
Att: 49,927
Game StoryLOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- R. Jay Soward celebrated his return to the lineup with three touchdowns and Chad Morton rushed for 110 yards and a score as 23rd-ranked Southern California cruised to a 35-6 victory over San Diego State.
Suspended for the Trojans' season-opening win over Purdue, Soward had touchdown receptions of eight and 53 yards in the second quarter and he brought back a punt 74 yards for a score in the final period.
"The whole time I played with the first time defense and that gave me a lot of enrergy," Soward replied when asked about what he did during his suspension for violating team rules. "It inspired me to play. I don't feel I had a good game. I dropped a ball and had a touchdown called back and I missed some blocks. It was fun and I'm just happy we won."
"That's my first experience being down on the sideline with him," commented Southern California coach Paul Hackett on Soward. "He runs by people and through people, he's just a marvelous player. I'm so proud of him, the way he handled himself two weeks ago and the way he came back."
Mike Van Raaphorst completed 13-of-26 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns for USC (2-0). Hightly touted freshman Carson Palmer was 5-of-8 for 89 yards with a touchdown and an interception.
Brian Russell hit Damon Gourdine with a 31-yard pass in the second quarter to give San Diego State (0-2) its lone touchdown. Russell was a dismal 8-of-21 for 89 yards.
Morton, who carried 23 times, got the Trojans on the board 7:43 into the opening quarter when he raced 12 yards for a touchdown.
USC extended its lead to 14-0 with 11:15 left into the second period when Van Raaphorst hit Soward with a 53-yard TD pass. Van Raaphorst and Soward hooked up again, this time from eight yards out to push the lead to 21-0.
Soward had four receptions for 94 yards and rushed three times for 69 yards.
The Aztecs got their only points of the contest with 61 seconds left before intermission on Gourdine's 31-yard TD reception.
After a scoreless third quarter, Palmer threw a 10-yard TD pass to Billy Miller. Soward's punt return with 5:50 remaining capped the scoring.
David Gibson had three of the Trojans' six sacks and also recovered a fumble. Chris Claiborne contributed 11 tackles and a pair of sacks.
The loss spoiled the return of Spartans coach Ted Tollner, who coached USC from 1983-86.
"We're still struggling on offense. We did some good things but there was no consistency and we put our defense in difficult situations," Tollner said. "We hung in there at 21-6 for a while without really making any plays. If we had just made a play on offense in the third quarter, the game may have been different."