Extended BoxNCAAF 1 2 3 4 F - - - - -- San Diego St 0 7 7 7 21 Usc (19) 7 10 0 7 24 FINAL
Usc-Antoine Harri 13 pass from Palmer (Newbury kick) Usc-FG Newbury 26 Usc-Richard 51 interception return (Newbury kick) San Diego St-D Lewis 45 pass from Hawley (Tandberg kick) San Diego St-Ned 3 run (Tandberg kick) Usc-Kelly 13 pass from Palmer (Newbury kick) San Diego St-Watkins 62 interception return (Tandberg kick)
San Diego St Usc First downs 16 15 Rushed-yards 31-74 42-96 Passing yards 174 188 Sacked-yards lost 4-23 2-13 Return yards 87 125 Passes 19-36-4 16-24-2 Punts 4-47.3 4-38.5 Fumbles-lost 4-2 0-0 Penalties-yards 9-86 13-110 Time of possession 30:06 29:54
Individual Statistics RUSHING: San Diego St-J Lewis 13-41, Ned 7-22, Hawley 11-11. Usc-C Morton 30-91, S Mccullough 3-10, Jackson 3-4, Soward 1-minus 1, Team 2-minus 2, Palmer 3-minus 6.
PASSING: San Diego St-Hawley 16-32-4-170, Russell 3-4-0-4. Usc-Palmer 16-24-2-188.
RECEIVING: San Diego St-Dam Gourdine 5-54, Pierce 3-20, D Lewis 2-54, Ange 2-23, J Lewis 2-12, Martin 1-5, Mitchell 1-4, Hammett 1-3, Hawley 1-2, Mcneill 1-minus 3. Usc-Kelly 6-98, Jackson 3-28, Soward 2-25, C Morton 2-7, Hayes 1-15, Antoine Harri 1-13, Huber 1-2.
Att: 53,966
Game StoryLOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Carson Palmer threw two touchdown passes and Kris Richard returned one of his two interceptions 51 yards for a score as 19th-ranked Southern California bolted to a big lead and held off San Diego State, 24-21, in its home opener.
The Trojans (2-1) survived a "Hail Mary" touchdown pass by San Diego State's Jack Hawley to close the first half and a 62-yard interception return for a score late in the fourth quarter. They picked off four passes and recovered two fumbles.
Palmer completed 16-of-24 passes for 188 yards. He put USC ahead for good just 3:25 into the game when he found Antoine Harris with a 13-yard touchdown pass, capping an 80-yard drive.
After San Diego State pulled within 17-14, Palmer hit Kareem Kelly with a 13-yard TD toss with 10:16 to play, completing a 93-yard march. Kelly caught six passes for 98 yards.
"It was a fly route and I gave the DB an inside move," Kelly said. "Then I was hungry for the ball so I just jumped up and got it. I wanted it more, so I just went up and got the ball."
The Trojans appeared to have sealed the win when Richard picked off Hawley with less than five minutes to go. But on the next play, Jermaine Watkins intercepted Palmer in the right flat and raced for a touchdown that pulled the Aztecs within a field goal.
San Diego State (1-2) forced a punt and had a chance to drive for the tying or go-ahead score. But on fourth down from the USC 44, Hawley's pass fell incomplete and USC ran out the clock. The Aztecs have not won a non-conference road game since 1981.
"When we went up 17-0, they had every chance in the world to back off and they didn't blink," USC coach Paul Hackett said. "After the game, I just couldn't get to hardly enough of them to tell them how well they played."
The Aztecs had been using a quarterback rotation, but Hawley made his first start and played most of the game. He was shaky, going 16-of-32 for 170 yards and four interceptions. Brian Russell played briefly, going 3-for-4 for four yards.
"It was a hard way to start a first game against a good football team like USC," San Diego State coach Ted Tollner said. "He needs to learn under fire and learn from it."
The Trojans (2-0) again spoiled the return of Tollner, who guided Southern Cal to a 26-20-1 record and a Rose Bowl win over Ohio State from 1983-86. USC is 2-0-1 all-time against San Diego State, including a home win against Tollner last year.
Chad Morton rushed for 108 yards on 30 carries for USC, which held a 284-248 edge in total yards and overcame 13 penalties.
"We haven't made one ounce of improvement there," Hackett said. "We had 30 yards of roughing penalties on our first drive. We just weren't ready to play football."
A 26-yard field goal by David Newbury was set up by a 38-yard punt return by R. Jay Soward and gave the Trojans a 10-0 lead with 9:44 left in the second quarter. Richard's third pick of the season came less than four minutes later and boosted the lead to 17-0.
On the final play of the half, Hawley lofted a pass down the right sideline for Derrick Lewis, who caught it and barely dove into the end zone for San Diego State's first score.
"That play was ridiculous," Hackett said. "We just shouldn't have put our football team in that position."
After the second-half kickoff, the Aztecs marched 65 yards to a three-yard TD run by Larry Ned that cut the deficit to three points.
The Trojans were pinned at their 7-yard line late in the third quarter but converted five third downs on an 18-play march. Morton rushed 11 times for 27 yards and Kelly caught passes of nine and 17 yards before hauling in the TD, also on third down.
"One of the good things for us was when it got tense in the fourth quarter, we had a 93-yard drive and scored a touchdown," Hackett said.