The Rose Bowl - USC 49 - Illinois 17

by Paragon SC on Jan 1, 2008 6:34 PM PST in USC Football Comment 5 comments

The Future...Take a good look! Photo: Jeff Gross/Getty Images Via Yahoo.com

After coming out hot in the first quarter and a half SC started to let Illinois back into the game. It was puzzling to me why Zook didn't throw the ball more against SC's soft zone. That really could have been turning point in the game but Illinois never got the chance.

SC went with trickeration and they went after the ball getting 4 turnovers. The defense absolutely dominated Illinois and it was like they never knew what hit them, as they contained Williams and for the most part Mendenhall who could not get it going consistently. Rey Maualuga had the game of his life with tree sacks one INT and a forced fumble and it earned him defensive player of the game. There were some penalties in this game and not all of them legit so we need to work on that next season.

The offense for the most part worked like a charm though it was clear early on that we could run on these guys so I was disappointed when we would go into passing mode to gain yardage when all you had to do is run it. Chauncey Washington in his final game scored two touchdowns showing us what we needed from him all season. Joe McKnight had the play of the game in the 3rd qtr when a lateral pass was thrown over his head which he picked up on a bounce and went 65 yards being chased down Illinois' Vontae Davis. Booty who was named offensive player of the game, once again was dialed in on Mackey Award winner Fred Davis who he hit for some game saving plays including a TD.

Once SC settled in in the 3rd qtr they were starting to have fun. They had some lapses though, Mendenhall had a couple of long runs including a 79-yard TD Run. He is going pro no doubt about it and Arrelious Benn had a long TD catch.

So there you have it. We will have more tomorrow and more during the week. Another great Rose Bowl win for SC and another dominating performance for the defense as they came to play and set the tone early.

Leave your comments of rants here; this our postgame thread.

FIGHT ON!

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I would just like to point out...

...that Pete Carroll has his own little person as a special assistant. I have rarely been so pleased to be an alumnus. Now we can be sure that the karmic pay-back for the last several years will be pillars-of-salt in its severity, and I am at peace with this.

by DC Trojan on Jan 1, 2008 6:57 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Back on track

Though not the team nor bowl we wanted, untimely USC managed to live up to some of the pre-season hype. With respect to Illinois, this year's Rose Bowl game demonstrated to everyone that the Trojans are still a team to be reckoned with, despite injuries and surprise upsets.

With this, I bid farewell and deep thanks to the seniors leaving our beloved team and campus, and commend them on the profound endeavors they put forward to keep the winning tradition afoot.

FIGHT ON TROJANS! AND THANK YOU

by Joe Trojan on Jan 1, 2008 7:01 PM PST reply actions 0 recs

Just got back

A few thoughts on the game.

We got some lucky bounces- Vidal to Joe McKnight, Lateral to Joe McKnight.

Secure the ball- When Illinois wasn't busy putting the ball on the turf, Kaluka and Terrell were doing it for them. Nice punch and strip guys. Big time defensive plays in the red zone.

Did anyone get the license plate of that car that hit me?- Juice Williams..... yeah it was 58.

Learn the rules of the game- Once again an entire football crowd shows its displeasure for a correctly called pass interference penalty. For the Illini that don't know the rules of the game, you can't bump a receiver off of his route when the ball is in the air. Its pretty embarrassing when you boo a replay on the vision board that clearly shows your player interfering with the receiver. But then again, you guys haven't really seen much football in your neck of the woods until this year.

Section 8-10 chanting "Herschel" in the 4th quarter- I loved this part of the game. Herschel comes in and gets a boost from the crowd. The 6th year senior scores on the second effort, then tells the radio audience on 710AM that the crowd got him in the end zone. I'm glad he heard us. Way to go Hersch.

Not trying to run up the score- Sorry if you can't stop Staffon. We know he is hard to tackle. That last play wasn't us trying to run up the score. It was an attempt to get 6th year senior Herschel Dennis another touchdown.

by frak on Jan 1, 2008 9:07 PM PST reply actions 0 recs