:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/60843595/20131101_pjc_al2_485.0.0.0.jpg)
Mission accomplished in Corvallis. The words that sound so simple yet have troubled Trojan teams from the past were finally lifted Friday night thanks to a monstrous effort from the defense and the power running game.
Oregon State's Sean Mannion threw for 277 yards and a touchdown but also threw three uncharacteristic interceptions in the loss, the second straight for the Beavers (6-3, 4-2) after a six-game winning streak.
This fact alone spoke to the outstanding play from USC's defense, which held Mannion nearly 130 yards under his passing averages for the season while also slowing down Brandin Cooks to under 100 yards receiving.
Mannion, who went into the game leading the nation with an average of 408 yards passing, looked slightly off against the Trojans secondary leading to three interceptions including two crucial picks in the red zone.
Not only were the Trojans able to slow down the best passing attack in the nation, rectifying some early-season struggles in that department, USC played a physical style of football on offense wearing down the Beavers undersized front seven.
Facing a unit that had gone toe-to-toe with Stanford's front seven one week prior, the offensive line had no trouble creating holes at will for the power rushing attack. Thanks to breakthrough efforts from Buck Allen (16 carries for 133 and 3 TD's) along with old reliable Silas Redd (22 for 140), gave USC control from the very start with a strong one-two punch.
This game went out to all those sc players in 2008/2009 we always got y'all backs #scfamily #uscfootball
— Marqise Lee (@TeamLee1) November 2, 2013
That win felt too good!!!! #FightOn baby!
— Silas Redd (@Coast2CoastSii) November 2, 2013
GREAT win for the trojan family in Corvallis !!!#FightOn
— Marcus Martin (@ScreamMulahASAP) November 2, 2013
Orgeron's opening thoughts:
"I'm just happy for our football family. I'm really happy for our young men. It was an outstanding team effort for a short week. I thought it was an outstanding job the way our coaches prepared our guys. It was a great job of coming to a hostile environment and really not letting it affect us as much as it has done in the past. There was a belief in the locker room before the game, at halftime, during the game.
On taking down Oregon State in a hostile road environment:
"We heard a lot about coming here and not being successful. We had some team meetings about what are you going to do when you get out there in order to be familiar with their surroundings. Our whole goal was to win the game and see the stands empty. We wanted to do that. I just wanted them to learn that you can overcome any obstacle.
On the teams unity and focus moving forward:
"There was like a sense of tightening the strings a little bit, but our guys fought, came back and I thought that was a very good learning moment for our team. It was about the team effort."