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Saturday, Nov. 07, 2009

USC wins ugly, but that's pretty to these Trojans

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Style points aren't in style anymore in college football.

Good thing, because USC 14, Arizona State 9 was Max Headroom wearing a mullet and a Winger T-shirt.

Matt Barkley completed just seven passes for only 112 yards, 75 of which came on one play.

The Trojans punted eight times, missed a field goal and were called for nine penalties resulting in 98 yards of retreat.

On one of the most fascinating plays in college football this season - a play that featured an interception and a fumble - USC failed to come up with either.

But know what? USC 14, Arizona State 9 was as trendy as tapas compared to what the Trojans produced at Oregon a week ago.

"It's just nice to get back to being ourselves," linebacker Chris Galippo said. "It felt weird there for awhile with everything that was going on."

Are the Trojans - thesetwo-loss Trojans - still Pac-10 contenders? Are they Rose Bowl-worthy? Are the BCS at-large candidates?

All those answers seem to be yes today despite their two defeats and lingering habit of unfurling the most uneven of performances even in victory.

"Everybody wants to call it (over)," Coach Pete Carroll said, "it" being the Trojans' season and dynasty and everything else. "What's the point? You have to play the games. It ain't over yet. It ain't over. You don't know. Nobody knows."

The Trojans weren't necessarily buried after their graphic loss to the Ducks, but the hole had been dug.

Then Saturday arrived, Oregon lost to Stanford, a few other BCS wannabes fell over the cliff and suddenly the Trojans looked a whole lot more legitimate than they did in losing by 27 points.

Just win now. That's all that matters, particularly when you're already scarred. And especially this season.

Florida and Texas have provided more doubt than dominance. Alabama has uglied its way to the top of the polls. Iowa was jarringly unconvincing in its pursuit of perfection.

This is a season in which Cincinnati, Boise State and TCU make up 50 percent of the Associated Press' top six. Think about that.

It's November now. Just win. That's it. The computers don't have eyes and margin of victory never has been more marginalized.

"Some of them are pretty and some of them aren't," USC assistant head coach Jeremy Bates said. "We'll always take them, definitely."

Said defensive end Derek Simmons: "These things have been kinda hard to come by lately. We ain't giving this one back."

They won it with their defense, a week after that defense was bad, historically bad. They won it by turning the Sun Devils into an offense of one dimension, a dimension that in the second half was placed in the hands of an 18-year-old freshman quarterback.

They won it with steady pressure, some huge hits and a secondary as productive offensively as the offense was Saturday.

Only Will Harris' 55-yard interception return for touchdown in the final two minutes of the first half prevented USC from returning to the locker room still scoreless.

"We owed them one after last week," said Simmons, who had a key sack late. "And I don't just mean the offense. We owed our fans one. We owed Coach Carroll one. We owed one to everybody."

And they won it by surviving their only turnover, a turnover as entertaining as any this sport can produce.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Barkley passed in the direction of Rhett Ellison. The ball was tipped in the air and - without getting into too many details because there's only so much room here - was touched by approximately seven players.

It was bobbled at one point by USC's Brice Butler, kicked by Arizona State's Terell Carr, intercepted by the Sun Devils' Clint Floyd, fumbled away by Floyd and recovered by Carr, who used his hands this time.

It was, quite simply, a one-play punt, pass and kick competition.

The Trojans lost it, but they won anyway, won also because of Damian Williams' one flash of USC offense.

On the second play of the second half, Williams turned a short dump-off pass from Barkley into a dynamic and rousing 75-yard touchdown reception. He leapt the final two yards lunging head-first, ball extended into the orange pylon.

The play was reviewed, perhaps just to allow everyone watching at home multiple opportunities to witness Williams' athletic ability.

"Just a big-time player making a big-time play at a big time," Simmons said. "That's all that was tonight."

Williams' effort covered one fewer yard than USC totaled in the first half.

Not that the visible brush strokes mattered when the picture was finished.

"This was a big deal for us tonight," Galippo said. "We kept it simple, just guys hitting and tackling people. That's what we do."

They did it Saturday. And now comes the stretch drive of three home games for the Trojans, pretty or not.