Trojans pull away for 49-31 victory
Southern California took Nebraska's best shot early, then showed why it has been the dominant force in college football in recent years by pulling away to a 49-31 victory before a crowd of 84,959 at Memorial Stadium and an ABC national television audience.
After the Huskers took a 10-7 lead with 9:04 remaining in the first half, top-ranked USC scored five straight touchdowns to pull away and win for the 58th time in its last 62 games. USC's 49 points were the third-most scored by an opponent in Lincoln.
Advertisement
The Trojans took a 7-0 lead, using a 50-yard run by Stanley Havili and a 40-yard run by C.J. Gable to go 96 yards in four plays, capped by a 5-yard touchdown pass from John David Booty to Havili.
Nebraska then came to life, benefiting from a penalty on fourth down inside the 5 and tied the game on Cody Glenn's 1-yard run with 1:03 left in the opening quarter.
The Huskers, who entered the game ranked 14th, took their only lead when Alex Henery kicked a 37-yard field goal with 9:04 left in the half to make it 10-7.
Nebraska seemed to lose its momentum after a prolonged delay when USC's Vincent Joseph was seriously injured on a kickoff return. Joseph was hospitalized with a bruised larynx.
Havili scored on a 2-yard run and Johnson added a touchdown from 7 yards out with 1:19 remaining to put the Trojans on top 21-10 at halftime.
USC took advantage of a pair of Sam Keller interceptions to score two of its three third-quarter touchdowns. Booty passed 2 yards to Anthony McCoy, and Chauncey Washington scored on a pair of 1-yard runs to make it 42-10 entering the fourth quarter.
The Huskers took advantage of Corey McKeon's fumble recovery to score on a 1-yard run by Glenn early in the fourth quarter. But the Trojans answered on Allen Bradford's 6-yard run with 6:45 left.
Nebraska add two late touchdowns on Keller passes to Todd Peterson of 20 and 18 yards and added a two-point conversion on a Keller pass to Sean Hill after the first score.
Keller finished 36-of-54 for 389 yards, but the Huskers could manage a net of only 31 yards on the ground to finish with 420 yards in total offense. USC rushed for 313 of its 457 total yards.
It was USC's first visit to Lincoln since 1969 and the first visit by a top-ranked team since NU defeated Oklahoma 17-14 in 1978.
Nebraska completes its nonconference schedule by playing host to Ball State next Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The game will be available via Fox Sports Net Pay-Per-View.