THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
LOS ANGELES ? The question was whether Stanford was too good, in Heisman Trophy terms, for Andrew Luck's good.
The Cardinal quarterback littered the Coliseum turf with answers Saturday night.
It will be called a signature game for Luck, undefeated Stanford and even, in some ways, USC. If so, Luck virtually skywrote his name across college football's firmament, visible even in the darkness, when he led Stanford to this 56-48, triple-overtime victory over the Trojans.
Luck had the ball three times in overtime and got three touchdowns, and then tacked on the mandatory 2-pointer, a pass to tight end Coby Fleener. USC got the ball into the end zone, too, but only on a fumble by the valiant Curtis McNeal, with the ball rolling into the custody of Stanford's A.J. Tarpley.
Possession was unquestioned, and yet USC tackle Kevin Graf was still flailing on the grass, trying for some sort of recount. It was that kind of game, with receivers and linebackers dropping to their knees with cramps and assorted contact injuries, with exhausted defenders finally unable to wrap up, and with a strung-out, sellout crowd drifting groggily to its parking lots after raising the type of ruckus that was last heard here in the apogee of Pete Carroll.
Stanford needed Luck, upper and lower case, all night long because the Trojans did a nice job tangling up the spokes of Stanford's fearsome running game. And Luck was good enough to handle everything, including the unprecedented moments in which he wasn't so good.
Luck, in fact, was picked off by Nickell Robey, who scurried into the end zone for a 34-27 Trojans lead with 3:08 left. The Downtown Athletic Club watched intently to see what would happen next, and Luck rushed the Cardinal downfield, including a 15-yard run by himself, and Stanford tied it in the final minute.
What happened next will preoccupy Trojans fans for longer than the interval before the next game at Colorado Friday night.
USC got the ball on its 25 with three timeouts in its pocket. Surely the odds of maneuvering the ball into Andre Heidari's field-goal range were favorable. Instead, the regulation game ended with USC on Stanford's 33 and with two timeouts unused.
Lane Kiffin would maintain that the Trojans had called time out with a tick to go, giving Heidari a chance from about 50 yards.
More puzzling was Robert Woods' decision to run halfway across the field with Matt Barkley's pass and out of bounds, instead of taking a knee and calling time immediately. Perhaps that's a large demand for a young player in the midst of the cauldron, but it was a breakdown that will live in a lot of minds for a long time.
The Trojans had lots of alternatives there. They could have thrown to the sidelines more. They could have used one or more of those timeouts when Stanford was on the verge of the goal line, conserving time for themselves. They didn't, and because they didn't, they gave Luck another time at bat. As we saw in St. Louis this week, that's never a good idea in any circumstance.
"He makes so many plays with his legs," Kiffin said. "That's why he's going to be the top player picked."
John Madden said last week, on Sirius Radio, that Luck was "the closest thing to a sure thing" that he had seen since Peyton Manning. Surely there have not been many similar blends of intelligence, arm strength and judgment distilled into such a pure lode of athleticism.
Luck gained 56 yards on runs and once lined up wide, came to the backfield to take a handoff, set his feet and threw 62 yards to Ty Montgomery. He was nearly sacked several times and managed to throw bullets, although not all of them were caught. And he didn't always run just because he was chased. He's not exactly a cross between Tim Tebow and John Elway, but he can serve as the stunt double for either.
Since Stanford had won every previous game this year by at least 25 points, Luck had been more of a caretaker than a savior. That changed spectacularly here.
For USC, this is where probation helps. The Trojans lost nothing tangible here, in terms of postseason perks. They also gained confidence in holding Stanford's rushing game to 196 yards and 3.9 per carry, and in getting 145 yards and two touchdowns from McNeal, and 48 points on a night when Barkley and Woods weren't always connecting.
Stanford had much more to lose. Because Andrew Luck led the Cardinal to four touchdowns on four drives in which nothing else would do, it did not lose anything. Neither did Luck.
Contact the writer: mwhicker@OCRegister.com. Follow him on Twitter: @MWhickerOCR
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