Cal came out firing, with their cerca 1975 Joe Roth memorial jerseys and a touchdown drive early in the first. However, USC stayed in the game, and eventually just wore Cal's defense down with a heavy dose of Chauncy Washington. He rushed for a career high 220 yards. Steady rain fell the entire game, soaking everyone in the stadium, and making both teams virtually abondon the passing game. Also, 3 fumbles resulted in bad exchanges and rainfall making the ball especially slick. With Cal down by 7 late in the game on the 36 yard line, Nate Longshore through an interception, virtually guranteeing victory for the Trojans. Longshore's 4th quarter stats for the season are now 1 touchdown with 11(yes 11) interceptions.

USC PP's:

Sam Baker, OT, USC- did not play, injury

John David Booty, QB, USC- completed 11 of 20 passes for 139 yards with 1 touchdown. Didn't really have many passes to complete, but looked good on the ones he did throw. Stayed tough in the pocket, and was able to avoid the rush and dump it off to a back and throw the ball away. Played very smart: B-

Jeff Byers, OG, USC- Dominated Cal's defensive front. Very rarely let anyone past him for a shot at Booty. Also, destroyed the dline on run plays. Pulled well and finished blocks strong: A

Fred Davis, TE, USC- Led the team with 5 receptions and 54 yards, also blocked very well. Ran good solid routes, but did not look that quick: B-

Sedrick Ellis, DT, USC- Was 3rd for USC with 6 tackles, he absolutely killed Cal in short yardage situations. Filled holes nicely, but the Cal offensive line did a nice job of limiting his penetration and pressure. Needs to work on sliding down the line: B+

Lawrence Jackson, DE, USC- Had 5 tackles and 1 forced fumble rushing from the outside. A very powerful and quick rusher, however lacks closing speed to even bring down Longshore. good pursuit on outside running plays: B

Josh Pinkard, S, USC- did not play

Keith Rivers, LB, USC- Had a pretty uneventful day, finished with just 4 assisted tackles. Missed a few tackles and took bad angles on runs that broke the first line: C-

Terrel Thomas, CB, USC- Defensive MVP for the Trojans in this game, finished with 5 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 sack, and the game clinching interception of Longshore in the 4th quarter. Shut down star wideout DeSean Jackson for the entire game except for one long catch down the sideline. Great in coverage all game: A+

Chauncy Washington, RB, USC- USC went away from runningback by committee and gave the ball almost exclusively to Washington in this game. He answered by running for a career high 220 yards and 1 touchdown. Ran with incredible power, taking 3-4 Cal defenders to bring him down: A+

Thomas Willilams, LB, USC- Finished with 5 tackles and 1 TFL. Read run good, but had trouble on covering basic out routes and slants: C

Cal PP's:

Thomas Decoud, S, Cal- Led Cal with 12 tackles, and also had a forced fumble. Was everywhere for Cal, but still struggled to bring down Washington only after he gained an extra 5 yards: B-

Justin Forsett, RB, Cal- rushed 31 times for 161 yards and 1 touchdown. Displayed great vision and quickness, but ran into a wall the majority of the time: B

Lavelle Hawkins, WR, Cal- Had the Bear's only touchdown reception, but only caught 3 balls. He is usually a big 3rd down target and safety blanket for Longshore, but was shut down for most of the night: C

Craig Stevens, TE, Cal- Held without a catch, dropping 2 very easy receptions down the middle, blocked well however: C-

DeSean Jackson, WR, Cal- After much hooplah and media trash talking, DeSean came out and did very little. He had one huge catch down the sideline, but was otherwise held to short screens our slants. Finished with only 5 receptions and 64 yards in what is likely his last game against USC: C+

Nate Longshore, QB, Cal- Finished 13 of 28 for 199 yards with 1 touchdown and 2 interception. He was missing all night and easy throws. It's clear to me that he is no longer an NFL quarterback unless he makes some huge changes this offseason. His 4th quarter interception basically gave the game away, if it had a little more on the throw, it may have been a game-tying touchdown pass: D

Cal has now lost 4 of the last 5 weeks and goes to Seattle to take on the Huskies. USC proves that it's still the elite program in the Pac-10(sorry Oregon), as it travels to Tempe to take on the Sun Devils.

Think Thomas is a first rounder? I've heard nothing but good things about him..

I think he'll go late 1st rd-early 2nd rd. I knew that USC would beat this struggling Cal team that has no defense. I even got plane tickets to fly up to this game. Sadly, USC only scored 24 points on them, which makes me further believe that this USC offense isn't that good.

Thomas really looks good, but in this day and age you need stellar workouts to be drafted in the first round as a corner(see Daymeion Hughes last year).

Terrell Thomas is faster than Hughes by at leat .12 of a second, at the slowest he'll come in at around 4.54 and he has been in the 4.46-4.48 range in the past. Davis is not a speed guy is he is like a taller Wiggins, he is smooth runs good routes and has nice hands but if he runs 4.76 at the combine he will have done something. Thomas Williams may will be asked to work out as a FB, I think he's a classic 'run stuffer' 2 down ILB but like Abbate, he might get moved over. Jackson is not a quick twitch athlete he might be looked at to bulk up and move inside or as a 3-4 DE. Chauncy, Johnson and perhaps one other TB should have been the rotation USC's ground game was stunted by the need to keep a half dozen underclassmen happy but nobody got to really establish a rythm most of the season. Washington has the potential to be as good or better than Sammy Morris. Byers one of a few Trojan prospects who may actually be UNDERrated!

Cal- I love Hawkins he's the kind of guy that the Colt would take in the 2nd or 3rd round to become Reggie Wayne when Harrison finally retires and I think he will be a close to Pro Bowl type, he and Rivers at Hawii are my 2 favorite "other guy" WRs.
Longshore will be fine, he is pressing and is a little dinged, but he has Chris Chandler to Bledsoe type potential as a classic pocket passer.

DeSean always psyches himself out rather than up for USC, you know of his Love/Hate for the Garnet and Gold. He needs a calming influence I think Tedford should have tried a few more gadgets early to get him in the open field. In Forsett I really do see a lot of "Stump" Mitchell, I think he'll be a better pro than most think.