Wednesday, November 09, 2005

Corvallis Gazette Times: Trojans back on track after midseason 'slump'

By Brooks Hatch

Week after week, USC keeps winning. And there appears to be no end in sight. The Trojans crushed Stanford 51-21 this past Saturday for their 31st consecutive triumph. They’ve emerged from a midseason “slump” that saw their margin of victory dip to 11.3 points against the Arizona schools and Notre Dame, and appear destined for their second straight undefeated regular season and a repeat appearance in the Bowl Championship Series championship game.  The Trojans appeared vulnerable defensively at midseason after a plethora of injuries cost them several starters. They looked human in beating Notre Dame 34-31 on Oct. 15, when they needed a miracle out-of-bounds fumble that stopped the clock with seven seconds to play, enabling Matt Leinart to score the winning touchdown on the next play.

Since then, they’ve been unstoppable, with convincing wins over Washington (51-24), Washington State (55-13) and the Cardinal. USC is 14-0 in November under fifth-year coach Pete Carroll, and hasn’t lost since falling 34-31 in triple overtime at California back on Sept. 30, 2003.  Still, USC is a whopping 17 games shy of the record 47-game winning streak compiled by Oklahoma from 1953-57.  “There’s a lot that goes into this kind of consistency,” Carroll said, when asked if he could conceive the Trojans passing the Sooners’ record, especially in this era of 85-scholarship parity. “We’re just doing everything we can to protect our focus and our ability to maintain the level.  “How long that goes, I don’t know. It doesn’t seem like it’s been so overwhelming to this point. We just keep going one more game at a time, try to win one more game and go.”

 

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