By Nate Policar, ASU Sports Information
Oct. 1, 2005
TEMPE, Ariz. - A big halftime lead and a sold out crowd at Sun Devil Stadium proved to not be enough for the Arizona State Sun Devils to overcome the relenting attack of the defending champion USC Trojans. Junior quarterback Sam Keller's 347 passing yards and two touchdowns on 26 of 45 attempts could not counterbalance five interceptions as ASU fell to USC, 38-28, in front of a crowd of 71,706 in Tempe.
Neither team was able to gain an edge on offense, as the game opened with four straight punts in the opening 10 minutes of play. However, junior Terry Richardson put the Sun Devils on the board first, returning a punt 84 yards for the touchdown and a 7-0 ASU lead after one quarter of play.
The Trojans began the second quarter by intercepting Keller to set up their offense in the red zone. However, a quarterback sack by linebacker Jamar Williams forced the Trojans to settle for a 36-yard field goal. Two possessions later, the Sun Devil defense stonewalled the Trojans on fourth down and gave ASU possession on its own 37 yard line. Driving the Sun Devils 63 yards down the field, Keller found Jamaal Lewis on two big passes, a 23-yard strike on the sideline and a seven yard touchdown pass.
Forcing USC to punt once again, the Sun Devils used a 22-yard return by Richardson to set up another scoring drive. After Keller found Derek Hagan on two big passing plays, freshman tailback Keegan Herring carried the ball five yards for a touchdown that gave the Devils a 21-3 advantage. Following the kickoff, the Trojans again failed to convert on a fourth down attempt after driving down within the ASU 30-yard line and enabled the Sun Devils to take an 18-point lead into the half.
On their opening drive of the second half, the Trojans struck back, scoring in just over two minutes. After USC quarterback Matt Leinart brought the ball across midfield with four consecutive completions, junior tailback LenDale White ran 32 yards through the defensive line for a Trojan touchdown, cutting the gap to 21-10. However, the Sun Devils were unable to capitalize on a turnover by USC on its next possession and another interception by Keller set up the Trojan offense on a short field. Using its two-pronged attack of White and junior tailback Reggie Bush, the Trojans narrowed the gap even further, as Bush rushed for a touchdown to cut the ASU lead to four at 21-17 at the end of three quarters.
USC began the fourth quarter by forcing the Sun Devils into a three-and-out punt. Starting from their own 11-yard line, the Trojans drove down the field and took their first lead of the game, 24-21, as Leinart scored on a one-yard quarterback keeper. With just under nine minutes to play, the Sun Devil offense took over from its own 30-yard line and answered the bell. After Keller connected with sophomore tailback Rudy Burgess with a 24-yard pass, he found graduate tight end Lee Burghgraef on a one-yard bootleg pass in the end zone to give the Sun Devils the lead back at 28-24. But the Sun Devils were again unable to stop the rushing offense of USC and surrendered a 34-yard rushing touchdown to Bush, giving the Trojans a three-point advantage with 3:44 remaining.
Hagan led all Sun Devil receivers with his second straight game of double-digit receptions, hauling in 10 catches for a game-high 162 yards. Lewis contributed five catches for 71 yards and a touchdown. Keller finished 26-for-45 with two touchdowns and 347 yards. The Sun Devil defense was led by senior linebacker Dale Robinson with 14 tackles (6 solo) and half a sack. Junior safety Zach Catanese also led the defense with nine solo tackles (13 total) and a forced fumble.