Nov. 22, 2007
Recap | Final Stats | Quotes
ARIZONA STATE NOTES
To The House: After USC scored on its opening drive of the game, WR Rudy Burgess returned K David Buehler's kick 98 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at seven. Burgess' return, only the second by a Sun Devil at home in the last 21 years, is the first return for a score since Terry Richardson returned an Oregon kick 100 yards on September 30, 2006. The return for Burgess is the first of his career and just the 13th kickoff return for a score in program history. It also is the seventh-longest return in ASU history behind four measuring 100 yards and two more from 99 yards.
Happy Returns: With his second kickoff return of the game, Rudy Burgess became the all-time leader in school history with 1,269 yards, moving past previous record-holder Chris Hopkins, who accumulated 1,225 yards from 1992-95. Overall, Burgess now has 1,301 yards of kickoff returns.
Record Returns: Rudy Burgess' 13-yard return to open the second half of play gave him 166 yards in the game and breaking the single-game record of 159 set by Kevin Galbreath vs. Houston in 1990. With his 166 yards in the game, Burgess now has 673 yards for the season, ranking second all-time at ASU behind Chris Hopkins (713 in 1995) while his 27 returns so far in 2007 ranks tied for third with Terry Battle (1994) and five behind record-holders Hakim Hill (2002) and Hopkins (1995) with 32.
Long Reception: WR Chris McGaha pulled in a short pass and turned it into a big gain early in the second quarter as he covered 43 yards for both a season and career long reception. His previous season long was 32 yards and his previous career best was 35 yards.
Kick It In: PK Thomas Weber connected on a 25-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter to bring his season total to 20 and moving him closer to a pair of records for freshmen place kickers. Arizona's Gary Coston set the rookie standard for the Pac-10 with 21 in 1986 while South Carolina's Collin Mackie made 23 in 1987 to establish the NCAA record for freshmen kicking.
Kick Block: Tyrice Thompson blocked a punt by USC's Greg Woidneck early in the fourth quarter, giving the Sun Devils their second blocked kick of the year. The first came at home against California (October 27) when Luis Vasquez blocked a field goal attempt. The last blocked punt came at Colorado last year when Brandon Smith blocked an attempt from Matthew DiLallo.
Hash Marks: Arizona State shut out an opponent in the fourth quarter of play for the eighth time this year and the fourth game in a row... USC scored 17 points in the third quarter against ASU, marking the most points the Sun Devils have allowed in the third quarter this year (previous was 14 at Oregon)... ASU rushed for only 16 yards on the day, marking its lowest total since a 24-yard total at USC in 2004.
USC NOTES
Tonight is the first Thanksgiving Day game played by USC since 1938 (20th time overall)
USC has won eight straight times in the series with Arizona State
Head coach Pete Carroll is now 23-0 in the month of November
Carroll is 27-7 against ranked opponents during his career at USC
USC scored 40 points in a game for the third time this season. The Trojans have scored at least 40 points in a game a total of 37 times during Pete Carroll's tenure at USC.
With 508 yards of total offense, USC recorded 500 yards or more of offense for the second time this season (509 vs. Washington State on Sept. 22)
44 points were the most points allowed by Arizona State this season
Arizona State's 16 rushing yards were the fewest allowed by USC's defense this season (22 was the previous low this season against Arizona).
The last time an opponent returned a kickoff for a touchdown was UCLA's Maurice Drew for 99 yards in 2003
John David Booty in his career has thrown at least one TD pass in 20 of his 21 starts, at least 2 TD passes in a game 15 times, at least 3 TD passes in a game 10 times (3 times in 2007) and at least 4 touchdowns in a game three times (Jan. 1, 2007 vs. Michigan at the Rose Bowl and Oct. 6, 2007 vs. Stanford)
With 375 passing yards, Booty has thrown for 300 yards in a game four times during his career and has thrown for 200 yards or more in a game 16 times during his career. Tonight was his third-highest total of passing yards (406 at Oregon State on Oct. 28, 2006 and 391 vs. Michigan at the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1, 2007).
Booty is now 8-0 in career starts against ranked opponents
Lawrence Jackson recorded the most sacks (4) by a Trojan since Tim Ryan (4) against UCLA in 1989. Since USC sack records were first available in 1984, no Trojan has had more than four in a game.
Jackson recorded three sacks in a game for the third time in his career (Dec. 3, 2005 vs. UCLA and Nov. 11, 2006 vs. Oregon)
Fred Davis now has 104 career receptions, one shy of the school record by tight ends (Joe Cormier, 1983-85)
Davis' 119 receiving yards tonight was the third time he has recorded a 100-yard game in his career (152 vs. Stanford on Oct. 6, 2007 and 124 vs. Washington State on Sept. 22)
Kaluka Maiava recorded a career-high 10 tackles tonight. Previously, he had eight tackles in a game twice during his career
Ronald Johnson's kick return of 49 yards was the longest this season (previous high was Desmond Reed for 44 yards against Washington State on Sept. 22)
David Buehler is now 3-for-4 in his career for field goals 40 yards or longer
Buehler kicked three field goals in a game for the first time in his career
Greg Woidneck and Brent Yoshida both played tonight after transferring to USC from Arizona State earlier in their careers
With two punts at least 50 yards or longer tonight, Greg Woidneck has recorded a punt for at least 50 yards or longer seven times this season. It is also the first time this season that Woidneck has recorded two punts for 50 yards or more.
USC had a punt blocked for the third time this season Joe McKnight recorded his first career touchdown reception in the third quarter