It was a wild game won 32-30 by Stanford. Recall that ESPN compresses it all into two hours, so you only see about half the plays.

To set the stage, this was far from being Willingham's best Stanford team. The Cardinal was 5-6, though Fasani (QB) was hurt a good deal of the year (in fact, the USC game was his first one back after having his knee scoped). Stanford was 2-4 coming into the game, largely because of turnover problems. They beat WSU on the road and then came back and lost to San Jose St., despite amassing 614 yards (Stanford turned the ball over 3 times, twice giving San Jose St. touchdowns -- one interception return and one TD return). With Fasani out and Lewis playing, Stanford then had a huge win over Texas, but then lost to Arizona and then lost to N.D. 20-14. The game was actually pretty typical of N.D. victories that year. Stanford was actually more impressive statistically, but N.D. didn't turn the ball over and Stanford did twice. And N.D. managed to run enough (50 carries for 166 yards) to control the clock and hang on to win. Stanford then got clocked by Oregon St. (which was a good indication of what N.D. had in store in the Fiasco Bowl).

Anyway, to the U.S.C. game. Stanford started out by dominating the game and was up 14-0. Stanford then gave U.S.C. 8 points right at the end of the half. Fasani threw an interception that led to a U.S.C. touchdown (extra point was blocked) and then as the half was running out, the Stanford punter dropped the snap in his endzone, but actually made a good play to knock it out of the endzone for only a safety.

In the first half, Stanford's defense really looked quite good controlling U.S.C. (who appeared to have more quality players, but kept shooting itself in the foot with dumb penalties and poor execution, kind of like N.D.). Stanford's offense was pretty effective, though its O-line was having a great deal of difficulty pass blocking U.S.C's defensive line. Fasani was forced to roll out quite a bit and actually tucked the ball and ran with it fairly often, like CH.

Stanford opened the 2nd half by going on an 11-play, 80-yard drive that the ESPN classic version does not show. Stanford went for 2 and didn't make it (trying to get a 14-point lead).

The next 20 minutes were all U.S.C. Though Stanford was actually doing a pretty good job of controlling the line of scrimmage, three times U.S.C. caught them blitzing and had quick hitting runs up the middle that went for huge gains. There was another Stanford turnover (a Fasani interception, though the turnovers for the day were 2-2) and a huge call that went U.S.C.'s way: on 2nd down Palmer lofted a fade pattern that was picked off by the Stanford db in the endzone; it was extremely close as to whether he had his foot inbounds; it was ruled out and incomplete by the the referee. Anyway, the net result was that with about 8 minutes to go it was U.S.C. 30, Stanford 20 and Keith Jackson and his sidekick were yucking it up about how the men of Troy were back.

Stanford then played unbelievably clutch. The Cardinal then went on an 11-play, 78-yard TD drive, with several crucial runs for 1st downs that clearly fooled U.S.C. and a 20-yard TD run that completely fooled the Trojans. Stanford scored with 5 minutes to go and got the extra point blocked (ouch) to make it 30-26.

The Cardinal then did the right thing and kicked deep. Stanford stuffed U.S.C. and forced a punt and got the ball back at midfield with just under 4 minutes to go. Driving down to about the U.S.C. 10, Fasani got hurt and an ice-cold Lewis had to come into the game with under a minute to go. After getting backed up by a sack and a penalty, on 4th down with no time on the clock, Lewis hit McCullum with a dart in the corner of the endzone for the winning T.D. (Stanford correctly just knelt on the ball on the conversion try, because if it had gotten run back it would've tied the game and there was no time left) and a final of 32-30.

Anyway, some things to like and not like about the game. First, I really liked the way Willingham coached. The clock was managed properly and Stanford came back from two scores down with 8 minutes to go. Willingham was obviously in charge. He had the headset on and when he had something to say he pulled the mouthpiece down, snapped out about 10 words, and then put it back up, as if to say: "I'm in charge, this is what we're doing, now go do it, no further need for discussion."

Stanford's offense was very diverse and just ate up the clock. One of the major reasons that Stanford won the game was the Cardinal ran 55 times for 198 yards and controlled the clock for almost 40 minutes.

Watching Fasani and then Lewis play, I don't see any reason why Holiday or LoVecchio can't be successful in this system. A lot is made out the complicated reads that are involved in the passing game, but really what Stanford does is to get several receivers out in the pattern and then cross them or have them cut at different depths to try to get someone open quickly. The patterns are complicated but I didn't see that many plays where Fasani went past his second read -- frankly, he didn't have time. Very few throws were deep down the field and many were designed rolls. Fasani -- who was not exactly fast wearing a full knee brace -- kept burning U.S.C. on designed rolls because either there would be someone open right away (Deronni Pitts caught 13 passes) or he'd tuck it and run.

The defense was O.K. and came up big when it had to, but gave up a bunch of big plays. Partly this was because they were blitzing and trying to make something happen, but it wasn't the greatest defensive performance I've ever seen. Stanford's smurf-sized cornerbacks had trouble with the bigger U.S.C. receivers, so U.S.C. was able to accumulate decent yardage (190) through the air. But Palmer was only 15 of 30 and threw 2 ints.

The biggest weakness offensively was the pass blocking. With regard to run blocking, Stanford actually controlled the line pretty well (hence the 55 rushes). The pre-game introductions suggested that Stanford was playing with a very young offensive line due to graduation from the Rose Bowl team and injuries.

It was a lot more fun than a replay of N.D.-M.S.U. from the last 5 years.