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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Zeke Moreno and Chad Morton tied for
high-scoring honors with two touchdowns apiece. Moreno also led USC
in tackles.
Having a linebacker's dream day, Moreno returned a fumble
recovery 17 yards for one touchdown and ran an interception back 71
yards for another score Saturday as the Trojans built a big lead
then held off Oregon State 37-29.
|  | | USC's Ray Soward returns a punt 85 yards for a TD in the first quarter Saturday. |
"The best offense is a good defense," USC coach Paul Hackett
said after the Trojans ran their win string against Oregon State to
26 straight.
"The key to the game was our defense was dominating and getting
us turnovers. Now we are 3-1 going to Arizona and the conference is
anyone's for the taking," the USC coach said.
Moreno had 11 tackles, two assists and a sack for the Trojans
(3-1, 1-1 Pac-10), who haven't lost to the Beavers (3-1, 0-1) in 32
years.
"Last week he was phenomenal. This week he was spectacular,"
Hackett said. "It's a delight to stand on the sidelines and watch
him play."
After taking a 37-7 lead into the fourth quarter, the Trojans
survived a three-touchdown comeback led by backup quarterback
Terrance Bryant. He threw for two touchdowns during the late rally,
and the Beavers fell just short when Bryant threw incomplete on
fourth-and-8 from the USC 31 with 21 seconds left.
Bryant hooked up with Robert Prescott for a 53-yard TD with 1:33
remaining then passed to T.J. Houshmandzadeh for the 2-point
conversion, and the Beavers got one final chance. Dennis Weathersby
recovered a fumble by Morton at the Trojans' 41 with 1:19 to play,
but the USC defense held at their 31.
"What happened when it was 37-7 was a mystery to me," Hackett
said. "You've got to give Oregon State credit."
First-year Oregon State coach Dennis Erickson obviously wasn't
pleased with the Beavers' crucial turnovers, but he did like the
way they rallied.
"What I'm encouraged about is how we came back," Erickson
said. "A lot of teams would have folded, but they came back and
made a game of it."
R. Jay Soward had an 85-yard punt return for the Trojans 4:22
into the game, and Morton, who rushed for 153 yards on 27 carries,
added touchdown runs of 2 and 15 yards.
The loss ended a four-game winning streak dating back to last
year for Oregon State, the perennial Pac-10 doormat. The Beavers
began this season with three victories, but those came against
Fresno State, Nevada and Georgia Southern.
Oregon State last beat USC in 1967, when the Beavers shut out
the then-No. 1 Trojans 3-0 in the mud at Corvallis. Oregon State
last defeated USC at the Coliseum in 1960.
Moreno scored late in the first half when he plucked a fumble by
Oregon State quarterback Jonathan Smith out of the air and was off
to the end zone. Ennis Davis caused the fumble when he sacked
Smith.
Moreno had clear sailing again to the goal line again in the
third quarter after he leaped high to snare Smith's throw.
Bryant was 12-of-26 for 155 yards for the Beavers, and Smith was
14-of-31 for 185 yards, with two interceptions.
"Terrance came in and did a great job," Erickson said. "We
needed a change. It wasn't Jonathan Smith's day, by any means. We
needed to make a change to have a chance to win."
The Trojans' Mike Van Raaphorst, back as the starter because
Carson Palmer is out with a broken collarbone, was 17-of-31 for 197
yards.
The Beavers' Ken Simonton, who led the nation in rushing and
scoring (186.7 yards and 18 points a game) after three games, had
127 yards on 29 carries and scored on a 1-yard run in the fourth
quarter that cut the deficit to 37-21.
Soward's return was a broken-field beauty. He slipped a tackle
and sprinted to his left, pulled up, darted up the middle, broke
more tackles, cut sharply to his right, then turned upfield and
into the open.
The Beavers came right back to tie the game, with Imani Percoats
scoring on a 14-yard pass from Smith to cap an 85-yard drive.
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Oregon State Clubhouse
USC Clubhouse
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