Byline: Matthew Kredell Staff Writer
LAS VEGAS - Like a child unsure whether he had been naughty or nice, USC took a long time unwrapping its Christmas present.
Everything seemed to be going in the right direction for the football program. Four consecutive wins to finish the regular season earned the Trojans a chance to play on Christmas Day in a bowl game, their first in three years.
Santa came to town and the Trojans believed they deserved the best he had to offer, a season-ending bowl victory to acknowledge their improvement and carry over the momentum to next season.
But, in the end, all they got was a lump of coal. And they can't explain why.
The confidence from a late-season surge and dismantling of UCLA was shattered Tuesday as USC regressed to its early problems running the ball, protecting quarterback Carson Palmer, kicking and stopping opponents in key situations. Utah eagerly accepted the Trojans' holiday hospitality in a 10-6 Las Vegas Bowl victory in front of 22,385 at Sam Boyd Stadium.
USC has a history of underwhelming performances in all non-Rose Bowl bowl games, with a record of 20-8 in the Rose Bowl and 5-6 in all others. If it wasn't the Rose Bowl, the Trojans seemed to be uninterested.
That wasn't the case in this bowl. USC players desperately wanted to set the tone for the future.
``This is a step backward for us,'' Palmer said. ``We needed this game badly to take momentum into next season.''
It's difficult to pinpoint why USC didn't perform, unlike the 1998 Sun Bowl, in which the Trojans were lackadaisical before a loss to TCU.
``There's nothing you can point your finger at and say this was the problem or this is the answer,'' senior defensive lineman Bobby DeMars said. ``It wasn't Vegas. It wasn't distractions. We worked hard and did everything right (leading up to the game).''
But as soon as the game started, USC (6-6) hardly could do anything right. The Trojans couldn't manage a first down in the first quarter as the offensive line didn't give Palmer enough time to pass.
He was sacked twice, including a nasty hit by Utah's Sheldo Deckart back to the USC 4 as Palmer did well just to hold onto the ball. Palmer took four sacks in the game.
The offensive line also couldn't give the Trojans any room to run. USC was held to 1 yard rushing on 25 carries.
Trojan rushers gained 79 yards but lost 78 on sacks and runs stuffed in the backfield. It was the fewest rushing yards by USC since 1999 against Arizona. The 151 total yards were the fewest by USC since it gained 124 in 1996 against Washington.
When the Trojans finally did score on a 2-yard run by Sunny Byrd five minutes into the third quarter, kicker David Davis - the Pacific-10 Conference's most accurate field-goal kicker during the season - missed the extra point wide right. In the first half, he missed a 47-yard field goal attempt.
A combination of the inability of USC's offense to sustain drives and the defense failing to stop Utah (8-4), especially on third down, gave the Utes more than a 16 minute advantage in time of possession. Utah rushed for 222 yards on 54 carries.
USC had the Utes pinned at their own 8 with third-and-15 and 3:30 remaining in the game when Utah quarterback Lance Rice found tight end Michael Richardson over the middle for a 21-yard gain and first down. USC had one last chance to get the ball back on third-and-5 with 2:32 left, but running back Adam Tate eluded linebacker Frank Strong at the line of scrimmage and got the game-clinching first down.
USC safety Troy Polamalu was named USC's most valuable player of the game for his career-high 20 tackles. But he sat dejected during the postgame news conference, only looking up briefly to say thank you for the award before going back to thinking about what might have been.
Polamalu nearly blocked a punt in the fourth quarter that could have given USC the lift it needed.
``I can only blame myself,'' Polamalu said. ``I didn't do everything. I could have blocked that punt. I missed tackles. I could have changed how the game turned.''
But blaming USC's defensive leader is more preposterous than any of the options.
``They just came out and beat us,'' senior cornerback Kris Richard said. ``They shoved the ball down our throats. We were prepared and just got beat. It happens to football teams.''
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Utah running back Dameon Hunter, right, takes a lateral during the Las Vegas Bowl on Tuesday as USC's Frank Strong, left, is blocked.
Joe Cavaretta/Associated Press
