Ninth-ranked Trojans eye up Eagles

Sep 10, 2014 - 3:24 PM Chestnut Hill, MA (SportsNetwork.com) - Coming off a thrilling win over a top 25 Stanford squad, the now ninth-ranked USC Trojans make a cross-country trek to the New England area to take on the Boston College Eagles.

Steve Sarkisian's Trojans opened their Pac-12 slate in hostile territory, taking on the Cardinal at Stanford Stadium last weekend. For the second straight season it was place kicker Andre Heidari provided the game-winning field goal late, this time a 53-yarder that propelled USC to a 13-10 victory in a defensive-minded battle.

"I trusted myself, I trust the ball, the holder, the snapper," said Heidari. "I'm glad I had the opportunity to do what I did last year.

"I think it says a lot that we can come in against this team, in this environment, and the game not really going our way and not really in our favor, just for whatever reason, and find a way to win," Sarkisian said.

The game also featured a weird moment, when USC AD Pat Hayden came down to the field to diffuse a situation between Sarkisian and the officiating crew. On the field though, USC took care of business and moved to 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the conference, proving it belongs in the early season national title chatter.

Steve Addazio's Eagles were not so fortunate in their ACC opener, falling at home to a tough Pittsburgh squad last Saturday, 30-20. With the loss, Boston College is now 1-1 on the young season, after opening the campaign with a 30-7 trouncing of Massachusetts.

USC has won all four prior matchups with Boston College, including a 35-7 rout in the Coliseum last year.

Yards were going to be tough to come by against a stout Stanford defense and that is exactly what unfolded. A week after filling the stat sheet against Fresno State, the Trojans compiled just 291 yards of total offense.

Junior quarterback Cody Kessler passed for just under 400 yards and four TDs against the Bulldogs, but went just 15-of-22, for 135 yards against the Cardinal. Wideout Nelson Agholor was responsible for much of that, finishing the game with nine catches, for 91 yards.

The Trojans were productive on the ground thanks to a second straight strong performance by junior tailback Javorius Allen, who carried the ball 23 times, for a career-high 154 yards.

Stanford dominated the time of possession and amassed 413 yards of total offense, but big plays at crucial times proved to be the difference. In fact, Stanford's Kevin Hogan moved the Cardinal into field-goal range in the waning moments, but USC's J.R. Tavai iced the game with a strip-sack, as the Trojans pounced on the loose ball.

Senior linebacker Hayes Pullard posted his second straight game with eight tackles, although he didn't play the fourth quarter after being ejected for targeting. All-American candidate Leonard Williams was unstoppable up front. The 6-5, 300-pound junior finished with 11 tackles and a sack in the win, despite nursing a sore ankle.

After taking advantage of a weak UMass defense, Florida transfer Tyler Murphy was brought back to reality a bit against a much tougher Pittsburgh squad. The dual threat senior did manage to rush for 93 yards and pass for another 134, but was guilty of two interceptions, including one in the end zone in the waning moments of the game.

In all, BC collected a modest 276 yards of total offense, with 142 of that coming on the ground. Murphy had most of that, although sophomore tailback Tyler Rouse did find the end zone once on his six carries. Wide receiver Shakim Phillips led all BC receivers with four catches, for 78 yards, including a 48-yard TD in the third quarter.

The BC defense allowed just 202 yards of total offense to the Minutemen in the opener, but were gashed for 414 yards by the Panthers, including 303 on the ground. The Eagles simply had no answer for Pitt tailback James Connor, who rumbled for 214 yards and one TD on 5.9 yards per carry.

Addazio stressed the need for better tackling after the Pitt game.

"I thought Pitt played a great game. I thought their running back is a heck of a player," said Addazio. "I thought their quarterback was pretty competitive. Their running back couldn't be tackled. That's on us. We've got to do a much better job. He's a heck of a player but we've also got to do a much, much better job tackling. So we've got to get back to work and get on the fundamentals here. When we get back into full pads we have to start tackling again. We got away from that because it was a short week. We've got to go back and tackle, do all the things necessary to develop this football team."

Defensive backs Justin Simmons and Dominique Williams led the BC defense with eight tackles apiece. Linebackers Steven Daniels and Mike Strizak and defensive tackle Connor Wujciak all tallied seven. Daniels was responsible for the unit's only interception on the day.