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Strong second half lifts USC past Stanford

Nov 16, 2008 - 5:16 AM PALO ALTO, California (Ticker) -- C.J. Gable and Stafon Johnson each scored two touchdowns to lead No. 6 Southern California to a 45-23 victory over Stanford on Saturday.

Gable returned a kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown and ran for a TD while Johnson added a pair of rushing TDs in the second half to help the Trojans avenge last season's home loss to the Cardinal.

Stanford (5-6, 4-4 Pac-10) kept things close in the first half, out-gaining USC, 210-90. The Cardinal rushed for 153 yards in the first half, but had to settle for a 17-17 tie after Gable's kickoff return.

Mark Sanchez threw two touchdown passes for the Trojans (9-1, 7-1), who outscored the Cardinal in the second half, 28-6.

With the win, USC remained one of two teams in the Pac-10 with one conference loss. Oregon State (7-3, 6-1) is the other and has the edge in the race for a BCS bowl.

The Beavers own the tiebreaker in the conference based on a head-to-head 27-21 victory over the Trojans in September.

USC is sixth in the BCS standings and not only has work left to do in conference, but needs help if it wants a shot at the national title as well.

But the Trojans could not afford another loss, and they came out fired up for the second half.

"It was a really interesting night tonight," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "The first half I thought was really dominated by Stanford. We hung with it but they did a really nice job of running the ball and making some plays."

USC racked up 330 yards, including 243 on the ground, in the second half. Stanford managed just 150 yards over the final two quarters, and its only second-half points came on an 18-yard TD pass from Alex Loukas to Austin Gunder as time expired.

"You have to give USC a lot of credit defensively," Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said. "We knew going in this is a team that has given up one touchdown in their last five games, two in the last six, 13 points in the last three games. They're a good football team defensively."

Gable added a 3-yard run early in the fourth and Sanchez helped ice the game with a 50-yard touchdown pass to fullback Stanley Havili.

"Our offensive line came out and blocked so much better and was so much more effective. We really started going after it and figured it out and I think just did a fantastic job," Carroll said. "Defensively, the guys came through and just stopped them series after series after series and it wasn't like that early on. We did great, had a great second half."