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Booty leads Southern California rout of Stanford

Nov 5, 2006 - 3:02 AM PALO ALTO, California (Ticker) -- John David Booty and Southern California wasted little time returning to their winning ways.

Booty threw three first-half touchdowns as the ninth-ranked Trojans bounced back from a rare defeat with a 42-0 rout of hapless Pac-10 Conference foe Stanford.

Dwayne Jarrett had five catches for 118 yards and a TD for USC (7-1, 5-1 Pac-10), which had a 38-game regular-season winning streak and record 27-game conference tear end with a 33-31 loss to Oregon State last week.

"We needed to have a game like this where we have an opportunity to get a lot of guys playing time and good execution," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "We're back on track. All in all, it was a very successful trip, and we were happy to get this win. We had a hard loss last week, and it was good to get this one done."

Booty, who had a two-point conversion pass deflected at the line with seven seconds left a week ago, completed 12-of-21 passes for 203 yards in 2 1/2 quarters as USC beat Stanford for a fifth straight time.

Trojans tailback Chauncey Washington opened the scoring on a 15-yard run with 6:45 to play in the opening quarter before Booty blew open the contest with TD tosses of 21 yards to Jarrett, seven yards to Steve Smith and two yards to tight end Fred Davis in the second period.

Booty's first two TD passes came just 17 seconds apart, as Stanford's Wopamo Osaisai fumbled the kickoff return following Jarrett's catch.

"This game came out just right," Carroll said. "We were pretty explosive on offense with some big plays. Defense was on the whole time and did what they were capable of doing. The biggest opportunity was to play a team that was struggling and then bringing our game."

USC took a 35-0 lead late in the third quarter when Sedrick Ellis blocked a 33-yard field-goal attempt by Aaron Zagory and Terrell Thomas picked up the ball and ran 71 yards for a score.

Trojans backup quarterback Mark Sanchez capped the scoring on a four-yard run with 5:33 to play.

"We ran into a very good football team that was coming off a tough game," Stanford coach Walt Harris said. "I thought we fought as hard as we could for as long as we could. We tried to play competitive. I think we played hard with what we have. It's easy to get psyched out by the skill level and talent that they have."

Making his second start of the campaign in place of senior Trent Edwards (broken foot), T.C. Ostrander went 16-of-30 for 178 yards with two interceptions for Stanford (0-9, 0-6), which has looked woeful in its second season under Harris.

"I think we took some small steps; guys were really concentrating on their assignments," Ostrander said. "A lot of it right now is trying to be the best team we can be and focus on game management. We just need to try to win every play from here on out. If we do that, we can improve."

USC plays its next three games at home against ranked teams Oregon, California and Notre Dame before ending its season at crosstown rival UCLA.

"We're back in LA from this point forward, and we're really excited about that," Carroll said. "It's been a long year on the road with a lot of trips and now we have the benefit of being home to finish the season, and we need to make the most of it."