BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) -Stafon Johnson’s teammates played with his name written on nearly all of their eye blacks and foremost in all of their hearts during Southern California’s 30-3 rout of California.
After a painful week came to a splendid end, the No. 7 Trojans now must think ahead. As coach Pete Carroll reminded them in the dingy, frigid locker room at Memorial Stadium, USC (4-1, 2-1 Pac-10) can’t stop getting better during its bye week before a tough three-game stretch to close October.
Johnson himself is likely to insist on it.
“We came together thinking about Stafon, and now we’re going to take him through the rest of the season with us,” said tailback Joe McKnight, who rushed for 119 yards and two touchdowns. “He’s still a big part of this team, even when he isn’t playing.”
Johnson, whose neck was crushed in a weightlifting accident Monday, tweeted from his hospital room during the Trojans’ win – and USC made sure his presence was felt throughout its Berkeley trip.
gn that hangs over the locker room door at every game. Afterward, the team gathered in front of the USC band, and instead of the Trojans’ customary two-fingered “V for victory” salute, Carroll and several players held up one finger on one hand and three on the other to signify Johnson’s No. 13 jersey.
But not even that motivation deserved all the credit for the Trojans’ comprehensive win over the Golden Bears. After an unimpressive first third of the regular season, USC played perhaps its best game of the season on both sides of the ball in its sixth consecutive win over Cal.
“You can see we’re growing as a team each week,” said safety Taylor Mays, who stopped Cal’s best drive with an end zone interception – his first since 2007 and just the fifth of his All-American career. “It’s special playing that way against a team like that, an offense like that.”
Freshman quarterback Matt Barkley had a few more glaring mistakes, including an interception that led to Cal’s only points, but Carroll effusively praised his 20-for-35 performance for 283 yards. USC’s offense motored to 457 yards and nearly 37 minutes of possession, led by McKnight’s running and Damian Williams’ eight catches for 101 yards.
ns even avoided their frequent excesses of penalties, committing just five, and made a rare big play on special teams with Williams’ 66-yard TD punt return.
“This is huge for us to just be able to focus on a win going into a bye week,” said linebacker Chris Galippo, who broke up three passes in his latest impressive game. “This is the time you really begin peaking as a football player, and we’re going to have a week to get healthy and get prepared, because our schedule just gets tougher.”
Carroll canceled Monday’s practice to reward the Trojans, and they have a light schedule during their bye week. Carroll’s staff has an extra week to prepare for a trip to Notre Dame (4-1), which is followed by back-to-back games at home against 2008 nemesis Oregon State and at No. 13 Oregon on Halloween night.
USC’s offense hasn’t yet grown into the well-oiled unit imagined by quarterbacks coach and play-caller Jeremy Bates, but Barkley’s improved play leads the coaches to believe the Trojans can compete with Oregon State, which beat them last season, and the resurgent Ducks.
“We are growing,” Carroll said. “This was a game where you were going to tell if Matt was comfortable and could run the offense. There isn’t any doubt. … The way we were able to move the offense around was really comfortable and familiar to how we did it in the past. That’s because of the quarterback. It’s just taking us a little while.”
And they’ll still be thinking about Johnson. When the Trojans got back to Los Angeles on Sunday morning, Carroll took the team buses past the hospital near campus in an attempt to pay a late visit, but Johnson was resting.
“He was in our hearts the whole time,” Barkley said. “It was a great victory for us, and for him.”
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