I believe John David Booty was accused of being the most overrated quarterback in college football earlier this season. After last night's pasting of Arizona State, it's apparent the Trojans would have already locked up the Pac-10 title if it weren't for his injury.
Booty threw for 375 and 4 touchdowns, highlighting a 44-24 victory over 6th-ranked Arizona State. The only thing John David did wrong last night was get behind the left guard instead of the center on one play (above). Now with just one Oregon loss in the next two and a USC win over UCLA (given), Southern California will win a 6th straight conference title and Rose Bowl appearance.
Arizona State will probably have to settle for the always entertaining Holiday Bowl or possibly the Sun which should still be considered a HUGE success. The Sun Devils will get a conference title under Erickson, but they're not ready just yet.
Not so fast... the Ducks still control their own destiny, thanks to SC. I expect a good enough performance against a banged-up UCLA, and the Beavers are without RB Yvenson Bernard. I like Oregon's chances to limp to the finish, and make the Rose Bowl.
I stopped watching after ASU had that fumble return for a TD called back, and USC then drove for a TD to go up by 20, since I hadn't slept in 2 days.
I have no idea how you can have the official who was nearest to the play ruling that the pass went backward (which he obviously must have been doing since he was running alongside the returner), but then some other ref comes in and blows the play dead. I also then have no idea how that play was then not reviewed. You'd think if the refs didn't agree, they would at least stop play to look at it. Erickson should have called a timeout to give the replay officials more time though, instead of just yelling about it. Instead of ASU being only down 6 with momentum, they ended up down 20 and they were done after that.
Very frustrating loss. ASU had the misfortune of facing Oregon when they still had Dixon, and then USC when they got Booty back.