Jarrett, now USC career leader, catches two TDs; Trojans triumph

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• USC Cruises Past Nebraska

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Top 25 Overview

It was over when... Dwayne Jarrett scored his second TD of the night on a 4-yard pass from John David Booty to make 21-3 USC. Gameball goes to... Jarrett. He finished with 11 catches for 133 yards. And he now owns the all-time USC TD receptions mark with 31. Stat of the game... 28: The Trojans have now won 28 straight at home and 36 of their last 37 games overall. Complete Top 25 Overview

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	10	26
Total Yards	211	399
Passing	143	257
Rushing	68	142
Penalties	5-51	7-46
3rd Down Conversions	5-14	9-15
4th Down Conversions	2-3	1-2
Turnovers	1	0
Possession	28:36	31:24

Individual Leaders

Nebraska Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Taylor 8/16 115 0 0 Titchene... 1/1 28 0 0	USC Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Booty 25/36 257 3 0 Turner 0/1 0 0 0
Nebraska Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Wilson 19 46 0 10 Lucky 10 27 0 9 Jackson 2 1 0 5	USC Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Moody 9 70 0 26 Washington 12 52 1 9 Gable 6 22 0 9
Nebraska Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Jackson 4 36 0 22 Nunn 2 31 0 21 Herian 1 36 0 36 Peterson 1 28 0 28	USC Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Jarrett 11 136 2 21 Smith 6 53 1 20 McFoy 3 39 0 17 Davis 2 16 0 17

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				NEB	USC
	FG	3:23	JORDAN CONGDON 38 YD FG Drive info: 4 plays, 2 yards.	3	0
	TD	0:00	DWAYNE JARRETT 12 YD PASS FROM JOHN DAVID BOOTY (MARIO DANELO KICK) Drive info: 9 plays, 83 yards.	3	7
SECOND QUARTER				NEB	USC
	TD	2:52	STEVE SMITH 3 YD PASS FROM JOHN DAVID BOOTY (MARIO DANELO KICK) Drive info: 11 plays, 71 yards.	3	14
THIRD QUARTER				NEB	USC
	TD	12:05	DWAYNE JARRETT 5 YD PASS FROM JOHN DAVID BOOTY (MARIO DANELO KICK) Drive info: 4 plays, 31 yards.	3	21
FOURTH QUARTER				NEB	USC
	TD	12:44	ZAC TAYLOR 1 YD RUN (JORDAN CONGDON KICK) Drive info: 9 plays, 74 yards.	10	21
	TD	6:27	CHAUNCEY WASHINGTON 7 YD RUN (MARIO DANELO KICK) Drive info: 14 plays, 81 yards.	10	28

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The Southern California Trojans have a new starting quarterback and six new running backs.

But they look like the same old USC -- with an even better defense than last year.

If there was any doubt, No. 4 USC declared itself a national title contender for a fourth straight season with a 28-10 victory over 19th-ranked Nebraska on Saturday night.

Most TD catches, Pac-10 history
After his two-touchdown performance in USC's 28-10 win over Nebraska on Saturday, Dwayne Jarrett now has 31 career touchdowns, good for second all-time in Pac-10 history. Jarrett also passed Mike Williams for first place all-time at Southern California.
Player	School	TD	Years played
Ken Margerum	Stanford	32	4
Dwayne Jarrett*	USC	31	2+
Sean Dawkins	Cal	31	3
Mike Williams	USC	30	2
Mario Bailey	Washington	30	4
* -- Jarrett had 11 catches for 136 yards and 2 TDs on Saturday. It was his 10th career game with 100+ yards receiving.

"We're just getting going," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "We're just getting started. It's exciting."

It's also scary for the rest of the country. The Trojans' attack isn't as potent as the one that lit up scoreboards last year. But their once-unreliable defense appears much stouter. The Trojans (2-0) limited Nebraska (2-1) to 211 yards, including 68 rushing yards on 36 carries, an average of 1.9 yards per rush.

"They were really good," Nebraska defensive tackle Barry Cryer said. "You just can't deny that."

USC won for the 36th time in 37 games, the lone defeat coming to Texas in the final seconds of last January's Rose Bowl. The Trojans have won 28 straight at home.

Making his second career start, John David Booty was 25-for-36 for 257 with no interceptions and three touchdown passes for USC in a Matt Leinart-esque performance.

No Love Outside Lincoln
While Nebraska failed to pull off a Trojan-sized upset Saturday night, the Huskers played well enough to prove that their 5-6 season in two years ago is truly a thing of the past. Still, with the 28-10 loss, Nebraska is now 0-7 on the road against ranked teams since 2001, and still looking for a statement win to announce its re-emergence as one of the nation's elite teams.
Date	Opponent	Result
9/16/06	No. 4 USC	L, 28-10
11/13/04	No. 2 Oklahoma	L, 30-3
11/1/03	No. 16 Texas	L, 31-7
11/16/02	No. 11 Kansas St.	L, 49-13
9/28/02	No. 19 Iowa St.	L, 36-14
9/14/02	No. 25 Penn St.*	L, 40-7
11/23/01	No. 14 Colorado	L, 62-36
* -- Ranked only in coaches' poll

All-America receiver Dwayne Jarrett, the one holdover star from last year's record-breaking offense, caught 11 passes for 136 yards, including two touchdowns. The 6-foot-5 Jarrett often found himself being covered by defensive backs who were four or more inches shorter. He beat 5-foot-9 cornerback

"Jarrett is a monster," Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. "He physically dominated our guys. Our guys did what they could but he is almost unstoppable."

Jarrett became USC's career touchdown receptions leader with 31, breaking Mike Williams' record of 30.

"I knew I was close to the record, but that's not something I'm really concerned about," Jarrett said.

Jarrett was unstoppable, but the Trojans weren't. Although they did not turn the ball over for the second straight week, the Trojans hurt themselves with penalties -- they had seven for 46 yards -- and mental mistakes.

"There's a lot of work left," USC offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin said. "It's no secret we have a long way to go."

The offense produced enough to win. But the bigger story on this day may have been the Trojans' defense, which dominated the Cornhuskers.

"We wanted to come in here and run the ball," Callahan said. "We felt we could."

The Trojans' decisive victory came on a day that two teams ranked ahead of them didn't look like national title contenders. No. 2 Notre Dame absorbed a 47-21 whipping by 11th-ranked Michigan, and No. 3 Auburn struggled to a 7-3 victory over No. 6 LSU.

The Cornhuskers loomed as the first test for the retooled Trojans, who lost Leinart, Reggie Bush and LenDale White from a team that won back-to-back national titles and played for a third.

The Trojans passed the test and now begin their quest for a fifth consecutive Pac-10 title next Saturday at Arizona and a fifth straight BCS berth.

It was the third meeting between two of college football's traditional powerhouses and the first since 1970. USC beat the Huskers 31-21 at Nebraska in 1969, and the teams played to a 21-21 tie in Los Angeles the following year.

The Cornhuskers have endured a drought since their last national title in 1995. But two easy wins over Louisiana Tech and Nicholls State following last year's strong finish fired hopes in Lincoln.

Thousands of red-clad Huskers faithful came west to witness Nebraska's revival. But what they saw was another convincing example of USC's might.

"We are closing the gap with USC, but we still have a long way to go," Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said.

"This was not a moral victory," Callahan said. "This was a loss."

USC may have lost Leinart and friends, but it still has an enviable depth chart, starting with Booty, a fourth-year junior from Louisiana who played like a veteran Saturday. If Booty felt any pressure in his first home game as the 2004 Heisman Trophy winners replacement, he didn't show it.

Booty twice connected with Jarrett on critical completions. With USC leading 7-3 in the second quarter and facing a third-and-21 on the Nebraska 25, Booty avoided pressure and found Jarrett for 22 yards and a first down.

On the next play, Booty hit Steve Smith on a crossing route for a 3-yard touchdown that put the Trojans ahead 14-3.

After Nebraska cut USC's lead to 21-10 in the fourth quarter, USC faced a second-and-20 at Nebraska's 26. Booty hit Jarrett for 19 yards to set up tailback Chauncey Washington's 7-yard touchdown run that made it 28-10.

"I'm really pleased, to be honest," Booty said. "It doesn't seem like we're scoring quite as fast as the guys did last year, but we're really kind of a scrappy group. The main thing is that we're winning games. I think we'll only get better as the season goes on."