PULLMAN – It was the crowd. It was the defense. It was some patent, palpable resolution on Washington State’s part that enough was enough.
Jamal Morrow barreled up the middle on a 45-yard run to help set up Erik Powell’s 32-yard field goal with 1 minute, 40 seconds remaining Friday night as the No. 16 Cougars and their willful defense toppled No. 5 Southern California 30-27 before a capacity crowd of 33,773 at Martin Stadium.
The Cougars are 5-0 for the first time since 2001, and the intervening 16 years have sometimes been bleak. Now they have a perhaps watershed victory for the school that has long represented traditional power in the Pac-12.
Jahad Woods preserved the triumph with a late sack of Sam Darnold, causing a fumble recovered by Hercules Mata’afa.
The Cougs’ 5-for-5 showing in September, all those games at home, represents one of the best starts in school history, if only because of this upset of the nation’s fifth-ranked team.
Washington State’s 2001 team won its first seven games, but none of those opponents was ranked higher than No. 23 Stanford. The Cougars’ 1997 Rose Bowl club opened with seven consecutive wins, beating five ranked clubs. But none higher than No. 10 Arizona.
It’s the first time the Cougs have ever beaten a USC team ranked in the AP top five, and it’s just the 10th time they’ve defeated the Trojans period.
On a night when Luke Falk became the most prolific career passer in Pac-12 history, the senior quarterback completed 34 of 51 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns for the Cougars (5-0, 2-0).
He won an anticipated duel with Darnold, who was harried into a 164-yard passing night and no touchdown passes for the Trojans (4-1, 2-1).
The Cougars took a 20-17 lead in the third quarter on a 33-yard field goal by Powell, set up by a painful 21-yard Falk bullet to Renard Bell. Upon release the quarterback absorbed a thunderous hit by blitzing safety Marvell Tell III, rising slowly but soldiering on.
The Wazzu defensive line, in concert with a noisy crowd that was genuinely packed in most sections of the stadium, repeatedly harassed Darnold into errant throws during this stretch, but the Cougars gave USC a golden opportunity when a low punt-snap led to Powell’s 17-yard kick from the end zone.
Not much later, Chase McGrath tied the score 20-20 with a 29-yard field goal late in the third quarter.
The Cougars went back on top with what’s emerged as one of their favorite plays this year: the shovel pass. This one went to Jamal Morrow at an ideal time, catching the Trojans off-guard for a 23-yard touchdown to make it 27-20 with 10:14 left. The drive had been sustained with Falk’s fourth-and-3 strike to Kyle Sweet for 12 yards to the Trojan 23-yard line.
But the Trojans conjured up their own fourth-down salvo, with Darnold finding Tyler Vaughns for 15 yards on fourth-and-13 to help set up a short QB keeper that created a 27-27 tie with 5:01 remaining.
The first half was back-and-forth. Darnold’s 20-yard scramble preceded a perfectly executed fake handoff and keeper for a 4-yard touchdown, making it 7-3.
But the Cougars struck back when Tavares Martin Jr. caught a short pass from Falk, picked up a block from left tackle Andre Dillard and scored from 28 yards. That capped an 89-yard drive featuring a 61-yard catch-and-run by Renard Bell.
Even more sudden was USC’s next flurry, initiated when Ronald Jones streaked untouched down the right sideline for an 86-yard score.
Then came a bizarre play. Backed against the goal line, Falk threw a quickie that outside linebacker Uchenna Nwosu plucked from the air but couldn’t initially secure. He batted it to WSU right tackle Cole Madison, who couldn’t snag it either. It bounced back to Nwosu, who was tackled at the 3.
Somehow the Cougars escaped with just 3-point damage, with Nate DeRider and Garrett McBroom making a third-down stop to set up a USC field goal.
The Cougs then capped the first half with an 80-yard TD drive punctuated by Jamal Morrow’s clever reversal of direction for a 1-yard rush to knot the score 17-17.
Aside from everything else, the win was a rare Friday breakthrough for the Cougars, who dropped two Friday night games in 2014 and lost to Washington on Friday afternoons in the last two Apple Cups.
