Saturday, September 4, 1999
USC defeats
Rainbows
in 62-7 rout
It extends the Rainbows'
losing streak to 19 gamesBy Pat Bigold
See also: Game Face
UH FOOTBALL PREVIEW SPECIAL
Star-BulletinThe No. 21 USC Trojans scored on eight of their first nine possessions and forced five turnovers en route to humbling Hawaii, 62-7, tonight before a turnstile crowd of 45,543 at Aloha Stadium.
It was the most lopsided win for USC since 1994, and the most lopsided win in a season opener since 1929.
The USC rout, which included seven quarterback sacks for minus-59 yards, spoiled the collegiate head coaching debut of former San Diego Chargers head coach June Jones.
It extended the Rainbows' losing streak to 19 games, currently the longest slide among Division 1 schools in the nation.USC's sophomore quarterback, Carson Palmer, completed 14 of 16 passes for 167 yards and a 32-yard touchdown pass to Windrell Hayes in the first quarter. Palmer also ran for a nine-yard score in the quarter.
Malaefou MacKenzie, a sophomore tailback from Mission Viejo, Calif., led the Trojans in scoring with three rushing touchdowns -- two in the second quarter and one in the third.
Hawaii's only touchdown came on a 21-yard interception return by Quincy LeJay with 7:15 left in third quarter.
"I was very pleased with the way we started the game," said USC head coach Paul Hackett. "We were prepared and ready to play. We didn't let Waikiki distract us. It was only one game but it was an important game because it was on the road and we have three big road games coming up." Jones tried to summon some optimism from his disastrous debut.
"Our guys will come back, we'll play hard," he said.
"It was one of those nights when it didn't click. It's going to take a little time to get it going." USC racked up 529 net yards to 221 net yards for Hawaii, but the biggest difference was on the ground. The Trojans rushed 60 times for 279 net yards while Hawaii rushed 22 times for 27 net yards.
The Trojans had 29 first downs to Hawaii's 16.Chad Morton led USC in rushing with 95 yards on 19 attempts and one touchdown.
Former Punahou standout Afatia Thompson led the Rainbows with 55 yards on seven totes.
Dan Robinson, Hawaii's starting quarterback, completed 16 of 39 attempts with one interception for 149 yards. The senior was manhandled by the USC defense which sacked him four times.
Backup Hawaii quarterback, freshman Mike Harrison (5-for-7-0 for 45 yards), was sacked three times in his stint.
The Trojans cut through the Hawaii defense in the first half like a hot knife through butter, scoring on seven of their eight possessions.
They put 17 points on the board in the first quarter and 24 more in the second.
David Newbury, a sophomore placekicker from Corsicana, Texas, kicked the first field goal of his college career to draw first blood against Hawaii. His 48-yard boot four minutes and 19 seconds into the game ended an eight-play, 24-yard drive. So complete was USC's first-half domination that USC didn't punt until there were two minutes and 3 seconds left before intermission.
That punt followed backup Mike Van Raaphorst's three-and-out series as he replaced Palmer at quarterback a little more than two minutes earlier. The Trojans got the ball on their first nonscoring series because Robinson fumbled a snap and strong safety David Gibson made his second recovery of the second quarter.
Gibson's first recovery led to a 35-yard scoring drive culminating in Mackenzie's one-yard plunge to make it 30-0 with 8:29 left in the half.
Hawaii's ineptitude in the first half was underscored when the crowd roared sarcastically for a Rainbows' fair catch in the endzone with 4:39 left.
The temperature at game time was 72 degree with tradewinds 10 to 20 mph.
Officially, the game was the first sellout in seven years for Hawaii.
Scoring summary
USC 17 24 14 7 -- 62 Hawaii 0 0 7 0 -- 7
USC: David Newbury 48 FG
USC: Windrell Hayes 32 pass from Carson Palmer (Newbury kick)
USC: Palmer 9 run (Newbury kick)
USC: Malaefou MacKenzie 3 run (Newbury kick)
USC: MacKenzie 1 run (Newbury kick)
USC: Chad Morton 17 run (Newbury kick)
USC: Newbury 34 FG
USC: MacKenzie 1 run (Newbury kick)
UH: Quincy LeJay 21 interception return (Eric Hannum kick)
USC: Markus Steele 46 return of fumble
USC: Sultan McCullough 5 run (Newbury kick)
RUSHING INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
USC: Morton 19-99, MacKenzie 8-25, Palmer 1-9, McCullough 17-83, Frank Strong 6-25, Jabari Jackson 6-31, Van Raaphorst 2-(-9).
UH: Afatia Thompson 7-55, Dan Robinson 7-(-27), Avion Weaver 6-27, Mike Harrison 2-(-28).PASSING
USC: Palmer 14-for-16-0 for 167 yards, Van Raaphorst 5-for-10-1 for 83 yards.
UH: Robinson 16-for-39-1 for 149 yards, Harrison 5-for-7-0 for 45 yards, Ho-Ching 0-for-1-0 for 0 yards.RECEIVING
USC: Morton 3-11, R. Jay Soward 3-34, Hayes 7-80, Kareem Kelly 5-104, Marcell Allmond 1-9, Strong 1-12.
UH: Thompson 3-31, Craig Stutzmann 5-55, Ashley Lelie 2-3, Dwight Carter 2-37, Channon Harris 1-3, Davey deLaura 1-7, Justin Colbert 1-8, Attrice Brooks 2-13, Ryan Gray 2-13, Scott Sims 1-11, Weaver 1-13.
Qucktime video clips
Video by Dean Sensui, Star-Bulletin
http://uhathletics.hawaii.edu
Ka Leo O Hawaii
