November 5, 2005 Week 10 · Regular Season Belt defended

USC defends the belt, 51–21, at home over Stanford.

Home · Defending Holder

USCAP No. 1 51

Away · Challenger

Stanford 21

AP poll, week 10: Stanford unranked at USC No. 1 · No. 1 that week: Wisconsin. The belt vs. the polls →

Belt context

Where this game sits in the lineage

USC came in 674 days into reign #258, which began with a win over Michigan, with 21 defenses already behind it; this was its 22nd defense. USC went on to defend it 3 more times before Texas took it on January 4, 2006, 734 days after the reign began.

For Stanford this was its 16th shot at the belt; it had held the belt 5 times before.

It was the 8th of 8 belt games between the two; going in, the series stood 3–3–1; all-time USC leads 4–3–1. Every meeting →

AI-Written

Recap

USC dominated this belt defense from start to finish, scoring on five of their first six possessions to build an insurmountable early lead. Matt Leinart orchestrated a surgical passing attack, connecting with receivers across the field including touchdown passes to LenDale White, Dwayne Jarrett, Fred Davis, and Jimmy Miller, while Reggie Bush added an explosive 42-yard touchdown run in the first quarter alone. Stanford managed only two touchdowns despite outgaining USC in total yards and time of possession, but five turnovers and an inability to contain USC's quick-strike offense proved fatal. The Trojans' efficient 16:39 time of possession still proved more than enough to cruise to a 51-21 victory and retain the belt.

Reggie Bush's 42-yard TD run in Q1 gave USC an early 14-0 lead and set the tone for USC's dominant first half
Matt Leinart's four first-half touchdown passes established USC's aerial superiority and built a 38-7 halftime lead
Stanford's five turnovers throughout the game prevented any meaningful comeback despite outgaining USC in total yards
USC's three scores in the second quarter alone (Jarrett, Davis, and Miller TDs) put the game completely out of reach

Written by Claude from the box score and play-by-play on this page — a plain-English recap of the numbers below, not a substitute for them.

Full Box Score

Team stats

CFBD box score

USCStanford

Total yards529420

Rushing yards184141

Passing yards345288

First downs2724

3rd down conv.5/108/15

Turnovers05

Penalties–yards0–00–0

Time of possession16:3920:02

Full team box score from CFBD’s /games/teams data. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have team-level stats that far back.

Play By Play

Key plays

CFBD play-by-play

When	Team	Yards	Play
Q1 13:30	USC	+30 yd	Matt Leinart pass complete to Dwayne Jarrett for 30 yards to the Stanf 26 for a 1ST down out-of-bounds.
Q1 11:54	USC	+1 yd	LenDale White rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 11:49	USC	+27 yd	Troy Van Blarcom kickoff for 39 yards returned by T.j. Rushing for 27 yards to the USC 47 out-of-bounds.
Q1 11:54	USC	+0 yd	Mario Danelo extra point GOOD.
Q1 11:00	USC	+42 yd	Reggie Bush rush for 42 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 11:00	USC	+0 yd	Mario Danelo extra point GOOD.
Q1 10:55	USC	+21 yd	Troy Van Blarcom kickoff for 63 yards returned by T.j. Rushing for 21 yards to the Stanf 23.
Q1 6:04	USC	+16 yd	Matt Leinart pass complete to LenDale White for 16 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q1 6:04	USC	+0 yd	Mario Danelo extra point GOOD.
Q1 0:33	USC	+21 yd	Mario Danelo 21 yard field goal GOOD.
Q2 14:52	Stanford	+37 yd	Trent Edwards pass complete to Justin McCullum for 37 yards to the USC 47 for a 1ST down.
Q2 9:13	USC	+19 yd	Matt Leinart pass complete to Dwayne Jarrett for 19 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 9:13	USC	+0 yd	Mario Danelo extra point GOOD.
Q2 8:03	USC	+19 yd	Matt Leinart pass complete to Fred Davis for 19 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 6:23	Stanford	+14 yd	Trent Edwards pass complete to Justin McCullum for 14 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 6:23	Stanford	+0 yd	Michael Sgroi extra point GOOD.
Q2 6:44	Stanford	+22 yd	Trent Edwards rush for 22 yards to the USC 14 for a 1ST down.
Q2 3:34	USC	+35 yd	Matt Leinart pass complete to Steve Smith for 35 yards to the Stanf 1 for a 1ST down out-of-bounds.
Q2 3:56	USC	+20 yd	Matt Leinart pass complete to Steve Smith for 20 yards to the Stanf 36 for a 1ST down.
Q2 2:50	USC	+1 yd	Matt Leinart pass complete to Jimmy Miller for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q2 2:50	USC	+0 yd	Mario Danelo extra point GOOD.
Q2 0:27	Stanford	+34 yd	Trent Edwards pass complete to Gerren Crochet for 34 yards to the USC 22 for a 1ST down.
Q2 0:00	Stanford	+35 yd	Michael Sgroi 35 yard field goal MISSED.
Q3 9:51	Stanford	+26 yd	Trent Edwards pass complete to Justin McCullum for 26 yards to the USC 4 for a 1ST down out-of-bounds, Usc penalty pass interference on Cary Harris declined.
Q3 0:22	Stanford	+1 yd	Jason Evans rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q3 0:15	Stanford	+21 yd	Michael Sgroi kickoff for 65 yards returned by Ryan Ting for 21 yards to the USC 21 out-of-bounds.
Q3 0:22	Stanford	+0 yd	Michael Sgroi extra point GOOD.
Q4 13:48	USC	+24 yd	John Booty pass complete to Steve Smith for 24 yards to the Stanf 43 for a 1ST down.
Q4 13:25	USC	+24 yd	John Booty pass complete to Patrick Turner for 24 yards to the Stanf 19 for a 1ST down.
Q4 6:44	USC	+8 yd	Brandon Hancock rush for 8 yards for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 6:35	USC	+20 yd	Troy Van Blarcom kickoff for 63 yards returned by David Marrero for 20 yards to the USC 22, Usc penalty 5 yard face mask accepted.
Q4 6:44	USC	+0 yd	Mario Danelo extra point GOOD.
Q4 0:23	Stanford	+1 yd	Gerald Commissiong rush for 1 yard for a TOUCHDOWN.
Q4 0:23	Stanford	+0 yd	Michael Sgroi extra point GOOD.

Scoring plays, turnovers, and gains of 20+ yards, pulled from CFBD’s play-by-play. This section only appears for belt games with play-by-play on file (2003 onward).

Box Score

Player stats

CFBD player stats

Passing

USC

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Matt Leinart	22/28	259	9.3	4	0	90.5
John David Booty	7/10	86	8.6	0	0	55.1

Stanford

Player	C/ATT	YDS	AVG	TD	INT	QBR
Trent Edwards	21/35	245	7.0	1	3	8.1

Rushing

USC

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Reggie Bush	12	113	9.4	1	42
LenDale White	13	60	4.6	1	13
Brandon Hancock	2	13	6.5	1	8

Stanford

Player	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Trent Edwards	10	44	4.4	0	22
Jason Evans	6	33	5.5	1	12
J.R. Lemon	10	24	2.4	0	8
Gerald Commissiong	5	16	3.2	1	5

Receiving

USC

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG
Dwayne Jarrett	8	101	12.6	1	30
Steve Smith	3	79	26.3	0	35
Chris McFoy	3	42	14.0	0	16
Fred Davis	4	35	8.8	1	19
Patrick Turner	3	35	11.7	0	24
Reggie Bush	4	27	6.8	0	9
LenDale White	1	16	16.0	1	16
Nick Vanderboom	1	6	6.0	0	6
Jimmy Miller	2	4	2.0	1	3

Stanford

Player	REC	YDS	AVG	LONG
Gerren Crochet	2	43	21.5	34
Patrick Danahy	4	38	9.5	17
Jason Evans	4	16	4.0	7
Nick Frank	2	15	7.5	8
Michael Horgan	1	10	10.0	10
Marcus McCutcheon	1	9	9.0	9
Matt Traverso	1	8	8.0	8
J.R. Lemon	1	2	2.0	2

Show more stats (4 more categories)

Interceptions

USC

Player	INT	YDS
Thomas Williams	1	10
Frostee Rucker	1	2
William Buchanon	1	0

Stanford

No recorded stats in this category.

Kicking

USC

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Mario Danelo	1/1	100.0	21	6/7	9

Stanford

Player	FG	PCT	LONG	XP	PTS
Michael Sgroi	0/1	0.0	0	3/3	3

Punt Returns

USC

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
Reggie Bush	1	6	6.0	6	0

Stanford

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	LONG	TD
T.J. Rushing	1	6	6.0	6	0

Punting

USC

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Tom Malone	1	48	48.0	0	0	48

Stanford

Player	NO	YDS	AVG	TB	In 20	LONG
Jay Ottovegio	2	88	44.0	0	0	48

Full player stats from CFBD’s /games/players data, split out by team. This section only appears for belt games from 2003 onward — CFBD doesn’t have player-level stats that far back. Linked player names go to that player’s stat line in every other belt game they’ve appeared in.

Sources Box score at ESPN · Game record: College Football Data (id 253090030) · This game in the downloadable dataset

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