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The Stanford football team was a 41-point underdog. The Cardinal was facing the No. 2 team in the nation with a 35-game home winning streak. And Stanford was doing all this without its starting quarterback.
So, not much was expected out of the unranked Cardinal as it headed into the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday to face No. 2 USC. Keep it close, perhaps, would be good enough.
Think again. With backup quarterback Tavita Pritchard calling the signals, Stanford pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the college football season by toppling the Trojans, 24-23, in a game that will shake up the national rankings.
Pritchard, a redshirt sophomore who had thrown only three passes in his career, fired a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mark Bradford on a fourth-and-goal with 49 seconds remaining, giving the underdog Cardinal its shocking triumph.
USC’s 35-game winning streak at the Coliseum is now done. The Trojans hadn’t lost at home since, coincidently, Stanford beat them 21-16 on Sept. 29, 2001 in the first year of the Pete Carroll era.
That streak was supposed to be safe through this weekend as Stanford simply had no chance against the Trojans. Evidently, Pritchard thought otherwise.
Pritchard, who was filling in for the injured T.C. Ostrander, completed only 11 of 30 attempts for 149 yards, but produced the winning TD in his first college start. The numbers weren’t great, but he was awfully good when it counted, leading Stanford to 17 fourth-quarter points.
The Cardinal (2-4, 1-3 Pac-10) moved 45 yards in 11 plays for the winning touchdown after USC’s John David Booty threw the third of his four interceptions.
A leaping Bradford caught the ball over cornerback Mozique McCurtis in the corner of the end zone, leaving the crowd of 85,125 at the Los Angeles Coliseum in stunned silence.
In the days leading up to the game, first-year Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh stuck to his preseason assessment that USC might be the greatest college football team ever. In the end, the Trojans weren’t the best team on the Coliseum field.
The Trojans (4-1, 2-1) dropped to No. 2 in the AP Top 25 after barely holding on for a 27-24 victory over underdog Washington in Seattle last weekend.
Stanford won’t move into the Top 25 this week, but the Cardinal may get some votes. More important, they’ll gain a lot of respect that was lost when Stanford went 1-11 a year ago.
That season is long forgotten, however, and Harbaugh emphasized that when he took over the program this season.
Still, things looked pretty glum for the Cardinal when Ostrandere suffered a seizure last Sunday in a Palo Alto restaurant and was ruled out of Saturday’s game. He will be re-evaluted on Monday to see if he’s ready to face TCU next Saturday in Stanfod Stadium in the school’s homecoming game.
If Ostrander can’t play, Stanford has a pretty good backup ready to go.
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Stanford quarterback Tavita Prichard revels in his team’s shocking 24-23 triumph over No. 2-ranked USC on Saturday, ending the Trojans’ 35-game home winning streak. Photo by Mark Terrill/Associated Press. -
Stanford wide receiver Mark Bradford (4) caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from backup quarterback Tavita Prichard to lift the Cardinal to a 24-23 upset victory on Saturday in Los Angeles. Photo by Mark Terrill/Associated Press. -
Stanford’s (L-R) Ben Ladner, Tavita Pritchard, head coach Jim Harbaugh and Evan Moore celebrate the Cardinal’s 24-23 upset win over USC on Saturday, ending the Trojans’ 35-game home win streak. Photo by Matt Sayles/Associated Press.
