After an ugly third quarter, which featured four turnovers and zero points, the USC Trojans have a 14-7 lead over the UCLA Bruins with 12 minutes remaining at the Rose Bowl. It was an ugly third quarter, to be sure. UCLA had just 17 total yards and two turnovers, while USC wasn't much better with two turnovers of its own.
USC true freshman cornerback Nickell Robey had a strong series on UCLA's opening drive of the second half. Robey, who was burned earlier in the game for a 42-yard completion to Nelson Rosario, nearly had a pick-six off Richard Brehaut early in the drive, and did get an interception later in the drive when Brehaut tried to go deep. The Robey interception kicked off a wild series of plays that featured three turnovers in five plays.
Matt Barkley, on a bad knee showing the mobility of current-day Dan Marino, at times has flashed thoughts of the arm of Martino, but was picked off bysafety Tony Dye on the second play of the drive by USC. When UCLA got it back, Johnathan Franklin ran for four yards on the first play of the drive, but a busted option play ended with Malcolm Smith's second fumble recovery of the night. The Trojans failed to take advantage when their drive ended with a batted pass on 4th-and-4, the third unsuccessful fourth down play in UCLA territory by USC tonight.
After throwing just one pass in the second quarter, Barkley attempted 11 passes in the third quarter, completing six for 43 yards, but also threw two interceptions, the final one to Aaron Hester. In his last five games, Barkley has just five touchdowns and eight interceptions.
UCLA linebacker Jordan Zumwalt suffered a concussion on a personal foul penalty in the second quarter, and is out of the game, according to Dan Greenspan of SCPlaybook.com. USC begins the fourth quarter deep in its own territory.
For more local college football news, be sure to read the SB Nation blogs for both UCLA (Bruins Nation) and USC (Conquest Chronicles).