The USC Trojans found offensive life in the third quarter, and his name was Curtis McNeal. The junior tailback ran for 110 yards and a pair of long touchdowns in the quarter giving the Trojans a lead, but Andrew Luck responded with two touchdown drives of his own, giving the Stanford Cardinal a 24-20 lead over USC heading into the fourth quarter at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
McNeal had touchdown runs of 61 and 25 yards, giving him four touchdown runs on the season.
Trailing 20-10 Luck, as great players tend to do, led a great response by Stanford, a nine-play, 75-yard drive to pull to within 20-17. On the drive, Luck completed five of six passes for 71 yards, including a five-yard touchdown pass to fullback Ryan Hewitt.
Then after a three-and-out by the Trojans, Luck led another long touchdown drive, marked by two huge plays. The first was a reverse flea flicker out of the wildcat formation which resulted in Luck throwing for 62 yards to Chris Owusu. A few plays later, Stanford had a fourth down at the USC four-yard line, needing less than a yard for the first down. Jeremy Stewart got the first down with a two-yard run, then Luck ran it into the end zone on the next play for a Stanford lead.
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