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No. 25 USC Offensively Inept In 10-7 Loss To WSU

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Fans in cardinal-colored jerseys leaned over the railing and bellowed their boos into the Coliseum tunnel. Negative chants rained down on the coach as he ran to the locker room after each half.

Only Southern California's fans weren't booing the opposition in the Trojans' home opener. They're already fed up with Lane Kiffin and a night of historical ineptitude by his offense.

Andrew Furney kicked a 41-yard field goal with 3:03 to play, and Washington State beat No. 25 USC 10-7 Saturday night for its first victory at the Coliseum in 13 years.

Kiffin's two-quarterback offense managed just 193 yards on 63 plays, with no pass completion longer than 8 yards. The Trojans also missed a field goal and had another blocked after scoring their only touchdown on an early 22-yard drive set up by their dominant defense, which has nearly shut out two straight opponents.

It's not exactly a signature win for Cougars coach Mike Leach, but it's the ugliest moment yet for the embattled Kiffin, who calls the Trojans' plays.

"You can't worry about that," Kiffin said of the chants. "I think I heard those before the game started, during warm-ups, so I'm used to it. ... When you don't play well, it falls on the head coach. We obviously weren't well-prepared on offense."

Indeed, the Trojans' 193 yards and 54 yards passing were their fewest in a game since 1998.

"I've never seen stats as bad as we did today," Kiffin said. "The longest pass play was 8 yards. That's very discouraging, and obviously that falls on me, so we're going to fix it."

Damante Horton returned an interception 70 yards for a tying score in the final seconds of the first half for Washington State (1-1, 1-0 Pac-12), and he made the clinching interception with 2:18 to play in the Cougars' first win over the Trojans anywhere since 2002.

Neither team scored in the second half until Dom Williams took Connor Halliday's third-and-long screen pass 49 yards, winding past tacklers to the USC 30 with 5½ minutes left to set up Furney's tiebreaking kick.

Horton then picked off Max Wittek's pass to finish off USC (1-1, 0-1), which finished the game under repeated chants of "Fire Kiffin!" from an incensed fan base.

"That's just fans being fans," Lee said. "They aren't seeing what they want. They're not out there and seeing what's going on. ... It takes time. We don't have (Matt) Barkley any more. New quarterbacks are coming in. They have to understand it takes time."

Washington State celebrated with its small cheering section after the final gun while boos rained down on Kiffin and a team that lost its home opener for the first time since 1997.

Tre Madden rushed for 151 yards and Marqise Lee had seven catches for just 27 yards for the Trojans, who didn't get much from either quarterback. Cody Kessler went 8 of 13 for 41 yards and rushed for a 4-yard TD in his second straight start at quarterback for the Trojans. Wittek took over at halftime and went 3 of 8 for 13 yards, struggling to hit open receivers.

"We didn't have any sync or consistency, and that falls on everybody," Madden said.

Washington State's defense scored the Cougars' only touchdown when Kessler threw behind a receiver to Horton, who took it all the way back. The Cougars won without scoring an offensive touchdown — not normal Leach protocol, but he didn't mind at all.

"Both sides were dominating up front, and it was hard to scratch and eke something out," the Washington State coach said. "I'm proud to say we did."

The Trojans played without injured tailbacks Silas Redd and D.J. Morgan and cornerback Anthony Brown. Breslin returned to USC's starting lineup after missing the season opener with an injury, moving into his linebacker spot in the Trojans' new 5-2 defense after excelling as a defensive lineman last season.

Washington State's offense moved the ball well early on, but River Cracraft couldn't corral a sure touchdown pass thrown behind him in the end zone on the Cougars' second drive. Two plays later, Torin Harris picked off Halliday's forced pass into the end zone, ending a 74-yard drive with a touchback.

Washington State drove into USC territory again, but Morgan Breslin created havoc on three straight plays — drawing a holding penalty, sacking Halliday and helping George Uko to force a fumble recovered by Devon Kennard, who returned it to the Cougars 22.

The Trojans converted a fourth-and-1 with a direct snap to Madden before Kessler scored on a 4-yard bootleg 9:59 before halftime.

Wittek took over at halftime, and a drive with eight straight runs got USC into field goal range — but Kalafitoni Pole blocked Andre Heidari's 32-yard attempt. Heidari missed a 43-yard field goal attempt to end the Trojans' next drive, and the Cougars stopped Lee just short of the marker on fourth down at their own 29 with 9:03 to play.

After the Cougars took over at their 20 with 6:18 left, two plays went nowhere before Williams eluded several tacklers and made it 49 yards down the Washington State sideline.

(© Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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