From TributeToTroy

USC 38, Iowa 17

No. 5-ranked USC–behind a balanced offense and a stingy defense–staked its claim as one of the nation’s top teams as it swamped No. 3 Iowa, 38-17, in the 69th FedEx Orange Bowl before a sold out crowd of 75,971 fans under the lights in Pro Player Stadium and a national ABC-TV audience. It was Pac-10 cochampion USC’s eighth win in a row (giving Troy its first 11-win season since 1979) and it snapped Big Ten co-champ Iowa’s 9-game winning streak. It was the first meeting between the teams in 26 years and the first trip to the Orange Bowl for either school. It also was Troy’s first win ever in Florida in 5 tries and came against the ninth AP-ranked squad the Trojans played in the 2002 season. And USC scored at least 30 points for a school-record eighth consecutive game. USC dominated the Hawkeyes statistically, getting more total yards (550-323), first downs (30-18), plays (80-58) and possession time (38:06-21:54). It was the ninth game in a row that USC had at least 400 yards of total offense. Despite facing an Iowa defense that was second nationally against the run (68.2), Troy rushed for a season-best 247 yards and scored 4 TDs on the ground. And USC–playing without 2-time All-American S Troy Polamalu, who was held out with a sore hamstring–kept in check a Hawkeye offense that was sixth nationally in scoring (38.9). At the start, it looked like Iowa would provide a stiff challenge as WR C.J. Jones ran back the opening kickoff an Orange Bowl-record 100 yards for a TD. But USC responded quickly as QB Carson Palmer’s 65-yard bomb to WR Kareem Kelly on Troy’s first play set up TB Justin Fargas’ 4-yard scoring run just 3 plays later. Then, after Iowa had to settle for a 35-yard field goal by PK Nate Kaeding after advancing to the USC 2-yard line on the ensuing drive, USC reeled off 31 unanswered points. First, PK Ryan Killeen atoned for an earlier missed field goal by nailing a 35-yarder late in the half (DT Bernard Riley then blocked Kaeding’s 28-yard field goal try at the end of the half to keep the score knotted at 10-10). Next, USC scored on its first 3 possessions of the second half, first an 18-yard Palmer TD pass to WR Mike Williams, then a career-long 50-yard TD run by Fargas (to cap a 99-yard drive) and a 5-yard run by TB Sultan McCullough at the top of the fourth quarter. FB Sunny Byrd added a 6-yard scoring run late in the game before Iowa added a touchdown against USC’s reserves on an 18-yard pass from QB Brad Banks to WR Maurice Brown. Palmer proved his Heisman Trophy was no fluke as he hit 21-of-31 passes for 303 yards to earn Orange Bowl MVP honors, while Heisman runnerup Banks–the nation’s passing efficiency leader–was just 15-of-36 for 204 yards and an interception (his first pick in his last 104 attempts). Fargas ran for 122 yards on 20 carries and McCullough added 76 yards on 12 tries, while Iowa RB Fred Russell–12th in the nation in rushing–was held to just 45 yards on 9 carries. Florida native Williams (game-high 99 yards) and WR Keary Colbert (81 yards) each had 6 receptions, while Kelly had 3 for 74 yards to set an NCAA record for consecutive games with a catch (47) en route to becoming USC’s career reception leader (204). Williams set NCAA freshman records for receptions (81), receiving yards (1,265) and receiving TDs (14). Brown had 6 catches for 63 yards for Iowa. LBs Mike Pollard and Matt Grootegoed each had a team-best 6 tackles for USC, while S Jason Leach had an interception and fumble recovery while filling in for Polamalu. Iowa hurt itself with 13 penalties and turned the ball over twice.

Iowa 10 0  0  7 -- 17
USC   7 3 14 14 -- 38

Scoring: Iowa--Touchdowns, Jones, Brown. PAT, Kaeding (2). Field Goal, Kaeding. USC--Touchdowns, Fargas (2), M. Williams, McCullough, Byrd. PAT, Killeen (5). Field Goal, Killeen.

Attendance: 75,971

Date: January 2, 2003