 "Photo: Alix Drawec | Daily Trojan")
Another week, another set of injuries on the offensive line.
USC lost two more starters against Arizona, as left tackle Sam Baker aggravated a previously pulled hamstring and right guard Zack Herberer hurt his shoulder.
They were replaced by Butch Lewis and Tiny Malu.
"I'm really kind of tired of putting new guys in there," offensive line coach Pat Ruel said. "Butch and Tiny weren't even with us all week. For them to come in and know what they were supposed to do and perform fairly decently, they helped us win."
A two-time All-American, Baker spent the second half in street clothes.
"He was hurt going into the game. We knew that it could be risky, but we felt we had to go with him," Ruel said.
Heberer, a redshirt freshman, could be out indefinitely, though X-rays taken during the game were negative.
"We're the band of brothers," left guard Jeff Byers said. "We're dinged up but that doesn't matter. As long as we got five O-linemen, we got a chance to win. The five of us, we all love each other no matter who is on the field. We got a real tight offensive line from the first guy to the last guy. Whoever is playing, we got faith in them."
Of the Trojans' front five that started the season against Idaho, only Byers finished Saturday's win, and even he did not emerge unscathed.
The junior, already playing with a sprained right thumb, dislocated a finger on his left hand.
That led coach Pete Carroll to declare center Matt Spanos, who missed three games with torn triceps, "one of the healthy guys." Spanos hardly practiced this week after requiring stitches in two fingers against Stanford.
"Whatever injury there is, our line has suffered it in one way or another," Ruel said.
But with junior Chilo Rachal (sprained knee) expected to play against Notre Dame and freshman Kris O'Dowd (dislocated kneecap) also getting healthy, USC is about to receive some much-needed help.
"I only had one guy left, Alex Parsons," Ruel said. "The next guy was probably me. I got two bad hams to start with."
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Arizona redshirt freshman Keenyn Crier nearly set a school record with his booming 83-yard punt midway through the fourth quarter.
Crier almost tied Bill Hargis' mark of 84 yards set in 1930.
"One yard shy?" Wildcats coach Mike Stoops asked. "A great effort by the kid."
Stoops believed that his defense would be able to force a punt and have a chance to take the lead.
"It never happened," he said.
Instead, fullback Stanley Havili rallied the offense starting with an impassioned plea before the drive began.
"Stanley picked that team up on the 1 [yard line]," quarterback Mark Sanchez said. "He was talking from the heart, and that's what we needed right there. That really sealed that drive."
Havili plowed forward for four yards on first down, the first of 15 plays that ended with David Buehler's 23-yard field goal to seal the win.
"It would be easy to pack it in and play real conservative and be ready to punt again," Sanchez said.
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Arizona running back Chris Jennings amassed only 16 yards on the ground, but added a career-high 68 yards receiving.
"Chris stepped up and made some plays for us," Stoops said.
Jennings' 12 touches came in large part because of freshman Nic Grigsby's fumble with 13:32 left in the second quarter.
USC capitalized with a 27-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead.
The freshman from Whittier, Calif., did not handle the ball again.
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Middle linebacker Rey Maualuga suffered a hip pointer midway through the second quarter and was replaced by sophomore Luthur Brown and senior Thomas Williams.
Both finished with six tackles apiece.
