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SOUTH BEND, Ind. - The route was perfect. The pass, the catch and the blocking were perfect. The ensuing 30-yard run after the catch was straight out of a video game.
Receiver Vidal Hazelton's 48-yard touchdown from quarterback Mark Sanchez with just less than 10 minutes to go in the third quarter summed up USC's night in one play.
Behind four touchdowns from the redshirt sophomore Sanchez, the Trojans rolled to a 38-0 victory over the Notre Dame in front of 80,795 people at Notre Dame Stadium. It was USC's biggest win over the Irish in the rivalry's 79-year history.
"It was a fun day of football," USC coach Pete Carroll said.
On third-and-7 from the USC 47-yard line with 45 seconds left in the game, Notre Dame quarterback Evan Sharpley's pass was intercepted by safety Kevin Ellison to seal the shutout.
"[Getting a shutout] is kind of like throwing a no-hitter," Carroll said. "The defense was really attacking today."
The Trojans held the Irish to 165 total yards of offense. Notre Dame punter Jeff Price's 10 punts for 450 yards totaled more than two and a half times the output of the team's offensive unit.
USC sacked Sharpley on five occasions, and applied constant pressure throughout the game.
"It's gonna be great when we turn on the film tomorrow and see all our accomplishments," linebacker Thomas Williams said. "It's a confidence builder knowing this is how good we should be." While the defense recorded its first shutout since USC's 42-0 victory over Stanford in 2006, it was Sanchez who stole the show.
He finished the day 21 of 38 for 235 yards and could have had more gaudy numbers if it weren't for a few key drops by USC's receivers.
All four of his touchdowns came before the halfway mark of the third quarter, when the Trojans started handing the ball off on nearly every play, already leading by 31 points.
"I thought [Sanchez] was really in command, really comfortable, extremely farther along than he was in his first game," Carroll said. "He started to show it in the fourth quarter against Arizona, but today he was really on."
Sanchez took a more moderate approach to critiquing his performance.
"That was the game plan coming in: Get the ball out of my hands and into our playmakers' hands," Sanchez said. "That's what we did."
All four of Sanchez's touchdowns went to different receivers - he connected with eight different teammates on the day.
Hazelton's highlight reel touchdown sent his teammates and the USC faithful into a frenzy, as he bounced off at least three would-be tacklers before diving for the end zone.
"When I caught the ball, I saw a couple defenders in front of me, and I just had the mentality I was gonna get in the end zone," Hazelton said. "I couldn't really see. I was just moving. I knew if I kept moving forward eventually I was gonna get to where I wanted to be."
"He's been very creative on the practice field, but that was just a sick play," Carroll said of Hazelton. "He did every move you've ever heard of."
Freshman tailback Joe McKnight capped the scoring with a 51-yard touchdown run early in the fourth quarter.
It was McKnight's first career touchdown.
"I knew when I got through the hole I was gonna take it," he said.
McKnight was the Trojans' leading rusher with 68 yards on seven carries. Senior Chauncey Washington added 64 yards on 12 carries, while sophomore Stafon Johnson and redshirt freshman Stanley Havili added 47 and 31 yards, respectively.
USC's offense rolled up 462 yards - the Trojans' own mistakes were the only things that could stop them.
Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis wasn't surprised with the opponents' effort.
"I would say today they were definitely 38 points better," he said.
USC opened the scoring on a 1-play drive reminiscent of last week's go-ahead score against Arizona.
Greg Woidneck's 35-yard punt hit Notre Dame's Munir Prince in the back, and was recovered by USC's Vincent Joseph.
On the next play, Sanchez pumped to throw off the Irish defense, and then found tight end Fred Davis on a 10-yard touchdown pass caught one-handed in the back of the end zone.
Two drives later, on second-and-goal from the 8, Sanchez rolled out right and connected with tailback Allen Bradford in the flat. Bradford did the rest to put the Trojans up 14-0.
The victory was USC's sixth consecutive over the Irish - the longest streak in team history.
