It was his team again. This was the feeling you got when John David Booty stood on the 30-yard line after the game amid a sea of microphones and cameras.
"It was great to be back out there, just battling with the guys, you know," Booty said. "I cherish those moments, and I only have a couple here left with these guys, so it's really special to be back out there."
For Booty, Saturday night against Oregon State was a chance to make a second first impression.
He and his receivers, however, responded with a pedestrian 19 of 33 effort for 157 yards and two touchdowns, leaving much to be desired by Booty and coaches alike.
"There's a lot of things I think I can improve on from [Saturday]," Booty said. "I don't feel I played my best ball that I'm capable of playing. In order for this team to be successful, in the way we have been in November, I got to step up."
USC coach Pete Carroll was equal in his assessment of the performance. He acknowledged that the thought of playing Mark Sanchez had crossed his mind early in the second quarter, but he opted to stay the course with his senior signal caller.
"I thought John David was not sharp. [The] rusty type of performance - I think you would call it - after being three or four weeks off," Carroll said. "I think it's understandable, but John has got to play better, and he's got to make his throws. We just got to throw and catch it better; it's simple."
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The Trojans' secondary thrived in the man-to-man coverage scheme implemented for the first time this year.
The defense surrendered a season-low 85 yards passing against a Beaver offense averaging just over 209 yards per game going in to Saturday's game.
"[Playing man-to-man] gives everyone more opportunities to make plays. We just depend on ourselves out there," sophomore cornerback Shareece Wright said. "We matched up well with their receivers; I think our coaches saw that right away."
Wright, returning from an ailing hamstring injury, recorded four tackles and a game-high two breakups in coverage.
"I liked a couple of the plays [Wright] made," Carroll said. "It was great to see him make a big play on the deep ball late; he handled it beautifully. He is a really good player, so we are just excited about what he is doing."
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USC's 100 yards rushing was the second lowest total posted by the Trojans this season, just behind the 95 yards gained against Stanford.
The Beavers came into Saturday's game allowing just 59.5 yards rushing per contest - the second best mark in the country.
While Carroll said after the game that the Trojans did not run the ball "particularly well," the numbers deceptively included 50 yards lost on broken plays - 33 of which were from Booty.
Senior running back Chauncey Washington ran for a team-high 60 yards on 12 carries, including a 19-yard run up the middle in the second quarter that set up his own 26-yard touchdown reception.
