The Stanford Cardinal were able to upset the USC Trojans on Saturday night for the fourth time in four tries and, as expected, the Cardinal faithful are pretty excited about once again taking care of business against their rivals. This time was particularly special, however, because the Cardinal didn't need Andrew Luck to do it -- and the Trojans still had Matt Barkley.
Stanford picked up the victory with first-year starter Josh Nunes at the helm of the offense, but our friends over at the Rule Of Tree were more excited about their ability to make USC's offense struggle.
For the first time in school history, Stanford has defeated USC four consecutive times. The Stanford defense played out of its collective mind in tonight's 21-14 win, sacking Golden Boy Matt Barkley five times, picking him off twice, and limiting his vaunted receiving duo to nine catches, 149 yards and zero touchdowns. USC was 1-for-13 -- 1 FOR 13! -- on third downs and managed only 26 yards rushing.
It was obviously a huge victory for Stanford -- they're now ranked ahead of USC in both the USA Today Coaches poll as well the Associated Press' weekly rankings -- and there will likely be even more celebrating coming from Stanford thoughout the early portion of this week.
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