SANCHEZ WATCH DAY 20

WELCOME TO DAY 20 OF SANCHEZ WATCH: OREGON RETROSPECTIVE.

SANCHEZ WATCH PREDICTED THAT USC WOULD LOSE TO OREGON IF IT LOST THE TURNOVER BATTLE, AND INDEED, THAT IS WHAT TRANSPIRED.

However, SANCHEZ WATCH also did not anticipate the circumstance in which Sanchez could play heroic in defeat. In this, Sanchez watch was wrong.

Two of USC's three turnovers were Sanchez interceptions, but those were far from the most critical Trojan mistakes. The positives of Sanchez's play far outweighs the negatives.

There is no denying that he 3rd quarter INT was Sanchez's fault. The ball was thrown behind (as Petros mentioned on the broadcast) to a tight-end, who is primarily used as a blocker, and thus should probably not been thrown to in the first place. But QB's throw Interceptions from time to time and that one was intercepted at the Oregon 15 yard line, so it was really no worse than a punt.

The second interception, was a product of circumstance. USC painted itself into a corner, and with less than 10 seconds left, aggressive throwing was USC's only option. 20-seconds-left-need-a-touchdown-to-win drives almost always end in interceptions. And on that throw, Oregon's Matt Harper simply made a better play on the ball than the Trojan reciever.

Neither of those interceptions were the killers in this game. Of all the dumb stuff the team did (we had 80 yards of penalties to Oregon's 5), here are two moments that killed USC:

1. 1st quarter: Oregon fumbles the opening kick, USC starts out on the Oregon 21. On second down a personal foul gave USC 3rd and 20. Sanchez then passed to Joe McKnight for 19 yards, and Carroll decided to go on 4th and 1. The play call from Sark? A freaking END-AROUND on 4th and 1.

So McKnight had to run for four seconds along the line of scrimmage and try to round the corner. What? Are you serious? Of course, he lost yardage, and USC lost a HUGE scoring opportunity.

Sanchez got 4 yards or more on every QB sneak called in the AZ game, so I don't know why they didn't go there.

(Sark must have been scared about some matchup in the middle of the o-line because he called an outside run on every 4th down conversion attempt.)

That's actually two dumb mistakes (the PF, and the playcall) but it wasted one opportunity. The net result was, seven points left on the table.

2. The first half was a defensive struggle, so you can imagine how excited we were when Sanchez lead the Trojans on a 12 play, 5 minute scoring drive to open the second half. The D then forced an Oregon punt, and we felt like things were finally clicking. We might just beat these guys!

Then Stanley Havili fumbled on the USC 16. Oregon scored a TD in two plays, and for the rest of the game, we were tense, and playing catch-up.

So those are two touchdowns we gave away on dumb mistakes in a 1 touchdown game. And that's to say nothing of McKnight's TD run that was called back for holding (I didn't mention it because the holding gave him the big hole he ran through, but the 10 yard penalty killed the drive), the drive-saving Personal Fouls that we gave to the Ducks after huge defensive plays, and on it goes.

So what will this mean for Sanchez?

Coach Carroll has gone to great lengths to be sure that none of us know what he really thinks about this situation. My prediction was that Carroll would use this game to give Sanchez the opportunity to be a hero, or a loser, and then make the decision.

But as it turned out, he was almost both, but you can't really say he was either. And that leaves the QB situation in a gray area. Sanchez played heroically for most of the game (including a BRILLIANT 84 YARD, :44 SECOND 4TH QUARTER TOUCHDOWN DRIVE WITH 4 MINUTES LEFT IN THE GAME WHEN EVERYONE IN THE STADIUM BUT HIM THOUGHT USC WAS FINISHED), but he also threw those interceptions, and because USC lost the game, those will stand out in the public mind.

My take on the situation is, that we played a great team in a tough stadium that executed better than we did. Sanchez didn't play a perfect football game, but he played pretty darned great for a guy making his third start (people forget this, but the whole student section - Myself and Tyler Haskell excepted - was chanting for Booty during Leinart's first 6-8 games), and, most importantly, SANCHEZ GAVE US A CHANCE TO WIN THE GAME when Booty would have been looking for a hole to hide in.

But again, I have no idea what Carroll will do. Remember, when Sanchez broke his thumb during camp? He was out for almost two months before he could grip the ball well enough to play. This is a broken bone we're talking about. Carroll could conceivably ride the "we'll see what happens" train for weeks to come.

The bottom line is, Sanchez gave us a chance to win the game, where Booty never could have. But as long as the Trojans do so many things to beat themselves, top teams like Oregon will have no trouble finishing the job.