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There is no way to put a positive spin on this game. Bo Ruud didn't try to.
"It's beyond disappointing," the NU senior linebacker said after the game. "It feels terrible right now. This was a real bad performance from our team."
No one was arguing with Ruud. Not Nebraska Coach Bill Callahan, who didn't hide his disappointment in his team's performance. Not wideout Maurice Purify, who couldn't get past the loss to appreciate his solid game performance.
Certainly not the fans, some of whom began filing out with five minutes left - in the third quarter.
It wasn't necessarily just the loss itself. On paper, NU went down by an 18-point margin - just like last year. But the final score of this matchup was an afterthought.
The game, and the statement it made, was set in stone with each third-quarter USC touchdown that whipped a 21-10 halftime margin to a 42-10 backbreaker.
One year after a 28-10 loss in Los Angeles, the offense looks comparable. Quarterback Sam Keller put up good numbers considering Nebraska managed only 31 rushing yards on 28 carries. Any passer would cringe at the thought of being complemented by a running game averaging 1.1 yards per carry.
With two All-Pac 10 Conference defensive linemen coming for him, Keller still completed two-thirds of his passes for 389 yards. The one smudge on his stat sheet? Two interceptions. Each led to a USC touchdown, both in the decisive third quarter.
The major difference between 2006 and 2007 was in the Blackshirts' performance. The Huskers got cut on the Trojan's first offensive play, a 50-yard sprint, by a fullback of all people.
Starting at the four-yard line, Stanley Havili waited patiently for his line to open up a canyon, froze NU safety Larry Asante with a cut right and brought the ball into Nebraska territory.
USC running back C.J. Gable got the handoff on the next play, snaking and sprinting 40 yards to the Nebraska six-yard line.
The sea of red, just moments earlier making raucous waves, failed to produce a ripple. And it didn't get much better. At game's end, the Trojans racked up 457 total yards - 313 rushing.
It wasn't the loss at all. USC has the ranking, the talent and the reputation. Nebraska was supposed to lose, even if its fans didn't dare dream of it.
Now the loss is a reality, and a harsh one. This wasn't the way it was scripted. Pete Carroll's pilgrimage to Lincoln was supposed to be the Huskers' coming-out party. Nebraska was supposed to be back. It had the home field advantage, the nation's eyes on Memorial Stadium.
But the spotlight burned Nebraska. The game wound up a primetime embarrassment. Now fans are wondering where to go from here. Nebraska didn't just lose - it regressed. Don't let the box score fool you. The Huskers disappointed in almost every possible way.
For a second straight year, USC showed Nebraska how far it has to go. For a second straight year, Callahan had to answer questions of whether his team could run the ball and compete against top teams.
The coach was clearly hot under the collar, frustrated and embarrassed. He had every right, and he wasn't the only one. But USC is the sixth top-10 team the Huskers have faced under Callahan and represent the sixth loss.
Some of them could have, should have been, wins.
Others, like Saturday's loss, show a strong disparity between Callahan's Huskers and college football's best.
"You've got to give them credit," Callahan said. "They played a good game and we've just got to get better. We've got to find a way to improve. Quickly."
The season is too early and USC too good to write off the rest of Nebraska's season. There is too much to play for. Too much left to accomplish.
But USC's manhandling of the Huskers sent a powerful, if not painful, message.
Nebraska is not back. Not yet.
Jonathan Crowl is a senior English major. Reach him at jonathancrowl@dailynebraskan.com.
