Both offenses got off to slow starts. Cody Kessler's offense prevailed late.
For the second straight season, Kessler stared down one of the nation's premiere quarterbacks in Oregon State's Sean Mannion, and he outplayed him in USC's 35-10 win.
In two meetings against Mannion, Kessler has completed 41-of-53 for 508 yards with three touchdowns and one interception, which was returned for a touchdown in last season's meeting by Oregon State's Ryan Murphy.
Mannion, reversely, is now 41-of-77 for 400 yards with one touchdown and five interceptions -- one was returned for a touchdown Saturday night by USC's Su'a Cravens.
The edge in wins goes to Kessler, who's 2-0 against Mannion and the Beavers as a starter.
Like most quarterbacks, Kessler will say that he's not playing against Mannion. He's going up against the Oregon State defense, and Mannion is going up against the USC defense.
Of course.
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In addition to that, Kessler admits the two are "really good friends" who spent time together at the Manning Passing Academy over the summer.
Kessler thinks the world of Mannion.
"Sean's a great quarterback," Kessler said. "He's about to break every record in the Pac-12. He's one of the best to play the position in this conference."
However, there's something to be said about the competitive juices that begin to flow when you know you're going up against stiff competition.
"Yeah, you have that competitive spirit," Kessler said. "When you go against each other, you want to beat the other guy."
With that said, Kessler admitted he knew he had to bring his "A game" into the Coliseum on Saturday night.
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Of his 32 attempts, just eight were incompletions. He threw two touchdowns and once again did not throw an interception.
You could make a strong argument that it was his best game of the season.
After being sacked five times in USC's loss at Boston College, he made a conscious effort to extend plays against the Beavers.
There was much talk about the Hail Mary that was completed to Darreus Rogers to give USC a 21-10 lead to end the first half. That doesn't happen without Kessler's escapability.
He backed up. He stepped up in the pocket. He slid to his right and he heaved a throw that found Rogers' mitts.
More important than the Hail Mary, which definitely sparked the USC offense going into the second half, was the zero interceptions next to Kessler's name in the stat sheet.
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While Mannion threw two on Saturday --it wasn't his finest hour throwing for just 123 yards which is the lowest total of his career in a game in which he attempted more than one pass -- it was Kessler who continued to secure the ball for the Trojans raising his season totals to 10 touchdowns and no interceptions.
"At the end of the day don't give the (opposing) defense a chance to get their offense on the field," Kessler said. "Just give our defense a rest, keep the ball with us, (and) eliminate turnovers."
Asked if it was his best game of the season, Kessler couldn't admit that it was, but the fact that he didn't turn the ball over is something that will help him sleep easier at night.
Knowing that he beat "the other guy" -- Mannion in this case -- won't hurt, either.
