No. 1 Trojans pound Wildcats, clinch Pac-10 title

LenDale White is often overshadowed by electrifying teammate Reggie Bush.

He wasn’t against Arizona.

While Bush was held in check, White ran for 118 yards on 16 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead top-ranked Southern California to a 49-9 Pac-10 conference victory over outmanned Arizona at Los Angeles.

Matt Leinart passed for 280 yards and three TDs for the Trojans, who clinched the Pac-10 championship for the second straight year along with a berth in the Rose Bowl.

USC (10-0, 7-0 Pac-10) leads No. 5 California by one game with one remaining, but is the conference champion by virtue of its 23-17 victory over the Golden Bears.

The Trojans have an opportunity for much more. If they beat Notre Dame and UCLA in their last two games, they almost surely will play for the national championship, to be contested in the Orange Bowl.

USC’s latest triumph extended its overall winning streak to 19 games, its winning streak in Pac-10 games to 14, and its winning streak at the L.A. Coliseum to 20. That ties the school record for consecutive victories at home, accomplished twice in the 1920s.

The Trojans have won 30 of their last 31 games and six this season by 30 or more points.

White scored on runs of 3, 2 and 6 yards, giving him 15 touchdowns in 10 games this season.

Leinart completed a career-high 27 passes in 35 attempts including 11 straight.

Oregon State 24, Stanford 19

Derek Anderson passed for 334 yards and three touchdowns and the Beaverskept their bowl hopes alive, surviving a late scare to beat the Cardinal in Stanford, Calif.

Anthony Wheat-Brown caught 11 passes for 117 yards for the Beavers (5-5, 4-3 Pac-10), who now must beat archrival Oregon in next week’s Civil War game to be bowl eligible.

Anderson connected with Dwight Wright, Mike Hass and Joe Newton for first-half touchdowns, and the Beavers outgained Stanford 370-248 despite a dismal running game to defeat the Cardinal for the fourth straight time and fifth of six. Hass finished with eight catches for 110 yards.

The Beavers have won three in a row on the road for the first time since 2000.

Stanford (4-6, 2-5) lost its fourth straight, was eliminated from bowl contention, and is going to be hard pressed to improve on last season’s 4-7 finish when the Cardinal wrap up their season against fifth-ranked California in the Big Game next week.

Redshirt freshman T.C. Ostrander made his first collegiate start at quarterback for Stanford in place of injured starter Trent Edwards, who has a sprained shoulder in his non-throwing arm.

Ostrander had a pretty 51-yard touchdown pass to Evan Moore negated because of holding just before halftime. After David Marrero’s 62-yard punt return in the third, Ostrander threw a 15-yard scoring pass to Mark Bradford to make it 21-13.

Moore caught a 26-yard TD pass from Ostrander with 7:12 left, but the Cardinal failed on the two-point conversion that would have tied the game. Moore had the ball in his grasp but couldn’t hold on.

Alexis Serna answered with a 37-yard field goal for the Beavers with 1:23 remaining, and Keith Ellison got a game-sealing interception moments later.