As the final seconds ticked by of Washington State's 10-7 victory at USC, WSU receiver Vince Mayle made it clear who he thought was the player of the game. The freshman ran over to cornerback Damante Horton and carried him off the field, a well-deserved celebration after Horton's two interceptions paved the way for a huge upset on the road.

Horton had as many points as USC's offense, and changed the complexion of the game with his second-quarter interception. USC was already up 7-0 and looked set to tack onto their lead before halftime when they faced a first-and-ten at the WSU 33-yard line with 38 seconds to play. In one instant, however, Horton changed everything by picking off USC quarterback Cody Kessler. Horton read Kessler's eyes, and returned his interception 70 yards for the game-tying score.

"It means a lot," Horton said of the team's performance. "It's a stepping stone for the whole team, and we're just trying to get better and better."

His interception would be the last points either team would see for almost the rest of the game, as both teams slogged through a defensive battle for the next 27 minutes. It appeared as if both teams were destined for overtime when the Cougars had a third-and-nine on their own 21 yard line with 5:41 left. WSU quarterback Connor Haliday threw an inside screen to Dominique Williams, a play that looked well short of the first down marker when he was met by a group of defenders five yards away from his intended destination. Williams, who grew up in Los Angeles, cut inside and broke a few tackles to spring himself free. With a little daylight, Williams raced all the way down to the USC 30-yard line, setting up Andrew Furney's 42-yard field goal with 3:03 remaining.

"Honestly it feels better than the Apple Cup right now, because it's most recent," Furney said of his game-winning kick. "So when I was thinking, I was just 'Okay, it's something I do everyday in practice, and it's just me going out and doing what I do.' "

USC had one final chance to drive down the field, but Trojans quarterback Max Wittek, who replaced Kessler, threw an interception into the hands of Horton. That put a cap on one of the biggest victories in recent WSU history.

"You know it's a huge win. I think the biggest thing is it's such a team win," Halliday said. "Last week against Auburn we played real well, but it was in spurts. The offense would play well, and then the defense would let up a big play. I'd throw a pick, and then the defense would get a stop. You know it was never together. For the defense to play the way they did tonight was absolutely amazing."

Three things we knew

This team believes in itself

Washington State made it clear during last week's post-game press conference that they expected to beat Auburn. The Cougars let that game slip away, but they came out Saturday with a mindset that the game was theirs to lose. For a team that hadn't beaten USC in over a decade, that is a huge turnaround from the past few seasons.

I just want to congratulate the other 10 guys on offense. If this was a couple of years ago, we would have went in the tank mentally with not being able to move the ball," Halliday said. "We were able to stay in it in the second half mentally and get a 'W,' which was huge to see."

Halliday likes to spread the ball

After getting the ball to 10 different players against Auburn, Halliday followed that up by completing passes to nine players Saturday. The only exception this week was freshman River Cracraft, who caught three passes against the Tigers but was a non-factor against USC.

Halliday's variety of options makes it harder for opposing defenses to game plan, but the offense was still largely ineffective against the Trojans. Halliday completed 26 of his 38 passes, but many were throws near the line of scrimmage as he threw for just 215 yards on the day.

Cougars are deep at linebacker

Sophomore Darryl Monroe is the unquestioned leader of the unit, but even after he went down with an injury early in the fourth quarter, the defense held strong. Linebackers Justin Sagote and Cyrus Coen combined for 18 tackles on the night, while Kache Palacio, Tana Pritchard and Pullman native Jared Byers also saw playing time.

Three things we learned

Perhaps special teams better than we thought

After the unit's struggles against Auburn, Saturday's victory at USC must have felt like redemption. Not only did Furney come up with the game winning field goal - his second in three games dating back to last season - but Kalafitoni Pole blocked a 32-yard USC field goal in the third quarter. Those two plays proved to be the difference in the game.

Team can win defensive struggle

Saturday's game wasn't pretty by any definition, as both teams combined for only 415 yards, but it didn't matter for Washington State. The defense, which struggled with big plays last week, never allowed USC to complete a pass longer than eight yards. They continued to give the offense one chance after another, and eventually the offense returned the favor with a late drive.

"Give credit to Washington State," USC coach Lane Kiffin said. "They played really hard in the game much like they did last week on the road. To go two weeks on the road like that, give a lot of credit to their coaches and players."

Perhaps the run game is not completely turned around

Last Saturday's game appeared to be a defining moment for WSU's running game, as they not only ran the ball for 120 yards, but they also ran it during crucial situations. The USC game was a different story. The Cougars still tried to pound the ball, as Marcus Mason and Teondray Caldwell combined for 15 carries, but they only gained 43 yards. Combined with Halliday's sacks, the team rushed for seven yards on 0.3 yard per carry.

Three things to expect

Lane Kiffin to update his resume

The USC coach was already on the hot seat before the game began, and Saturday's loss may have marked the beginning of the end for Kiffin. Over 70,000 people began chanting "Fire Kiffin" in unison as WSU ran out the last few minutes.

"It was a very disappointing day today in the passing game obviously," Kiffin said. "I've never heard of stats like we had today."

Kiffin shouldn't be too shocked, however, considering he was the one who came up with the game plan. The 38-year-old Kiffin, who refused to relinquish play-calling duties last year, never gave his quarterbacks a chance to complete any long plays.

"The plan was if we were able to hold up the way we were on defense early on, make sure we didn't screw it up on offense," Kiffin said. "As boring as it was, that was the plan."

More turnovers

WSU coach Mike Leach would love if Halliday could eliminate the interceptions from his game, but the junior's TD-INT ratio of 1-5 is proof that the problem isn't going away anytime soon. Had the defense not bailed him out, the tone inside WSU's locker room after the game could have been vastly different.

Daquawn Brown to get more playing time

The freshman faced a difficult test in his first career start, but the Los Angeles native helped keep USC's Marqise Lee to just 27 yards. Lee had seven catches, but Brown and Horton were there to greet him each time. Brown came up big during two of the game's most critical moments, as USC had a third-and-seven from the WSU 35-yard line early in the fourth quarter. Brown broke up the pass, and when the Trojans tried to go for it on fourth down, Brown stopped Lee short of the first down.

Tom Hager can be reached at (208) 883-4629, or by email to bhandel@dnews.com.

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