The consensus was that Mark Sanchez made two bad passes Saturday — not bad for someone whose season appeared to be in jeopardy 22 days earlier.
Sanchez deemed himself “100 percent” after a breakout performance in USC’s 52-7 victory at Virginia. He did wear a brace on his knee. But he also wore out the Cavaliers.
Asked to assess Sanchez’s performance, Trojans tailback Stafon Johnson said: “It’s self-explanatory. You saw what he could do. He’s an all-pro quarterback. The proof’s in the pudding now.”
USC’s plan was to get Sanchez into an early rhythm with what offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian called “completion-type throws.” Sanchez executed the plan.
He completed 9 of 11 passes in the first quarter, with none longer than 19 yards. By the time the quarter ended, USC had a 21-7 lead.
As he became more comfortable, Sanchez debated when to go for home runs and when not to against Virginia’s conservative zone defense. USC coach Pete Carroll wanted Sanchez to stay aggressive. His elusiveness in the pocket opens up big-play possibilities. On his 49-yard touchdown pass to Ronald Johnson in the third quarter, Sanchez stepped up to avoid the pass rush and took advantage of a flat-footed safety.
“His resourcefulness back there is what gives you that second chance,” Carroll said. “That’s an exciting aspect of our offense that I felt we didn’t have the last couple of years.”
Sanchez spread out the two bad throws.
One came on the opening drive when he tried to force a pass to Vidal Hazelton over the middle. Sanchez was fortunate none of the Virginia defenders in the area picked it off.
The second came in the third quarter, when Sanchez threw behind Joe McKnight. McKnight reached back for the ball, which deflected to Virginia’s Antonio Appleby for an interception.
“Just a bad decision and poor accuracy on the same play,” Sanchez said. “I knew exactly what I did right after I did it.”
McKnight banged his elbow on the play but said after the game that he was fine.
