Usc Football

USC quarterback Matt Barkley (7) can only watch after Stanford recovered a fumble in overtime to beat the Trojans 56-48 on Saturday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. (Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer)

USC and Stanford played a game for the ages on Saturday with a triple-overtime finish that preserved the Cardinal's national title hopes and denied Trojans coach Lane Kiffin the biggest victory of his career.

An announced crowd of 93,607 stood in stunned silence as USC tailback Curtis McNeal fumbled at the 3-yard line in triple overtime to give the fourth-ranked Cardinal a 56-48 victory at the Coliseum.

Stanford defensive tackle Terrence Stephens forced the fumble and linebacker A.J. Tarpley recovered in the end zone to end the game.

"Unfortunately, we were on the wrong end of it," Kiffin said. "I thought the guys played equal. Both teams played extremely hard. Hardly any turnovers. A lot of people getting hurt and coming back in. Playing a ton of snaps."

Kiffin was livid with officials after the game for saying wide receiver Robert Woods did not get out of bounds on the last play of regulation before time expired.

"I'm really disappointed in the officials," he said. "Extremely disappointed. ... I had asked for a timeout with one second left before the play. We could have kicked a 50-yard field goal to win the game.

In the third overtime, Stanford tailback Stepfan Taylor scored and then Luck coolly delivered a pass over the middle to tight end Coby Fleener for a 2-point conversion.

If there was a difference between the teams, it might have been Luck's consistency against inaccurate passes by USC quarterback Matt Barkley (28 of 45, 284 yards, three touchdowns, one interception).

USC opened the second overtime with tight end Randall Telfer scoring after making a catch and 12-yard run. Luck responded with an 11-yard touchdown pass to tight end Levine Toilolo.

Stanford scored on its first overtime possession on a 2-yard run by Jeremy Stewart. USC followed with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Barkley to Woods.

USC reached the Stanford 32-yard line at the end of regulation but the clock ran out before wide receiver Woods could get out of bounds.

USC safety T.J. McDonald (7) was called for unnecessarily roughness against Stanford wide receiver Chris Owusu (81) on this play Saturday. (Keith Birmingham/Staff Photographer)for a touchdown with 3:08 remaining to give the Trojans a 34-27 lead.

What looked like a low-scoring affair at halftime offered plenty of scoring in the second half as the teams combined for 28 points in the third quarter and 31 in the fourth.

Luck did not throw deep until the third quarter and made it count when he took a handoff and completed a 62-yard pass to Ty Montgomery. The play set up a touchdown that illustrated Luck's talents when he dropped back to pass and then ran 2 yards up the middle for a touchdown to give the Cardinal a 24-20 lead.

It was just another play from a rousing quarter. USC answered as Barkley found wide receiver Marqise Lee over the middle for a 28-yard touchdown pass.

McNeal started everything in the third quarter when he broke through the line and went 61 yards for a touchdown that gave the Trojans a 13-10 lead. The play was unexpected because USC (6-2, 3-2 Pac-12) rushed for just 5yards in the first half.

The momentum continued on the Cardinal's next series as Luck fumbled on third down at the Stanford 22 but recovered it to avert a possibly disastrous possession.

McNeal then darted 25 yards for a touchdown to give the Trojans a 20-10 lead. McNeal rushed for more than 100 yards against Notre Dame and Stanford in back-to-back games. Starting tailback Marc Tyler left the game in the first half with a shoulder injury.

Luck did not appear fazed, however, as he led the Cardinal 75 yards with some precision passing and found fullback Ryan Hewitt on a 5-yard touchdown pass. That brought the Cardinal within three points at 20-17.

Barkley was intercepted in the second quarter by Tarpley. That turnover set up a 33-yard field goal by kicker Eric Whitaker with 7:10 remaining in the half to give the Cardinal a 10-3 advantage. Luck completed eight of his first 12 passes for 93 yards and a touchdown.

The near-sellout crowd was USC's largest of the season and stopped a run of sub-70,000 crowds that caused attendance to be at its lowest point since 2002.