USC quarterback Jack Sears was talking about his eventful Trojans debut Saturday, the highs and the lows and how that's part of football, when Arizona State coach Herm Edwards came over to interject.
"You played your tail off, young man, you played your tail off," Edwards told him while leaning in to clasp his hand. "You're a good football player. Keep it up."
Sears was later asked for his own self-assessment, what he felt he showed while making the start in place of freshman JT Daniels, who was not cleared through the concussion protocol this week.
"It just solidifies I can play at this level," Sears said. "I felt right at home, I felt comfortable and once we were dialed in we were on fire. Just got to minimize penalties and I've got to do a better job facilitating the ball at the beginning of the game."
Sears, who opened the season as the Trojans' third-string QB, started slow and finished strong while completing 20 of 28 passes for 235 yards, 2 touchdowns, 0 interceptions and a botched option pitch that went for a costly lost fumble on his first series.
That turnover set up Arizona State's second touchdown and helped dig the Trojans an early hole, but Sears also played a big role in leading USC back into the lead -- temporarily -- in the second half.
He also had a perfect pass down the seam land in Tyler Vaughns' grasp and then come loose on what would have been a 45-yard touchdown late in the third quarter, a fourth straight touchdown for USC and maybe a game-changer. Add that to his total and it could have conceivably been 280 yards and 3 TDs (though in that scenario he may not have later tossed a 48-yard TD to Vaughns), which is just 2 yards shy of Daniels' collegiate debut in Week 1 that set a record for a USC quarterback in their first game.
"I thanked him in front of the whole team for I thought just a monumental effort to go 20 of 28 and put us in position to have a chance to win a football game, down on some people and some personnel," coach Clay Helton said.
