Top-rung victory completes Booty's ladder to success

PASADENA, Calif. — In the first moments of the Rose Bowl's postgame bedlam, when red-sweatered Trojans fans swarmed the field, someone grabbed quarterback John David Booty and hustled him toward the end zone, where a ladder and the USC band were waiting.

Cautiously, Booty, who scorched Michigan on Monday, throwing for 391 yards and four touchdowns, climbed the ladder, grabbed a Trojans sword in his right hand and led the band in the school's traditional postgame victory song, "Conquest."

And as the tsunami of music and love washed over him, Booty looked like a man transformed.

This was his reward for surviving all of the second-guessing. This was the gigantic upside to his place on this team in this town. This was John David Booty's signature SC moment. A tribute he richly deserved.

"It's been tough on him sometimes this year," said junior reserve quarterback and good friend Michael McDonald. "It's tough being a quarterback at SC. But then you also have moments like this that make it so great."

Booty rose to this wondrous occasion. He waited for three seasons behind Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart. He returned from offseason back surgery. And he answered the ever-cackling chorus of critics.

Junior John David Booty, who has the words "Dream Big" tattooed on his left arm, had done what he intended to do when he came to USC. He had led the Trojans to a 32-18 Rose Bowl win over Michigan.

"This is the most fun I've ever had in my entire life," Booty said after coming down from the ladder. "Everything about today was perfect. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I did wait so long for this chance. And I was patient.

"And to wait that long and to play with these guys, who are my best friends in the whole world and to be able to finish our season the way we did tonight, I don't even know what to say. This is why I came to SC and I was really able to live my dream tonight."

The pressures on the starting quarterback at USC are enormous. You aren't expected to lose.

Everybody's a critic. Every game is analyzed like a State of the Union speech. Every mistake is magnified. Nothing short of championships is considered a success.

In his first season as USC's quarterback, Booty already had won 10 games. He had thrown 25 touchdown passes and was voted to the Pac-10's all-conference team. It wasn't enough.

And, after the loss last month to UCLA, bloggers and talk-show callers were so upset with him you would have thought Booty was Secretary of Defense.

But Monday, coach Pete Carroll had enough confidence in his quarterback to turn over the second half to him. With the game tied, 3-3, Carroll put the Rose Bowl on Booty's right arm.

"Coach told us at halftime, we're going to wing it in the second half," said senior flanker Steve Smith, who caught the last of Booty's four TD passes. "He told us we're going to take chances. We've got playmakers and we're going to make plays."

Booty beat Michigan with rollout passes and quick three-step drops. He threw downfield to his talented gaggle of receivers and opened up a tight-fisted Rose Bowl.

"He was putting the ball on the money," Michigan defensive end LeMarr Woodley said. "He wasn't back there panicking as much. On tape we saw a little bit of panic when teams got pressure on him. But not today."

On the first drive of the second half, Booty completed four straight passes, the last a 2-yard TD pass to Chris McFoy. It was a harbinger of his granddaddy of a second half.

He completed 21 of 35 passes for 341 yards and four touchdowns in that half. And after Michigan had cut the Trojans' lead to 19-11 early in the fourth quarter, Booty dropped a perfect pass to Dwight Jarrett for game-breaking, 62-yard score.

"This is just a great showcase opportunity for him leading into next year," Carroll said.

This is how it is at USC. The Trojans made the unforgivable mistake of losing two games this season. Their loss to rival UCLA took them out of the national-championship game. So Booty had this one game to redeem himself.

Lose the Rose Bowl and Booty might have lost his job next season. Make enough mistakes and he could have been fighting sophomore-to-be Mark Sanchez next spring for the right to run the offense.

But Booty silenced the bloggers and struck up the band. He buried the memory of the UCLA loss and ignited the excited chatter about a championship run next season.

"Tonight," Booty said, a smile slowly creasing his face, "kind of erases everything bad that happened this year."

And, you get the feeling, this is only the beginning.

Steve Kelley: 206-464-2176 or skelley@seattletimes.com. More columns at www.seattletimes.com/columnists