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Big upset had some big catches to it


By RON GUILD, Sports Editor 11.OCT.07


It was fitting that Mark Bradford and Richard Sherman provided some of the biggest plays Saturday at the Coliseum in Stanford stunning USC in what is being called one of the biggest upsets in college football history.

Bradford, a fifth-year senior from Los Angeles who was a football, basketball and track standout at Fremont High School, came up with the game-winning touchdown reception from Tavita Pritchard with 49 seconds left.

Moments earlier, Sherman, a sophomore from Compton’s Dominguez High (he is the first student in school history to get an athletic scholarship to Stanford), kept the drive alive with a leaping 20-yard catch on fourth-and-20. Bradford’s leaping catch in the corner of the end zone was also on fourth down.

The 24-23 victory was bittersweet for Bradford, who dedicated the game to his father, Mark, who died two weeks ago. He was thinking about his father as he lined up for the critical play.

“It’s one of those things, where I knew the play was coming to me,” Bradford, the Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Week, said. “I see the ball in the air, and I’m just thinking I’ve got to make this catch. That’s one of the things he (father) told me, so that’s what was going through my head.”

Said Pritchard, a sophomore making his first start, “Mark is an incredible athlete and an incredible receiver. I just gave him the chance to go make a play on a ball, and he did that. He did that perfectly, and I was very,very excited when that happened. I saw him jump up, and I sprinted toward him to try to jump on him, but everyone else was already there. It was crazy.”

On the drive-sustaining completion to Sherman, Pritchard said, “Sherm did a great job of getting open on that, and I just hit him.”

Bradford finished with season highs of five receptions for 87 yards. Sherman caught three for 45 yards.

Afterwards, Bradford talked about the decision to go to Stanford instead of USC.

“I just couldn’t pass up the chance to go to Stanford,” he said. “Coming from where I come from in the inner-city not too many people get recruited from where I’m from at Stanford. I had to take the chance and go to an academic school and prove that I can do that.”

Ironically, it was Bradford’s season-ending foot injury in game two last season that enabled true-freshman Sherman to move into the starting lineup. He responded by leading the Cardinal with 34 receptions for 581 yards and three TDs.