One giant leap for Trojan-kind.

There’s been a lot of talk about USC wide receiver Steve Smith’s performance against Washington State, stepping up his game to make up for the injury to Dwayne Jarrett. Conquest Chronicles named him the “stud” of the game. The Daily Breeze’s Phil Collin says “Smith made his mark” against the Cougars. The L.A. Times’s J.A. Adande says Smith “picked a good day to step to the forefront.”

That’s all true, and Smith deserves the praise, but I’m standing by what I said at the time: the player of the game was punter Greg Woidneck, the 6-foot-0, 195-pound redshirt sophomore transfer from Arizona State, for a game-saving play that isn’t getting enough nearly attention, IMHO. The Press-Enterprise describes it thusly:

Punting from his own 40 with 1:10 left, USC’s Greg Woidneck had to make as athletic a catch as any by Smith just to pull in Will Collins’ bullet of a snap that was heading for the USC end zone on a bounce if Woidneck hadn’t grabbed it with his fingertips at the highest point of his leap.

“I hopped a little bit on it, too,” USC coach Pete Carroll admitted, “as high as Woidneck did.”

But Woidneck got off a 37-yard, end-over-end punt as USC once more managed to do what it needed to…get out of here unbeaten.

Granted, statistically speaking, Woidneck is no Tom Malone… and his name isn’t nearly as fun to say as kickoff man Troy Van Blarcom… but how many punters can say they’ve made a play which single-handedly preserved a team’s chances at a national championship? Usually, when punters change the course of a season, they do so in the role of goat, like Minnesota’s Justin Kucek last year. (Whenever I see that video clip, I always think, “Take the safety, kid! Take the freakin’ safety!” Alas, he never does.) But not Woidneck. He’s a bona fide hero. As Carroll said, that ball was within “an eyelash [of] being over his head” … and with USC’s lead just 6 points in the game’s final minute, that very likely translates into the Cougars being within an eyelash of winning the game outright in regulation.

Put another way: the Trojans almost Coug’d it. :) But Woidneck wouldn’t let that happen.

Anyway, the point of this post is simply to say: thanks, Greg, for proving that white men can jump, and saving our season in the process. Trojan Nation is in your debt.


Greg Woidneck, IrishTrojan.com Player of the Week.

BEAT THE HUSKIES!!