LOS ANGELES — Southern California turned the game of the year into another Trojans' victory march.

Mark Sanchez threw four touchdown passes, Joe Mc-Knight rushed for 105 yards on 12 carries, and the top-ranked Trojans crushed No. 5 Ohio State, 35-3, last night in a matchup of two of college football's most successful programs.

On this pleasant summer night, one looked like a champion, the other ordinary.

"It worked out beautifully for us," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "Over the years, when we prepare this well and we have our guys, we're hard to beat. It doesn't matter who we play when we do that. This is what we're capable of doing, we didn't do anything out of the ordinary to get there. We had a nice night."

Ohio State played without star tailback Chris "Beanie" Wells, sidelined with an injured right foot. But moving the ball wasn't the Buckeyes' biggest problem before the Trojans made it a rout. Instead, they were done in by a handful of crucial mistakes.

A holding penalty nullified a touchdown in the second quarter, and an errant throw by Todd Boeckman was intercepted and returned for a touchdown by Rey Maualuga.

And with that, the outcome was all but decided by halftime.

"We played as well as we could, with or without Beanie," Ohio State coach Jim Tressel said. "We played against a great team tonight. We were never able to take control on offense or defense. We must now roll up our sleeves and realize we can't play like this and win."

Sanchez finished 17 for 28 for 172 yards with one interception in three-plus quarters of work as the Trojans improved to 3-0.

The Buckeyes (2-1) certainly missed Wells, who ran for over 1,600 yards last season. It's doubtful even the he would have made that much of a difference.