On what has become known as “Turnover Wednesday”, freshman Mark Tyler obliged by fumbling one away to the defense in drills, and the USC coaching staff piped in crowd noise on Howard Jones field to simulate the raucous crowed at Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium. The team will return to the FieldTurf on Cromwell Field a few more times in preparation for Nebraska’s artificial surface, but the newly re-sodded helped with the Trojan injury issues.

• After a day of throwing a Nerf football, QB Mark Sanchez threw a real football Wednesday at Pete Carroll’s urging, just 24 days after suffering a hairline fracture in his right (throwing) thumb during the team’s first scrimmage. Although he won’t take any snaps until next week, Sanchez looked sharp in 7-on-7 drills, completing 4 of 5 passes. The sophomore quarterback admits that his biggest challenge in coming back will be mental, and Carroll told Rivals that his thumb is “out of danger.”
• Carroll said that RB Joe McKnight resumed wearing his knee brace at practice and will do so through next week’s practices, but he won’t need it in the Nebraska game. “The idea is to wean him off of the thing” Carroll added. McKnight, who resisted wearing it during the opener mentioned that “it limits [his] mobility…I can’t cut like I want to.”
• LT Sam Baker, who had to take the oral pain killer Toradol and a local anesthetic just to play against Idaho, still felt such intense pain when he moved during the game Saturday that he had to come out after just four series. “It was kind of taking the wind out me.” The offense went flat after Baker left the game, and the coaches subsequently, according to Carroll, dumbed down the offense to concentrate on protecting the quarterback.
• Freshman center Kris O’Dowd, who replaced the injured Matt Spanos (triceps) will remain as the starter. Carroll lauded O’Dowd for blocking well, but said that the freshman “made some calls that were great calls, but they were just at the wrong time.” A significant amount of pre-Nebraska preparations will be devoted to ironing out offensive-line communication. Carroll added that the veteran offensive guards Chilo Rachal and Jeff Byers would take greater responsibility to make things sharp moving forward.
• CB/S Josh Pinkard, who is doing light jogging only while waiting for a special knee brace to arrive, likely won’t practice until next week. Pinkard called the injury a bone bruise, but Carroll referred to it as a sprain.
• RB Chauncey Washington (shoulder) participated in light drills without pads on Wednesday. WR Patrick Turner (shoulder) should return on Monday and Brian Cushing (ankle) remains out.
• K David Buehler went 2 for 4 on field goals Wednesday, making from 27 and 35, missing from 37 and 51. Joe Houston made both of his attempts, from 32 and 42.

Wednesday Insider: Sanchez learns, then returns (Rivals, $)
Dispatch from Howard Jones (Trojan Ticker)
Sanchez back and throwing (Daily Trojan)
Sanchez is back in action (LA Daily News)
USC’s Baker being cautious (Orange County Register)