They were able to take advantage of what the drop 8 defense gave them ie the run and Moss wasn't tempted to throw into double coverage.
As for Whitt not being gracious. They took a knee when it seemed to everyone that they could have just tacked on an other touchdown at will.
I don't envision Utah playing drop 8 defense against USC. I think they'll send 4 and see if they can rattle him into bad decisions, but who knows?