NCAA Says No TV for the Trojans, So They Might Go to Tokyo Instead

It isn’t official yet, but USC’s football team probably will play Oregon in a conference game Nov. 30 in the Mirage Bowl in Tokyo.

The Trojans are scheduled to play the Ducks earlier in the season at the Coliseum. Why would USC, the defending Pacific 10 champion, give up a home game and string out the regular season with a game that may well have a bearing on the Rose Bowl race and other bowl games?

USC Coach Ted Tollner asked himself the same questions, and answered them Tuesday.

“Our reasoning was that our seniors won’t get any television exposure except for a postseason bowl game,” he said. “It’s a chance for a cultural experience that they wouldn’t normally get.

“To my mind, it was a trade-off for missing their senior year on television. Let’s give them a chance to go to Tokyo and play a game before 80,000 at Olympic stadium.”

USC is eligible to play in a bowl game next season, but is banned by the NCAA from appearing on national television during the regular season. It’s a delayed penalty stemming from USC’s original probation that was handed down in 1982.

The Oregon game may be a meaningful one for USC, and also some other conference teams. The outcome of the Tokyo game could also determine what bowl bids are available to other Pac-10 teams.

UCLA played Oregon State in the Mirage Bowl in 1980, but that game didn’t have much significance. The Bruins were one of five conference teams ineligible for bowl competition because of Pac-10 sanctions. The Beavers rarely figure, anyway.

Tollner said that he has become more involved in scheduling, adding that he supplies some input while Athletic Director Mike McGee does most of the work.

USC has scheduled a home-and-home series with Boston College in 1987 and 1988, and Tollner says he wants to schedule more intersectional games games against prestigious schools.

“My feeling is to schedule schools with a chance to get a national TV game and not worry about whether they can beat us or not,” Tollner said. “I’d rather play people we can get excited about, scheduling the Ohio States, or whoever it may be. I like that approach.”

In what is believed to be the first poll for the 1985 Pac-10 season, the conference’s sports information directors picked USC to repeat as champion.

USC got five first-place votes and 91 points, followed by Washington with 3 and 80, UCLA with 0 and 75, Washington State with 0 and 70, Arizona State with 2 and 62, Arizona with 0 and 58, Oregon with 0 and 44, Stanford with 0 and 31, California with 0 and 24, and Oregon State with 0 and 15.

USC ended spring practice Monday, and Tollner was generally pleased with the session, although several projected starters couldn’t participate because of injuries.

“From a team development standpoint, we had a hard time developing a starting offensive or defensive unit, especially defense, because so many people were missing that will line up against Illinois in the opener next fall,” he said.

“We had to go into spring saying, ‘We don’t care if our units aren’t solidified. But we do care if we are making individual progress whether it be a starter, or a potential backup that we may need.’ That was our whole approach--to work on technique and fundamentals and worry about the unit package in the fall.

Tollner said that he went into spring practice with three priorities:

--Replacing his perimeter defense, cornerbacks and outside linebackers, All-Americans Jack Del Rio and Duane Bickett.

--Finding a replacement for placekicker Steve Jordan, who holds virtually every school record.

--Stabilizing the quarterback situation, since veteran Sean Salisbury, the projected starter, was coming back from knee surgery.

Tollner said that converted safeties Matt Johnson and Lou Brock Jr. have emerged as likely starting cornerbacks, and his outside linebackers, Marcus Cotton, Greg Coauette and Ron Brown aren’t experienced, but are fast.

Don Shafer, a junior, is the new placekicker.