Upsets: UCLA Takes Bosco, and USC Hoists Champaign : Trojan Defense Smashes Illini’s Big Hopes, 20-10

There is an ongoing pattern that the Big Ten’s best teams can’t handle the strong teams from the Pacific 10.

That evidence is based primarily on Rose Bowl games in which Pac-10 teams have won 10 of the last 11. For its part, USC has won 23 of its last 24 games against Big Ten teams, 16 straight since the 1974 Rose Bowl loss to Ohio State.

That domination was evident again here Saturday as USC beat Illinois, 20-10, at Memorial Stadium before a sellout crowd of 76,639.

The weather could be best described as a September sauna with the temperature at 90 degrees and the humidity almost matching it.

It was the opening game for both teams, a game that some people speculated might be a preview of the Jan. 1, 1986, Rose Bowl.

If so, Illinois must find a way to solve USC’s defense that frustrated quarterback Jack Trudeau. The Illini quarterback threw four interceptions and, except for a few big plays, was taken out of the game by the Trojan defense. Trudeau threw only 10 interceptions in the 1984 season.

David Williams, Illinois’ All-American wide receiver, who caught 101 passes in 1984, wasn’t as frustrated as Trudeau. He caught eight for 112 yards, one a 55-yard play that preceded a field goal. But he didn’t catch his first pass until midway through the second quarter.

USC Coach Ted Tollner said that his team won the battle of turnovers, six by the Illini and two by the Trojans, and that statistic is significant.

But USC was also apparently more physical than Illinois, moving effectively on the ground even though it squandered some scoring opportunities.

USC led, 17-0, at halftime and then held off Illinois the rest of the way. It was the fewest points Illinois has scored since its 45-9 embarrassment by UCLA in the 1984 Rose Bowl.

It didn’t come as any surprise that USC could move on the ground. Tailbacks Fred Crutcher and Ryan Knight, who gained 83 and 89 yards, respectively, are operating behind a big, experienced line.

But USC isn’t a one-dimensional team, as it was last year.

Quarterback Sean Salisbury, a fifth-year senior who went down with a knee injury in the second game in 1984, kept Illinois off balance with his timely passes.

Salisbury completed 10 of 15 for 164 yards, didn’t throw an interception and teamed with wide receivers Hank Norman and Randy Tanner on scoring pass plays of 3 and 46 yards.

Illinois’ offense is primarily based on its ball-control passing game. USC mixed up its coverages, causing Trudeau to be hesitant at times. He completed 21 of 37 passes for 310 yards but, with the exception of two bombs, he couldn’t sustain many drives by throwing.

The Trojans also stuffed the Illini running game, forcing Trudeau to throw often. Illinois had only 10 net yards on the ground, and fullback Thomas Rooks, who gained 1,056 yards last year, averaged only 1.7 yards in nine carries.

USC came into the game ranked fifth and sixth, respectively, in the United Press International and Associated Press polls. The Trojans might move up next week after their mild upset--they were a four-point underdog--over a team with national championship aspirations.

“We hoped to control the ball by running and make some big plays with the pass,” Tollner said, “and we felt we created some of those turnovers.”

A turnover preceded all of USC’S 20 points. In order:

--USC defensive tackle Matt Koart was in Trudeau’s face in the first quarter when the quarterback overthrew a receiver. Cornerback Matt Johnson intercepted the pass and returned it eight yards to the Illinois 15-yard line.

“I just played the defense we were in but I don’t think he (Trudeau) expected me to be where I was,” Johnson said.

Three plays later, Salisbury rolled to his right and threw a three-yard touchdown pass to Norman.

--On Illinois’ next possession, Illinois fullback Keith Jones lost a fumble to Koart at the Illini 46-yard line.

Salisbury then lofted a pass to Tanner, who slipped while the ball was in the air. He regained his balance, took the ball away from defensive back Ed White on the 11 and scored.

“Their cornerback had come up on a previous pass and he bit again,” Salisbury said. “So we just called an out-and-up.”

--USC made it 17-0 at halftime on Don Shafer’s 46-yard field goal after Junior Thurman intercepted Trudeau. Thurman fumbled, but a blocking-below-the-waist penalty on the return against Illinois enabled USC to retain possession.

--The Trojans had to settle for a field goal in the second half. Shafer was accurate from 23 yards after Thurman, brother of former USC All-American defensive back Dennis Thurman, picked off another Trudeau pass and carried it 12 yards to the Illinois 17.

Illinois was shut out in the first half after a 69-yard drive stalled at the USC one-yard line with time running out. Trudeau rolled out on fourth down and then threw a soft pass into the end zone that was nowhere near his intended receiver.

A rout was imminent in the third quarter when Salisbury teamed with Tanner on a 48-yard pass play, taking USC to the Illini 16-yard line.

Fullback Kennedy Pola gained four yards, and on second down, Tollner sent redshirt freshman tailback Steve Webster into the game.

A promising runner in practice, Webster fumbled to Illinois at the 12, and Mike White’s team was back in the game.

From his own 17, Trudeau threw a strike to tight end Cap Boso, who caught the ball on the Illinois 40-yard line and went all the way to score on an 83-yard play. Louis Brock, USC’s new cornerback, tried to intercept the pass, but he missed the ball. He said later that he couldn’t jump because his legs cramped on him in the heat.

Boso kept going, and USC safeties Jerome Tyler and Tim McDonald both bounced off the tight end at USC’s 13-yard line while attempting to bring him down.

Tollner was asked why Webster, playing in his first game, was inserted into the lineup in that situation.

“The play that was called was 28 gap, and he has been running the play tremendously in practice,” Tollner said. “Somewhere along the line, you have to give him a chance and you have to accept the results.”

The quick turnaround, Webster’s fumble and Trudeau’s bomb, could have provided a lift for the Illini.

But they couldn’t come any closer than a 28-yard field goal, 20-10, by Chris White early in the fourth quarter.

Trudeau threw his fourth interception, this one picked off by Brock, later in the quarter, and the game ended with Salisbury falling on the ball at the Illinois 16 as USC didn’t even attempt to score.

USC kept Trudeau off balance by using five defensive backs in a nickel scheme in which Thurman, the fifth back, became a safety and McDonald moved closer to the line to try to contain David Williams.

“Trudeau likes to throw timing patterns, and we wanted him to hold onto the ball for just a little longer with the nickel package,” Tollner said. “So we were able to get some late sacks by a delayed rush.”

McDonald said that he was tracking Williams at times. “They like to play a basketball game with passes to him over the middle, and we wanted them to throw to the outside, where in films, they haven’t been that effective,” McDonald said.

Tollner wasn’t quite sure how his new cornerbacks and outside linebackers would hold up against a sophisticated passing team such as Illinois’.

But, for the most part, the newcomers held up, and Tollner said that his team’s defensive effort overall was “magnificent.”

USC inside linebacker Sam Anno had 12 tackles, while outside linebacker Ron Brown sacked Trudeau twice. Nose guard Tony Colorito was always around the ball.

So the Trojans got off to an auspicious start in their quest to defend their Pacific 10 championship and return to the Rose Bowl.

They’ll remain unbeaten next Saturday with an open date, resuming the schedule Sept. 21 with a night game against Baylor at the Coliseum.