USC Defense Is in Desperate Need of Some Moore Attention : Season-Ending Injury to Anno Sends Trojans in Search of Leadership and Defensive Signal Caller

Rex Moore, USC’s junior inside linebacker, said he’s not going to dwell on it, nor is he going to dismiss Saturday’s 34-14 loss to Washington State. It was just a football game. Moore is more disturbed that his good friend, inside linebacker Sam Anno, is lost for the season.

Anno, a senior, had surgery Monday to repair torn ligaments in his left knee and his college career most likely has ended.

“That bothers me more than losing to Washington State,” Moore said Tuesday. “He’s not only a real good friend of mine, but he’s a big part of the team and has great leadership. We’re really going to miss him.”

As for filling the leadership gap, Moore said: “Around here, we have a saying that we try not to blink, and it’s time for someone else to move in and take up the slack. It may sound like a ruthless concept, but that’s the way the game is.”

Coach Ted Tollner calls Moore a fiery, dynamic player who leads by example. Now Moore will have to assume some of Anno’s leadership responsibilities and defensive signal-calling assignment.

Moore and the rest of the Trojans are contemplating the sober fact that they have come back to the rest of the pack of the Pacific 10 by losing to Washington State. They are 4-1 overall and 2-1 in conference. Another league loss would certainly diminish their chances of going to the Rose Bowl.

The next stretch isn’t an easy one, starting with Arizona State, the only unbeaten team in the conference at 2-0-1, Saturday at the Coliseum followed by games with Stanford and Arizona. Moore was credited with 24 tackles against the Cougars. It was a long day as Washington State had possession for 40 1/2 minutes.

“We’re facing a lot of adversity right now, but I think it’s important that we learn and grow from it instead of going into the tank,” Moore said. “That’s what winners do and losers dwell on it. I think we can use it in a positive way and give us energy and motivation against Arizona State.

“I think that (Washington State) was our last slip that we can afford. As for the game, you put it in your past, but you don’t forget the feelings you had afterward because it would be too easy to lose another one.”

Moore may have unintentionally given Washington State some added motivation when he was quoted in a Seattle paper as saying: “Everybody there thinks we’re Hollywood surfer weirdos. . . . That’s OK because we all think they’re rednecks.”

Moore said that a writer trapped him into that statement. “He said, ‘They think you’re this and that,’ and I said, ‘Well, we think they’re rednecks.’ It came out worse than I intended. I don’t want to fuel a team.”

Moore is also remembered for throwing mud in the face of Notre Dame tailback Allen Pinkett in a game here in 1984, and was accused by Oregon Coach Rich Brooks of a late hit on quarterback Chris Miller in last year’s Mirage Bowl game at Tokyo. It was a close play on the sideline.

Tollner said that Moore silently endured some cheap shots by Oregon players when the teams played in the Coliseum on Oct. 4.

Moore took the incident in stride, saying: “That kind of stuff is what losers do, although I don’t think Oregon is a loser. People think they can intimidate you that way. You intimidate someone between the snap of the ball and the whistle. It’s one of the biggest myths in football, thinking you can scare someone by talking to them, or hitting them after the whistle.”

Moore kept his sense of humor, though, and during the game went to the sideline and inquired of Brooks: “Do you think I was using good sportsmanship?”

Moore is careful now about what he says. Asked to comment on Washington State guard Mike Utley’s statement that Oregon State’s defensive players play with their hearts and USC defenders just play with their name, Moore smiled and said:

“I hope he’s a junior because I’m looking forward to playing Washington State next year.”

Utley is a sophomore.

Trojan Notes USC Coach Ted Tollner on the Pacific 10 race: “With the teams we have left, you have to realistically say that everyone is in it except California. No one said it would be easy. We’ll know whether we’re going to be in it in three weeks. I think seven teams are capable of winning it, and you can throw Washington State in there now.” . . . Tollner said that his team has hit a lull, extending through the last six quarters, the second half against Oregon and the WSU game. USC has had 10 turnovers during that period and, for the season, has lost 13 of 15 fumbles. . . . While giving full credit to Washington State, Tollner said that USC didn’t play as aggressively, or as efficiently, as it had in the first three games and part of a fourth.

A player can redshirt if he appears in only three of his team’s first five games. Linebacker Sam Anno missed the Oregon game, but he played against Washington State, his fourth game. . . . Wide receiver Ken Henry broke his nose against WSU and will wear a protective mask against Arizona State. . . . USC’s game with Stanford in Palo Alto Oct. 25 will start at 12:40 p.m. instead of 1:30 to accommodate CBS, which will televise the game. . . . USC has had some problems with option teams over the years, although when Tollner was an assistant coach, USC shut out Oklahoma, 12-0, in 1982. Tollner conceded, though, that USC has been vulnerable to the option, but added that the inside plays, not the option, helped beat his team in Pullman, Wash. “If you can force a team to the outside, then you can utilize your secondary and outside backers, which are the strength of this team,” he said, adding that his outside backers can’t rally to the inside because they have option responsibilities. “We were getting knocked backward more than any time I can remember. They not only spread us, but we weren’t swarming to the ball.” . . . Tollner said that USC’s young defensive line, composed of two freshmen and a sophomore, “showed their youth” against Washington State.