USC Took Wrong Turn at the Crossroads : Loss to Arizona State Probably Cost Trojans a Shot at Rose Bowl

After USC had been beaten by Washington State, 34-14, Oct. 11, Coach Ted Tollner said his team was at the crossroads of the season, and he was eager to see how it would respond against Arizona State.

Tollner was generally pleased with his team’s response Saturday at the Coliseum, even though the Trojans lost, 29-20, and were virtually eliminated from the Rose Bowl race.

“I think the response of playing hard was there against Arizona State,” Tollner said Tuesday. “But just playing hard doesn’t guarantee wins because there are so many good teams in the conference.

“As for the crossroads part, I feel a lot better today than a week ago. There was a response of effort and total commitment, yet we came up short on the scoreboard.

“There is no such thing as moral victories, but if effort is there, you have a chance. We just have to cut down on the errors we made, though, if our opponents are going to go almost error free with the same caliber of athletes.”

Washington State and Arizona State didn’t have a turnover in beating USC. The Trojans had only two against ASU, along with some other mistakes, and they were costly.

It has been a strange season for the Trojans so far. They weren’t expected to get off to such a fast start, a 4-0 record with upset wins over Baylor and Washington. Nor were they expected to stumble against Washington State. Arizona State was regarded as a legitimate Pacific 10 title contender at the start of the season, so that loss isn’t necessarily surprising.

But USC, with a 4-2 record, 2-2 in the Pac-10, now must try to salvage its season. And the road ahead is treacherous.

USC will play Stanford Saturday at Palo Alto. The Trojans have routinely beaten the Cardinal, not having lost in the last 10 meetings. They have not lost in Palo Alto since 1970--to a Jim Plunkett-led Rose Bowl team.

But this is a different Cardinal team, one that is defensively sound. Stanford traditionally has had a productive offense based on passing, from John Brodie in the ‘50s through John Paye today.

Now Stanford, still a Rose Bowl contender with a 2-1 record, 5-1 overall, seemingly has a robust defense to complement its offense.

After Stanford, USC must play Arizona, still another conference title contender, in a game in Tucson Nov. 1. It’s that type of league this season.

USC’s chances of getting to the Rose Bowl with two conference losses are practically nil. Consider:

--USC would have to win its remaining conference games against Stanford, Arizona, California and UCLA to have even an outside chance.

--In that event, Arizona State (3-0-1) would have to lose two of its remaining three conference games, against Washington, Cal and Arizona.

--Washington (2-1) and Washington State (2-1-1) each would have to lose one of its five remaining league games.

Tie games don’t figure into this assessment. It’s obvious that USC is on the brink of elimination from the Rose Bowl picture.

“These guys are the same guys who won four in a row and now have lost two games,” Tollner said. “We can easily get right back on track and win. I don’t think we have the caliber player that will give up on himself. There are too many quality individuals. They have to stay focused and believe in themselves when others around them may not.

“I think the panic and overemphasized negatives can (make you) lose the confidence you have. But we’re not going to do that. We’ll try to get the same effort (against Stanford) we had against Arizona State. But we have to analyze where we broke down.”

Tollner said that his team’s errors are magnified when the opposition is playing error-free football.

Tailback Aaron Emanuel’s fumble at the USC 26-yard line with his team trailing in the fourth quarter, 22-20, was the most significant because of the timing.

But Tollner pointed out that Arizona State probably wouldn’t have scored on third and seven from the USC nine-yard line if two of his players--he didn’t identify them--hadn’t blown their pass coverage.

“That was as significant as Aaron’s fumble because it put the game out of reach,” he said.

With so many teams still in contention for the title, Tollner said he isn’t surprised when one team beats another.

It’s evident, though, that USC can’t afford many more losses, or its season will slip away as fast as the turnovers.

Trojan Notes Saturday’s game in Palo Alto will be televised by Channel 2 starting at 12:40 p.m. . . . This is Stanford’s best start since its Rose Bowl season of 1971. Stanford’s defense is allowing an average of only 13 points a game, best in the Pac-10 and No. 9 nationally. The Cardinal has made 19 sacks compared to only 17 sacks for the entire 1985 season, and has intercepted 14 passes in contrast to 13 last season. Stanford is also tied for first nationally in turnover margin, having taken the ball away 24 times while giving it up only 10 times. . . . In keeping with tradition, Stanford has an effective quarterback, John Paye, who has completed 59.7% of his passes for 1,369 yards and 10 touchdowns, while throwing 6 interceptions. Coach Jack Elway also has a multipurpose back in fullback Brad Muster, who leads his team in rushing with 478 yards, a 4.2 average, and receiving with 37 catches for 369 yards. Tollner said that Paye has done an “unbelievable job” of completing passes with defenders in his face.

USC has several banged-up players who may miss some practice time but are expected to play Saturday. Included are defensive tackle Deryl Henderson, quarterback Rodney Peete, tight end Paul Green and outside linebacker Marcus Cotton. . . . Split end Ken Henry, who has caught 31 passes for a conference-leading 594 yards, has sore ribs. He plays wearing a flak jacket. Peete has a bruised back that has bothered him since the Baylor game. “Rodney is one of those rare, intelligent athletes who responds to pressure, and he was hurt early against Arizona State, but there was no way he was going to come out of that game,” Tollner said. “He was hurting bad, but he mentally blocked it out. He just overcame all the pain he had on that 10-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.” . . . Peete had a career-high 19 completions against Arizona State for 226 yards. This season, Peete has gained 125 yards as a runner, while scoring 2 touchdowns. . . . Tollner said that his young defensive linemen played considerably better against Arizona State than they had against Washington State. Tim Ryan was particularly effective. He was in on 16 tackles.