Turnovers Help UCLA, USC Turn Up Victories on Road : Trojans Take the Ball Away From Arizona Five Times and Score a 20-13 Victory

Quarterback Rodney Peete supplied USC with just enough offense, and the defense was dominating as the Trojans jolted Arizona’s Rose Bowl hopes, 20-13, Saturday night at Arizona Stadium.

“I thought the game would be decided by a turnover-type situation, and although both teams got turnovers, we benefited from the best field position,” USC Coach Ted Tollner said.

USC led, 7-6, at halftime but increased its lead to 20-6 by recovering three fumbles in the third quarter before Arizona scored midway through the final quarter.

Then, the Trojans went on a vintage, ball-control drive to use up time and prevent the Wildcats from making a late comeback.

By winning, USC improved its overall record to 6-2 and 4-2 in the Pacific 10. Arizona dropped to 6-2 and 3-2.

It’s doubtful that any team with two losses will represent the conference in the Rose Bowl. So scratch Arizona as a contender.

Arizona State, by beating Washington, has the clear inside track to Pasadena. The Sun Devils are unbeaten in conference competition with a 4-0-1 record and two Pac-10 games remaining, against California and Arizona.

USC hasn’t benefited from opponents’ turnovers very often this season, but Arizona obliged with five--four fumbles and an interception thrown by quarterback Alfred Jenkins.

The Trojans fumbled six times but lost only two, and Peete threw one interception.

It was homecoming for Arizona, and homecoming for Peete. He played for Sahuaro High School in Tucson in his sophomore and junior seasons before moving to Kansas.

He made some big plays, including scoring passes of 2 and 43 yards to tight end Scott Galbraith and split end Ken Henry, respectively.

Peete completed 14 of 23 passes for 179 yards. Jenkins, a senior from Lynwood High School, had a dreadful evening. He completed only 5 of 13 passes for 57 yards and was stripped off the ball to set up a USC field goal in the third quarter.

He was replaced by seldom-seen senior Andy Crouch in the fourth quarter.

“I was looking forward to this game for a long time,” Peete said. “It was a very special game for me. I just wanted to concentrate and play well.”

He did, along with USC’s defense, which is on a roll. The Trojans, who shut out Stanford, 10-0, last week, limited Arizona to 253 total yards.

Arizona came into the game as the Pac-10 leader in total offense with an average of 413 yards. But cornerback Greg Coauette, linebackers Rex Moore, Keith Davis and Ron Brown, strong safety Tim McDonald and a young defensive line did a number on the Wildcats most of the game.

The Trojans have only an outside chance of playing in the Rose Bowl, but they enhanced their position to earn another bowl bid.

USC has won only 2 of 7 games against Arizona State, but the Trojans seem to handle the Wildcats, improving to 12-1 in the series.

A crowd of 55,046 watched a defensive struggle--as Tollner predicted it would be.

The Trojans pulled away from the Wildcats in the second half, and here’s how they did it:

--Coauette stripped the ball from Jenkins, and Ron Brown made the recovery at the Arizona 43-yard line. Peete drove the Trojans into position for Shafer’s 30-yard field goal.

--Later in the quarter, USC needed only two plays to score from its own 48-yard line. Ryan Knight had replaced tailback Aaron Emanuel, who left the game with a sprained right toe. Knight gained 9 yards, and Peete lofted a pass to Henry, who beat free safety Eugene Hardy. He caught the ball at the five-yard line and carried it in.

“Their defensive back was challenging Ken and he ran right by him,” Peete said. “It was a streak pattern down the sideline, and we caught them in a man-to-man defense.

Peete’s touchdown pass to Henry provided USC with a 17-6 lead with 1:22 left in the third quarter.

--The Trojans made it 20-6 on Shafer’s 23-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. Tailback David Adams, who supplied most of Arizona’s offense with 105 yards rushing, fumbled to USC nose guard Dan Owens at the Wildcat 39-yard line.

The field goal advance had apparently stalled when Chris Sperle was forced to punt on fourth down from the Arizona 41-yard line.

Arizona has a reputation as a punt-blocking team, and the Wildcats went after Sperle--and got him. It was a roughing-the-kicker penalty, the second on Sperle in the game.

The USC punter limped off the field, but his ankle injury isn’t considered serious. In any event, given life, USC was able to sustain the drive to a field goal.

USC provided Arizona with a scoring opportunity when Peete fumbled a snap from center, and the Wildcats recovered the ball at the Trojan 24. They got a touchdown in six plays, with Adams scoring after taking a pitchout from Crouch on an option play.

With 6 1/2 minutes remaining, there was still time for the Wildcats to atone for their errors.

But they didn’t see the ball for a while. Knight and fullback Todd Steele punched out short yardage, and Peete found Knight with a six-yard first-down pass under pressure.

The Trojans drove to the Wildcats’ 28-yard line, where Shafer missed a 46-yard field goal try. No matter. There was only 1:28 left in the game when Arizona finally got the ball again.

The Wildcats didn’t have it for long, though, as Coauette hit fullback Charles Webb so hard after he caught a pass that he fumbled to USC safety Cleveland Colter.

“They had a lot of turnovers, but we forced a lot, too,” Tollner said.

Defense wasn’t the theme at the outset of the game. The Trojans marched 81 yards to a touchdown on their first possession with Peete throwing some hard, accurate passes and Emanuel making some timely runs.

Galbraith caught Peete’s short scoring pass after the quarterback rolled out to his left. Peete scrambled quite a bit on a mild evening in which a short rainstorm drenched spectators and players alike with five minutes remaining in the first half.

“I think he had a tremendous game,” Tollner said of Peete. “He was making a lot of five- and six-yard plays (mainly passes) to keep our drives alive.

The Trojans missed an opportunity to build on their 7-0 lead in the first quarter when flanker Randy Tanner fumbled a punt to the Wildcats at his own 48-yard line. He fumbled three in the game but lost only one.

Arizona closed to 7-3 on a 32-yard field goal by Gary Coston. He added a 39-yard filed goal in the second quarter.

Once again, a big defensive play saved the Trojans in the second quarter when Arizona was threatening from the USC four-yard line.

Jenkins lobbed a pass intended for Webb, but McDonald was virtually sitting on the ball. He picked it off at the goal line and went 47 yards upfield before Jenkins made a touchdown-saving tackle.

The Trojans barely missed another touchdown in the second quarter when Peete’s second-down bomb to Tanner was just a tad underthrown at the Arizona nine-yard line. No one was near the flanker.

‘I had to rush my throw and I just missed it,” Peete said.

He was also assessed an intentional-grounding penalty that backed USC up to its own one-yard line in the first half. But his errors were minimal compared to the drives he kept alive.