Against Notre Dame, Will Trojans Be Playing for Tollner’s Job?

There is pressure on the USC football team to rebound against Notre Dame Saturday at the Coliseum in an effort to ease some of the sting of the 45-25 loss to UCLA.

There might also be pressure on Coach Ted Tollner.

Will he keep his job if the Trojans lose to the Irish, then to Auburn in the Florida Citrus Bowl New Year’s Day to finish with a 7-5 record?

Or, will his job be secure, say, if USC wins, or splits the final two games of the season?

There was speculation at the start of the season that USC would have to finish with a regular-season record of 8-3 and get a bowl bid, for Tollner to keep his job.

But that’s merely conjecture and not carved in stone. The outcome of games with traditional rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, however, may be as significant in the final analysis of the season as the overall record.

Mike McGee, USC athletic director, said that Tollner, like other USC coaches, will be evaluated at the end of the season.

“I’ve been consistent throughout that any evaluation of all our staff comes at the same time,” McGee said. “Obviously, people jump at conclusions after a game (UCLA) like that, but that’s all it is. There is no evaluation under way now.

“Our only concern right now is the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Ted has shown the ability to have his teams rise to the occasion.”

Asked if he thought he had to win the final two games of the season or, at least, get a split for his own job security, Tollner said: “I don’t have any idea. I don’t make those decisions. I think it would be wrong. We have to win every time we line up.”

So how is a coach judged, on his overall season record, or on one, or two traditional games.

While compiling a 7-3 record, USC beat four top 20 teams: Baylor, Washington, Stanford and Arizona. But the Trojans were blown out in two of their three losses, 34-14 by Washington State and the waxing by UCLA, which was considerably more lopsided than the final score indicated.

Since becoming USC’s coach in 1983, Tollner has an overall record of 26-18-1. But he has only a combined 1-6 record against UCLA and Notre Dame. He has two more years left on his contract.

In elaborating on whether he and the team will be judged by the result of the last two, or three games of the season, Tollner said:

“You have to judge the overall season on, No. 1, the won-lost record, and how you finish. Take our team two years ago. We won nine games, but we lost two of our last three. Still, we did come back to beat Ohio State in the Rose Bowl.

“Basically, you have to take the whole season. But your last ballgame is the feeling you’re left with when the season is over.

“If the last game is a win and you had a poor won-lost record, you can rationalize by saying you’re building for the future. If you have a good record and the last game is a loss, that one sticks with you until you line up and play your first game the next season. We’re measured in a lot of ways here.”

In analyzing USC’s loss to UCLA, a game in which the Trojans trailed at halftime, 31-0, Tollner said:

“You try to evaluate why, and I don’t know if we have the specific answers. The things that we discussed with the team were that we were whipped at the line of scrimmage. It was probably the most difficulty our young (defensive) linemen had all season. We also didn’t tackle well in the secondary, or pursue at the right angles, and we didn’t tackle Gaston Green.”

Green set a USC opponent’s individual record by gaining 224 yards in 39 carries.

“He’s a great player,” Tollner said. “But we’ve played against great players and pursued the right angles to tackle them. There is no explanation other than they got it done and we didn’t.”

In musing about his defense, Tollner wondered how his team could yield only 16 points to three previous opponents, Stanford, Arizona and California, and then allow UCLA 31 points in one half.

The Trojans were just as remiss on offense.

“We didn’t have the ball very much. And we had five dropped passes, more in that game than we had all year,” Tollner said. “Why, I don’t know. Our practices all week were good. Their coverages weren’t confusing and there wasn’t any intimidation by their secondary.

“They hit so fast on big plays that we were in a state of shock, and we played like it as the scoreboard started to light up. We tried to regroup at halftime and, to some degree, we did. We out-scored them in the second half, but they weren’t important points because the game was over.”

“The only important thing about it is that we didn’t quit when we were at a point of being completely demolished.

“Fortunately, it wasn’t our last game. We have a chance to finish the regular season on a positive note and prove that we are a better football team than we were last Saturday.”

If USC was shocked by UCLA, how does Tollner get his team in the right mental frame of mind for Notre Dame, a 4-6 team but one that has played the most difficult schedule in the country, according to the NCAA?

“After anything as important as the UCLA game and you play as poorly as we played, you can’t instantly be OK,” he said. “You can’t be laughing and saying that everything is great. But if you don’t like it, you have a chance to do something about it.”

Trojan Notes Saturday’s game will be televised by Channel 2, starting at 12:40 p.m. A crowd of 75,000 is anticipated. . . . USC Coach Ted Tollner said that injuries suffered by outside linebacker Marcus Cotton and offensive tackle Dave Cadigan in the UCLA game weren’t as severe as he had thought Saturday. Cotton has a sprained ankle but may be able to play against Notre Dame. Cadigan has a bruised shin and is doubtful. . . . Tollner said that linebacker Rex Moore and quarterback Rodney Peete played commendably against UCLA. According to Tollner, Moore was forced to play more than his own gap on defense when USC’s linemen were getting knocked off the ball. Peete, who completed 18 of 38 passes for 199 yards and 2 touchdowns, had 5 of his passes dropped, 3 by John Jackson, usually a reliable receiver. Tollner said that Jackson was only semiconscious on one pass play, though, after having been hit in the head. The wide receiver and fullback Todd Steele suffered mild concussions but will play against Notre Dame. . . . Tollner said that tailback Aaron Emanuel could have played against UCLA but will be in better shape physically for Notre Dame. He has a sprained toe. . . . Five of Notre Dame’s six losses have been by a total of only 14 points. The Irish had opportunities to beat Michigan, Penn State and LSU, all top-ranked teams, in the closing minutes.