THE CITRUS BOWL : AUBURN 16, USC 7 : Auburn’s Bruce, With Trojan Help, Makes It Long Day for Peete

USC has long made its football reputation off its running backs. But this season the offense has become more quarterback-oriented.

But wouldn’t you know it. Thursday, in Ted Tollner’s final game game as USC coach, it was the running back that helped to shape the outcome, a 16-7 Florida Citrus Bowl win for Auburn.

But, just so this won’t seem too simple, it had nothing to do with student body right or left, or in this case, student body missing. This time, the running game wasn’t forgotten but instead was forgetting to block.

Aundray Bruce, Auburn’s excellent linebacker who not coincidentally was named the game’s most valuable player, just had too easy a time getting to quarterback Rodney Peete. Bruce was credited with three (really four) sacks and forced a fumble that turned the game in Auburn’s favor for good.

In the second quarter with the score tied, 7-7, USC recovered a fumble on the Auburn 41. Hoping for a quick score, Peete set up for a long pass when Bruce hit him with all he had. Peete fumbled, Auburn recovered, and six plays later the Tigers had what turned out to be an insurmountable lead, 14-7.

“He (Peete) rolled away from me and they neglected me,” Bruce said. “There was no one to block me and I had an open shot. I tried to make him fumble the ball and he did.”

Part of the problem for USC was the absence of starting fullback Todd Steele, who injured his knee during practice last week. Leroy Holt replaced Steele.

“With their starting fullback out, we knew we had an advantage,” Bruce said. “I was really neglected a couple of times. There was just no one blocking me. . . . He (Peete) was aware of me. I was trying to take something out of him because he was reluctant. He was looking instead of reacting.”

Peete wasn’t prone to argue. “He (Bruce) is a great football player. We had trouble blocking him all day. He was in my face a lot and made me hurry my throws.”

Bruce had only six sacks the entire season (seven in his career) going into Thursday’s game. But, strange as it sounds, he had a dream.

“Actually, I had a couple of dreams,” Bruce said upon prodding. “In my dream I had only three sacks. So, I guess I even surprised myself (with four sacks) today.”

The disputed sack was nothing more than a statistical aberration. Bruce tackled Peete for no gain, which according to the official pencil pushers, is only a tackle. Bruce also had four unassisted tackles and assisted on one other.

“I would rate this game as one of the best (I’ve ever played),” Bruce said. “I’ve had better games tackling but never this many sacks. . . . I didn’t have any trouble with the fullback. He was bearing down and bracing and I would charge hard and then just side step him.”

Interestingly, it was an Auburn running back who gave a USC-type grind-it-out performance.

Brent Fullwood carried the ball 28 times for 152 yards. He didn’t have a run longer than 11 yards.

Fullwood even earned some compliments from USC’s leading scorer, outside linebacker Marcus Cotton.

“He (Fullwood) is a good back and you expect that from him. (UCLA’s Gaston) Green is a good back but Fullwood is two or three steps faster and he also tries to run over you.”

Fullwood didn’t get started until late in the first quarter. With the exception of a short swing pass, Fullwood was uninvolved in the offense on the first two Auburn series.

Auburn Coach Pat Dye, when questioned about this strategy, said: “Don’t worry, we normally know where he’s at and what he’s doing.

Well, not always.

Fullwood, the latest in a line of impressive Auburn running backs, was the center of some controversy in recent weeks when it was disclosed that he hadn’t attended class all semester. He said he had the flu in October and his parents were in a serious car accident in November. However, Fullwood did not miss any practices or games. Dye said he was unaware of the situation.

Fullwood, who seemingly is aware of his situation, said he won’t graduate from Auburn but plans to transfer once he finds out which NFL team drafts him.

“It was something special for me to finish both my high school and college career in this stadium,” Fullwood said. He attended St. Cloud High School, about 20 miles from Orlando, and concluded an impressive high school career in an all-star game in Orlando Stadium.

The 152 yards not withstanding, Tollner was pleased with the way the Trojans stopped Fullwood.

“We felt we had to take the big play away from Brent and we did,” Tollner said. “That’s what had hurt other people. I couldn’t be happier with the way our defense played.”

But then again, it was that kind of day as USC got its offense from the defense. It was defense from the offense that was lacking.