Smith Is Wary of a Bear Trap at Berkeley : New Trojan Leader Got Caught While He Was Coaching Arizona

If there was one game that signaled the beginning of the end of Ted Tollner’s coaching tenure at USC, it was a 14-6 loss to California here in 1985.

Not only did the Trojans lose, they didn’t score a touchdown. It was also their second conference defeat of the season, virtually eliminating them from the Rose Bowl race.

The Trojans are almost always supposed to beat Cal--as they are again today--but even teams coached by John McKay and John Robinson have struggled in Strawberry Canyon. USC, 1-1 this season, has lost three of the last six games it has played here.

The Bears are reportedly banged up. Six starters didn’t finish last Saturday’s game against Minnesota.

Still, Larry Smith, USC’s new coach, is understandably wary. He was burned here when he was Arizona’s coach.

“In 1983, we came into Berkeley as the nation’s third-ranked team,” Smith said. “We had a 26-7 lead with three minutes left in the third quarter and we were lucky to come out with a 33-33 tie. That game is still a nightmare to me.”

Coaches often overstate their concerns, but Smith seems genuinely worried about Cal in the conference opener for both schools.

For the sake of argument, though, how can the Bears, who won only 2 of 11 games last season, have improved enough to threaten the Trojans?

For one thing, there has been a coaching change. The Joe Kapp experiment failed.

Kapp’s charisma and cheerleading didn’t compensate for his lack of coaching experience. And when he made an obscene gesture to reporters early last season, causing Cal’s administration considerable embarrassment, his departure was almost assured.

He has been replaced by Bruce Snyder, who was the running backs coach with the Rams from 1983 through 1986, a position he also held at USC in 1974 and 1975 before becoming Utah State’s head coach for seven seasons.

Those close to the Cal football program say that Snyder, an experienced coach, is more organized than Kapp and has instilled confidence in the team.

Cal, which opened with a 42-0 rout of UOP, is 1-2 but, with a little luck, it could be 3-0 or 2-0-1.

Two weeks ago, the Bears had seemingly beaten San Jose State, 25-24, in the final 27 seconds. When the Cal players prolonged their celebration in the end zone, officials hit them with a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.

So the Bears had to kick off from their 20-yard line. The coaching staff had previously ordered a squib kick and was unable to communicate a decision to kick the ball deep after the penalty.

The squib kick gave the Spartans good field position and they won the game on a field goal in the last second, 27-25.

Last Saturday, against Minnesota, Cal apparently tied the game at 25-25 on a two-point conversion with 1:53 left. It was ruled, however, that the Bears had not started the play in time to beat the 25-second clock, and the conversion was nullified.

Then, after an unsuccessful squib kick, a late touchdown run gave Minnesota a 32-23 victory.

The Bears suffer from a lack of depth but, according to Smith, they have some outstanding players at the skill positions.

The most notable is sophomore quarterback Troy Taylor, who is ranked fourth in the nation in passing efficiency. He has thrown seven touchdown passes in three games and, at his present pace, could break the school’s season record of 14 shared by three players.

“Taylor is a replica of Oregon’s Chris Miller,” said Smith, who tried to recruit Taylor while at Arizona. “He’s a good scrambler and an accurate passer. He’s a future superstar.”

The 6-foot 4-inch Taylor suffered a broken jaw late in the game at the Coliseum last year as USC won, 28-3.

Cal also has the Pac-10’s leading rusher in halfback Chris Richards, a former San Fernando High School star, who played at Oklahoma before transferring to Cal.

Snyder says his team doesn’t have overall speed, but he doesn’t include Richards in that assessment.

Richards has been playing on a sprained ankle. Even so, he has gained 361 yards, a 5.8 average.

The Bears lost their starting receivers, Vince Delgado and James Devers, with injuries before the season began. The replacements, notably slotback Brian Bedford, have taken up the slack. Bedford, who is listed as questionable with a shoulder injury, has caught 16 passes for 238 yards and 3 touchdowns.

Cal also has two valuable special teams players. Darrin Greer ranks fourth nationally in kickoff returns, averaging 38.2 yards, and punter Scott Tabor is eighth, averaging 44.8 yards. Linebackers Ken Harvey and Dave Ortega and nose guard Majett Whiteside are regarded as Cal’s big-play guys on defense.

Devers said the difference between Snyder and Kapp is that the team now has a definite plan. “We are now told how to win, instead of being told just to go out and win,” he said.

There is one holdover, though, from the Kapp regime. The team still chants, “The Bear will never die,” as Kapp was so fond of saying.

Trojan Notes A crowd of 55,000 is expected to be on hand for today’s 1 p.m. kickoff. . . . It will be homecoming for USC outside linebacker Marcus Cotton, who grew up in Oakland and was a star at Castlemont High School. USC cornerback Dwayne Garner is the younger brother of former Cal halfback Dwight Garner. . . . Cal was picked to finish eighth in the conference in a preseason Pac-10 skywriters’ poll. USC was picked fourth, and UCLA got the most votes for first place. The skywriters, though, haven’t correctly picked the conference winner since USC won in 1979. . . . The USC-Cal series began in 1915. USC holds a 46-24-4 advantage.

USC’s kickers, freshman Quin Rodriguez and junior Erik Affholter have yet to miss a field goal. Rodriguez is 4 for 4, Affholter 1 for 1. USC Coach Larry Smith is concerned, though, that Affholter’s kickoffs aren’t going deep enough. He also noted that the Trojans have not intercepted a pass in two games. . . . In losing to Michigan State, 27-13, and beating Boston College, 23-17, USC’s touchdowns all were scored on long pass plays. The Trojans have yet to score on a drive.