USC Is Home to Stay, Starting Today in Game Against Washington St.

USC Coach Larry Smith said his team was physically and mentally drained after three consecutive weeks on the road.

The Trojans didn’t fare too well away from home, losing to Oregon and Notre Dame, and beating Washington.

But USC is home now for the rest of the season, starting with today’s game against Washington State at the Coliseum.

Then, the Trojans, 4-3 overall and 3-1 in the Pacific 10, will close out the regular season against Stanford, Arizona and UCLA. All they have to do is win them all and they’re in the Rose Bowl, providing that Arizona State (2-1) loses a game along the way.

It’s not that simple, of course, and Smith is even fretting about the Cougars (3-4, 1-2), who rebounded from one-sided losses to Stanford and Arizona State to upset Arizona last week at Pullman, Wash., 45-28.

The Trojans remember Pullman only too well. USC rolled in there last year with a 4-0 record and was soundly beaten, 34-14. It was Washington State’s first victory over USC in 29 years.

But the Cougars have a different coach now, Dennis Erickson, and a different offensive philosophy.

Washington State beat USC last year with its option game, compiling 309 yards on the ground and 510 yards of total offense.

Jim Walden, WSU’s innovative coach then, has moved on to Iowa State, and Erickson, a successful coach at Idaho and Wyoming, has an offense that emphasizes passing.

Reminded that WSU ripped USC by running last year and that Notre Dame did the same with 351 yards rushing last week while winning, 26-15, Erickson said:

“We’re a different football team than a year ago. Running the football up the middle against USC probably won’t be our plan. What we do best is throw the football and alternate the run in there.”

Quarterback Timm Rosenbach, a sophomore from Pullman High School, implements Air Erickson. He has completed 58.6% of his passes for 1,653 yards and 9 touchdowns. He also has had some bad throwing days, however, as evidenced by his 12 interceptions.

Rosenbach’s primary receiver is tailback Steve Broussard, a former sprinter from Manual Arts High School, which is in the USC neighborhood.

Broussard, who is called Brunswick because he is built like a bowling ball at 5 feet 7 inches and 205 pounds, has turned short passes into long gains.

He’s the Pac-10’s third-leading receiver with 36 catches for 453 yards and 3 touchdowns, one on a 79-yard pass play. He teamed with Rosenbach on a 42-yard score against Arizona and had an 81-yard touchdown nullified by a penalty in an earlier game against Michigan.

“People may look at my size and say, ‘He can’t run.’ Maybe they slack up or something,” Broussard said. “People underestimate how fast I really am.”

Broussard dislocated a shoulder against Arizona but still managed to play.

“He’s got some great explosiveness up the field, and he also knows where to go,” said Tim Lappano, WSU’s running back coach. “He makes a lot of people miss him.”

Broussard teams in the backfield with fullback Richard Calvin, from Santa Ana Valley High. Calvin is WSU’s leading rusher with 519 yards and a 4.6-yards-a-carry average. He quit school after his sophomore season in 1984 but returned last summer.

Washington State also has an accomplished linebacker in senior Brian Forde, a Canadian. But the Cougars have been soft defensively overall. They are allowing an average of 424.6 yards and 33.1 points a game.

Smith said he is concerned about WSU’s speed on offense and rated the Cougars on a par with Oregon. The Ducks beat USC, 34-27, at Eugene, Ore., Oct. 10, but Washington State is winless in its last eight road games and hasn’t beaten USC at the Coliseum since 1957.

That, incidentally, happened to be USC’s worst team, which finished with a 1-9 record.

Trojan Notes This will be only USC’s third home game of the season after the Trojans played five of the first seven on the road. . . . The Trojans still lead the Pacific 10 in total offense, averaging 442 yards a game. . . . Quarterback Rodney Peete, with 328 completions, needs 19 more to pass Sean Salisbury and become No. 1 on USC’s all-time list. Peete has yet to throw an incompletion in the second half of a home game. He was 8 for 8 against Boston College and 5 for 5 against Oregon State. . . . It could be coincidental, but whenever tailback Steven Webster gains 100 or more yards, the Trojans win. He didn’t play against Michigan State because of an ankle injury and was held under 100 yards by Oregon and Notre Dame--all losses.

There was competition in practice last week for some starting assignments, but Larry Smith didn’t make any startling changes. . . . USC split end Erik Affholter has come off the bench to become USC’s leading receiver with 27 catches for 396 yards and 3 touchdowns. He’ll start for the first time today. “He isn’t our fastest receiver, but he’s intelligent and finds a way to get open deep,” Smith said. “He has great concentration on the ball.” . . . Washington State Coach Dennis Erickson hasn’t experienced a losing season as a high school or college coach.

Arizona Coach Dick Tomey was so upset over his team’s loss to Washington State that he scheduled a full practice Sunday after last Saturday’s game. . . . Washington State has been outscored in the second quarter of games this year, 106-49. . . . USC has dominated the series with WSU, 39-5-4. . . . Cougar wide receiver Tim Stallworth is a cousin of John Stallworth, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ receiver, and WSU linebacker Maury Metcalf is a cousin of Terry Metcalf, the former St. Louis Cardinals running back.