USC Beats Stanford at Its Own Game--Passing Fancy : Peete Throws 5 Scoring Passes in 39-24 Win

In the past when USC beat Stanford it was usually done with a punishing running game, with the Cardinal supplying most of the passing.

Surprise!

USC was the more proficient passing team Saturday at the Coliseum, where quarterback Rodney Peete threw five touchdown passes in leading the Trojans to a 39-24 victory before a crowd of 58,922.

Peete’s big day took seven USC quarterbacks out of the school record book. They were previously tied with four touchdown passes each.

The Trojans needed what was, perhaps, Peete’s best game because the Cardinal wouldn’t quit. Stanford came back from a 28-6 halftime deficit to make a game of it and outscored USC, 18-11, in the second half, while constantly moving the ball against the Trojan defense.

Only some big defensive plays by the Trojans in the first half and a few in the second half kept the score from being closer.

USC defensive tackle Tim Ryan contributed in the first half and strong safety Cleveland Colter intercepted three passes for the game.

Peete burned the Stanford defense on most of his touchdown throws with play-action passes, faking to a running back, and finding his receivers in man-to- man coverage.

“Their safeties were aggressive and came right up to the line of scrimmage,” Peete said. “That left their defensive backs one-on-one with our receivers and I’ll take our receivers one-on-one with anyone in the country.”

Peete completed 17 of 20 passes for 273 yards and didn’t throw an interception. He was 10 of 11 in the first half and would have been perfect if flanker John Jackson hadn’t dropped Peete’s sideline pass.

But Jackson held every other ball, 5 for 83 yards, while teaming with Peete on three touchdown passes. The USC sophomore tied a single game record set by Shelton Diggs in 1976 and equaled by Kevin Williams in 1978.

So USC moved closer to a Rose Bowl showdown with UCLA. The Trojans are now 6-3 overall and 5-1 in the Pacific 10. UCLA remained unbeaten in the conference (6-0) by routing Oregon State, 52-17, Saturday at Corvallis, Ore.

UCLA can afford to lose to Washington next Saturday and still get a Rose Bowl bid by beating USC on Nov. 21. The Trojans, however, must beat Arizona here next Saturday to set up a climactic game with the Bruins.

Stanford’s pass defense was porous, but Coach Jack Elway’s team had plenty of offense, just not enough touchdowns.

Quarterback Brian Johnson, a redshirt freshman, completed 24 of 41 passes for 312 yards and 2 touchdowns. But three of his passes were intercepted by Colter.

Stanford, 3-6 overall and 2-4 in league, is obviously a better team than it was at the outset of the season when tailback Brad Muster was inactive with an ankle injury.

Muster had played only 11 quarters previous to Saturday, but he was a factor against USC. He rushed for 72 yards in 19 carries and caught 6 passes for 103 yards and a touchdown.

A big man at 6 foot 3 inches and 226 pounds, he has a deceptive gliding style of running.

“He’s much faster than I thought he’d be and it takes more than one guy to bring him down,” Colter said.

Muster didn’t figure in the game plan against USC last year at Palo Alto as the Trojans won, 10-0. He carried the ball only 8 times for 35 yards and caught 6 passes for 29 yards. He was used more extensively this time around.

Still, Muster and his teammates couldn’t offset Peete, who supplied most of the offense as Stanford did a creditable job of containing USC’s running game.

USC came into the game averaging 215.3 yards on the ground. The Cardinal restricted the Trojans to 144. USC had not won this season when tailback Steven Webster failed to gain 100 or more yards. Trash that statistic. Webster gained 83 yards in 21 carries.

“It was a hard fought victory and we dominated in the first half,” USC Coach Larry Smith said. “But what bothered me was when I looked at the stats. We had the ball for only 11 minutes in the first half and they had it for 19. Then, in the second half the same thing happened, and we couldn’t get their offense off the field.”

For the game, Stanford had the ball for 34 minutes 50 seconds compared to 25:10 for USC.

It seemed that it was a long shot for Stanford to catch USC, but the Cardinal had a chance after closing to 31-18 early in the fourth quarter.

Stanford then recovered the first of two onside kicks (Smith thought the Cardinal was offsides both times.) and had favorable field position at midfield.

Johnson then moved his team to a first down at the USC 27-yard line, where his pass intended for fullback Marshall Dillard was intercepted by by Colter.

“He (Johnson) telegraphed every pass he threw,” Colter said. “He would always looks at his receiver before throwing to him.”

Peete’s arm then became a decisive factor. He completed five passes on a 91-yard drive, the last one of 28 yards to flanker Randy Tanner for a touchdown to break the school record.

Stanford kept coming, though, and scored to make it 39-24, missing for the second time on a two-point conversion try.

After another successful onside kick, the Cardinal got to the USC seven-yard line where Johnson was sacked by outside linebacker Bill Stokes on fourth down.

It seemed that the game would be a rout in the first half when USC drove 88, 69, 71 and 28 yards to touchdowns.

Peete’s first touchdown pass to Jackson covered 28 yards. Said Jackson: “Their safeties were biting on the option and I got behind them.”

Peete’s next touchdown pass in the second quarter went to an unlikely receiver, fullback Leroy Holt. He caught Peete’s pass on the Stanford 20, bowled over cornerback Alan Grant and rumbled to the end zone to complete a 39-yard scoring play.

It was Peete to Jackson again later in the quarter, a 26-yard touchdown that the wide receiver caught on the Stanford six-yard line.

“He drilled it into me so I could catch it and I just juked the last guy,” Jackson said.

It soon became 28-6 after Stanford wide receiver Henry Green fumbled when hit by cornerback Chris Hale with Colter recovering the ball on the Cardinal 29.

On third down at the 25, Peete’s pass to split end Erik Affholter covered 18 yards and then Jackson caught a 7-yard pass pass from his quarterback for his third touchdown.

Jackson dropped two passes in scoring territory against Notre Dame Oct. 24 in a 26-15 loss and after his drop in the first quarter he went to the sideline where he was confronted by senior wide receiver Ken Henry.

“I was really down after the Notre Dame game and I was too anxious to play well today,” Jackson said. “I went to the sideline and Ken said, ‘You can make up your mind to suck it up, or have a bad game.’ ”

Jackson did the former.

It was Peete, a junior, though, who pulled the trigger.

Asked about the record, he said: “It feels good, but I don’t know if Craig Fertig (former USC quarterback and now an assistant athletic director) feels too good about it because he came up to me and told me I had broken his record (shared by six others).”

Peete usually had ample time to pass and he bought more time with his scrambling.

“It was really weird. It happens every now and then where you get that kind of feeling where you can see the whole field,” Peete said. “Today I saw the whole field. It seemed that the defense was moving in slow motion.”

Obviously, Peete wasn’t.

Trojan Notes

USC free safety Mark Carrier suffered a mild concussion, but the injury wasn’t regarded as serious. Stanford wide receiver Jeff James suffered a groin injury in the second quarter and didn’t play again. . . . With his 17 completions, Rodney Peete became the all-time career USC leader with 355. He surpassed the former record of 346 held by Sean Salisbury. . . . USC defensive tackle Tim Ryan made three big plays in the first half. He dropped tailback Brad Muster for a 4-yard loss when Stanford had a first down at the USC 37, then batted away away a third-down pass by Brian Johnson. Later, he dropped Muster for a one-yard loss at the USC 14, forcing a field goal. USC linebacker Michael Williams also had a big play in the second quarter. He sacked Johnson for a 12-yard loss on first down from the USC 24. And Stanford settled for a field goal. . . . The seven Trojan quarterbacks that had thrown four touchdown passes in a game were: Pete Beathard, Craig Fertig, Troy Winslow, Pat Haden, Vince Evans, Rob Hertel and Paul McDonald.