A Simple Snap and a Wave End Big Ten Jinx : Michigan State Beats USC and Pac-10, 20-17

Michigan State quarterback Bobby McAllister made the play of the day in the 74th Rose Bowl game Friday, and USC center John Katnik blamed himself for a faulty snap that prevented his team from scoring a possible comeback victory in the closing minutes.

Those were the key plays as Michigan State redeemed lost prestige for the Big Ten Conference by beating USC, 20-17, before a crowd of 103,847.

The Pacific 10 had been dominating the series, winning the last six Rose Bowl games and 16 of the past 18.

But the Spartans, who hadn’t appeared in Pasadena for 22 years since they lost to UCLA, 14-12, not only beat the Trojans, they did it for the second time this season.

Michigan State defeated USC, 27-13, in a season-opening game Sept. 7 at East Lansing, Mich. The second meeting was more competitive, but the result was the same.

The Trojans were error-prone in the first half with interceptions and dropped passes and trailed, 14-3, at halftime.

But USC came back on two touchdown pass plays from quarterback Rodney Peete to split end Ken Henry, and the game was tied, 17-17, midway through the fourth quarter.

A few minutes later, McAllister, an agile quarterback who is similar to Peete in style, made the play of the game.

McAllister, under heavy pressure from the USC defense, started to go to his left, then swung right to the sideline on third-and-eight from his own 30-yard line. He spotted split end Andre Rison coming back and waved him downfield

Just when it seemed that McAllister was going to go out of bounds, he leaped into the air and hurled a pass to Rison, who found a seam between USC’s safeties, Cleveland Colter and Mark Carrier.

Rison, who had earlier set up a touchdown on a 55-yard bomb from McAllister, caught the ball at the USC 34-yard line for a 36-yard gain.

Six plays later, Michigan State kicker John Langeloh kicked a 36-yard field goal, enabling his team to regain the lead, 20-17.

There were still 4 minutes 14 seconds remaining when Langeloh made his kick, plenty of time for the Trojans to retaliate.

Peete, who had a shaky first half along with his receivers, who had dropped five passes, then took charge.

He completed some short passes, made a key 23-yard scramble on third down as USC reached the Michigan State 30-yard line--second down and two for a first down--with 1:37 left.

Then, the normally reliable Katnik, a senior, didn’t get the center snap into Peete’s hands. The ball squirted off Peete’s shin, rolling downfield, where it was recovered by Michigan State free safety Todd Krumm.

The Trojans did get the ball again at their own 25, but with only 31 seconds left and no timeouts remaining.

Peete then began to hurl some desperation passes but wasn’t successful. Peete’s last long, arching throw was intercepted by strong safety John Miller at the Spartan 13-yard line--and that was the game. USC’s players had conceded that McAllister, a junior, made the big plays to beat the Trojans in the first game, mainly by running.

This time he did it with his arm, making the biggest play of all while being pinched into the sideline.

When McAllister was apparently in trouble, Rison came back toward his quarterback.

“I waved him (Rison) downfield,” McAllister said. “I jumped in the air to give him more time. I knew he could beat anyone one-on-one.”

Still, there was ample time for USC to win until Katnik couldn’t make a connection with Peete on a snap.

“The whole thing was my fault,” Katnik said. “Before that play, I was feeling pretty good about my performance. That one play destroys my whole day and my whole outlook on my performance.

“The ball just slipped out of my hands. It wasn’t a clean exchange. It may have been caused because my hand was a little wet--and maybe it wasn’t. I saw it (the ball) bouncing down near the goal line and I went after it like a mad man but didn’t get it.”

Peete wouldn’t let Katnik shoulder the blame by himself.

“You can’t blame just one person,” he said. “The snap was low, but I really didn’t get my hands down either. That’s too bad it had to come down to that one play.”

USC Coach Larry Smith also assumed the blame.

“The first thing you want to do when you come to coach a team is to get down the basic fundamentals,” he said. “There’s nothing more fundamental than the snap from center. I guess it’s just one of those things that happen. It happened and it took away our last chance.”

Peete threw three interceptions, the last a desperation heave with time running out. But he completed 22 of 41 passes for 249 yards and 2 touchdowns.

McAllister, who operates in a run-oriented offense, completed only 4 of 7 passes, covering 128 yards--and at the propitious time.

Lorenzo White, an All-American tailback, is the workhorse of the Michigan State offense.

White gained 89 yards in the first half, 51 on a drive in the first quarter that provided Michigan State with a 7-3 lead.

But the Trojan defense shut him down in the second half. He gained only 24 yards in the last two quarters and wasn’t on the field at the end.

Michigan State Coach George Perles said he wanted some “fresh legs” in the game, those belonging to sophomore tailback Blake Ezor.

White said he was simply fatigued.

“Today’s game was the old adage, we just ran out of time,” Smith said. “I’d like to congratulate Michigan State, and it was a game that could have gone either way, right down to the end.

“We didn’t play well in the first half but our team played hard, and I’m proud of them, not for just this game, but for the whole season.”

The Trojans finished with an 8-4 record in Smith’s first season as USC’s coach. The Spartans improved their record to 9-2-1.

“This game had nothing to do with the Big Ten jinx,” Perles said. “Before the game, I said many times that if we lost, there would be no excuses except that we got beat by a better football team.”

It seemed that the Spartans were clearly the better team in the first half.

After USC’s Quin Rodriguez kicked a 34-yard field goal midway through the first quarter, Michigan State countered.

White, a change-of-pace runner with power, got most of the yards on a 76-yard drive, although McAllister kept the advance alive with a 17-yard scramble. White got the touchdown on a five-yard sweep.

Then, in the second quarter, Rison was matched with USC cornerback Chris Hale in single coverage, and McAllister fired a pass from his own 37-yard line. Hale covered Rison closely, but the split end still caught the ball at the USC eight-yard line, a 55-yard play.

White scored on second down from the three-yard line, exploding through a huge hole on the left side.

Rison beat Hale on a similar pattern in the first game, a 44-yard play that set up a touchdown from the one-yard line.

As for the Trojans, they were self-destructing. When the receivers weren’t dropping passes, Peete was overthrowing them and he also threw two interceptions, one when USC was threatening from the Michigan State 35-yard line.

Scott Lockwood, a freshman, was USC’s starting tailback, but he didn’t carry the ball in the first half. Ricky Ervins, his backup, another freshman, had the only carry for a tailback in the first half. Fullback Leroy Holt got the bulk of the work.

“That was by design,” Smith said. “Not because they were freshmen. We wanted to hit them with some quick plays from the fullback because their defense is designed to stop the I formation.”

The Trojans were a more focused team in the second half.

Peete, under considerable pressure, teamed with Henry on a 33-yard touchdown pass play with 5:26 gone in the third quarter. Henry went down the sideline and made a tough catch while being closely covered by cornerback Harlon Barnett.

The scoring drive covered 70 yards, and with Michigan State’s running game now being stifled, USC was on the move again.

A drive bogged down on fourth and three from the Michigan State 17-yard line, and Rodriguez came in to kick a field goal.

Kevin McLean, the backup quarterback and holder for kicks, juggled the snap and then tried to turn a bad play into a productive one. He threw a weak, fluttering pass that was intercepted by defensive end Joe Bergin.

But McLean would make up for this mistake in the fourth quarter with his team trailing, 17-10. USC lined up for another apparent field goal on fourth and four from the Michigan State 30-yard line. Erik Affholter, known as a long-distance kicker, was in for a 47-yard try, not Rodriguez.

Instead, McLean kept the ball himself, found a hole inside and gained eight yards.

Two plays later, Peete drilled a pass to Henry on a post pattern deep in the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown. Henry was just in bounds, with cornerback Derrick Reed covering him.

Henry was Peete’s primary receiver until he dislocated his right shoulder in the third game against California. But he was USC’s big-play receiver on New Year’s Day.

So, USC apparently had momentum after tying the game at 17-17 with 8 1/2 minutes remaining.

But McAllister changed the course of the game with his clutch pass, and Katnik, one of USC’s best offensive linemen, had a rare but costly lapse.

The Big Ten hadn’t won in the Rose Bowl since Michigan beat Washington, 23-6, in 1981. Before that, the Pac-10 had won six straight games from the Big 10 after USC lost to Ohio State, 42-21, in the 1974 game.

So the Big 10 is consistent. It is on a seven-year winning cycle.