USC Faces the Other Troy: Cal Quarterback Taylor

Outside of Berkeley, he is probably referred to as the other Troy. California’s Troy Taylor just isn’t as prominent as UCLA’s Troy Aikman.

Aikman is a Heisman Trophy candidate on a team that was ranked No. 1 for 2 weeks. Taylor is the quarterback of a team with a modest 5-3 record.

Still, in a conference that has such outstanding quarterbacks as Aikman, USC’s Rodney Peete and Washington State’s Timm Rosenbach, Taylor compares favorably.

He has thrown at least 1 touchdown pass in each of the last 17 games, has completed 61.5% of his passes this season for 1,903 yards and 13 touchdowns and has given up 12 interceptions.

Unlike Aikman and Peete, though, Taylor doesn’t benefit from a balanced offense. The Bears’ running game has been ineffective, averaging only 142 yards a game. So it isn’t surprising that Taylor has been sacked 26 times.

“You don’t get quite as good a pass rush when a team has a good running game because the defense has to read the run first,” Taylor said. “When your running game isn’t super effective, teams tend to pass-rush a little harder. Since we’re a passing team, we’re going to more or less live or die with the pass.”

Although Taylor, a 6-foot 4-inch, 185-pound junior, has been effective, he has also taken his lumps.

He has painful memories of playing against USC as a freshman in 1986, when he was knocked out of the game in the final minutes with a broken jaw.

“My first instinct was to get up as quickly as I could, even though I wasn’t thinking straight,” Taylor said. “My jaw was broken in two places and two of my teeth were separated.

“Bill Stokes (USC’s linebacker) got clear and made a clean hit on me right underneath my face mask. It was a nasty break.”

Last season, he broke the index finger on his passing hand on an Arizona State defensive player’s helmet in the ninth game of the season.

So far, he has managed to survive this season, although he said he was knocked unconscious in the fifth game against Washington State.

“I was trying to recover a ball, and somebody’s leg hammered me in the head,” Taylor said. “I didn’t know what I was doing and I was just playing on instinct. I went out for 2 series, but I came back in.”

And quarterback is a glamorous position?

Taylor is a cheerful, optimistic athlete, though, and he is looking forward to playing USC Saturday at the Coliseum.

He has a bond, in a way, with the Trojans since it’s no coincidence that his first name is Troy.

“My father grew up in L.A. and he was a big USC fan,” Taylor said. “So I was pretty much of a USC fan. I was brainwashed by my dad. I had everything connected with USC, a hat, shirt and pennants.”

The family later moved to Rancho Cordova, a suburb of Sacramento, and his allegiance changed.

“I was recruited by USC when Ted Tollner was the coach, but I was told that I was their second choice to Pat O’Hara (now Peete’s backup),” Taylor said. “I was also recruited very hard by Larry Smith when he was at Arizona. I came really close to going there because I liked Coach Smith a lot. Since he ended up leaving Arizona, it’s better that I didn’t.”

Smith confirmed that he tried to recruit Taylor, saying, “He’s one of the best quarterbacks in the Pac-10 and he could play for anyone.”

Although it is a cliche to say that a player is a student of the game, it applies to Taylor.

Instead of reading adventure books as a youngster, Taylor read technical books on football.

“I knew as a (future) quarterback that I had to be able to understand defenses,” Taylor said. “Starting with the fourth grade, I’d go to the library, or a book store, and read up on defenses. It worked out for me because I was way ahead of the game when I came to college.”

His knowledge of the game was also a factor in his becoming a starting quarterback as a freshman in 1986. “I expected to red-shirt as a freshman,” Taylor said. “I was on the scout team, running the opponents’ offense. But I watched film every week on our offense as if I was preparing myself to play. I think the coach took that into account.”

The coach at the time was Joe Kapp and he made Taylor his starting quarterback in the fifth game of the season against Oregon State. He had an auspicious debut, completing his first 6 passes, even though Cal lost, 14-12.

Later that season, against USC, he completed 19 of 27 passes for 239 yards without an interception before he broke his jaw.

Last season, Taylor threw 18 touchdown passes, breaking a school record shared by Craig Morton, Joe Roth and Rich Campbell.

He threw one pass, though, that he would rather forget. That was against USC. The Bears, trailing, 14-7, were on the USC 21-yard line in the third quarter when Taylor’s pass was intercepted by strong safety Cleveland Colter, who returned it 94 yards to a touchdown. It was the decisive play of the game as USC won, 31-14.

A sociology major, Taylor said that he doesn’t have much free time, considering that he spends as many as 7 hours a day practicing and studying football, when he isn’t in class.

He’s still upbeat about the season and said that Cal would be in line for a bowl bid if it wins its remaining games against USC, Washington and Stanford.

Taylor figures that a passing team always has a chance against any team.

Unrealistic? Hardly. Washington State has already proven that theory to UCLA.