A Bit of Illinois Tradition Catches Up With USC : Third Williams Brother to Escape L.A. Comes Home and Helps Beat Trojans

Even though Steven Williams lives only 15 miles from the Coliseum, there was never any doubt that he would attend Illinois.

After all, his brothers Oliver and David also were wide receivers at Illinois. David was a two-time All-American and is one of the best players in the Canadian Football League.

Still it was homecoming for Steven, and he made the most of it Monday night at the Coliseum.

He caught the winning touchdown pass from quarterback Jeff George with 2 minutes 19 seconds left. It was a 20-yard throw and it was designed to fool USC’s senior cornerback Dwayne Garner.

“They (USC’s defensive backs) were playing in our hip pocket because we were throwing a lot of short passes,” Williams said. “Jeff made a pump fake and I was open.”

Williams said the pattern is called 91 stop-and-go, and that’s just what he did when he went past Garner.

Although Williams plays for a Big Ten team, he says he is a proud Californian.

Williams lives in Hawthorne and attended Serra High School in Gardena, where he earned all-state honors while catching nine touchdown passes as a senior.

“I went to a Catholic high school rather than a public school because I wanted to get a better education,” Williams said. “As for winning against USC, it will give us a lot of confidence.”

Williams said he wasn’t totally discouraged when his team trailed the Trojans, 13-0, in the fourth quarter.

“I just walked along the sideline and told everyone to keep their heads up,” he said. “I knew we’d get going.”

Williams stressed it was a team victory, but he added that he was thrilled because he was playing in front of friends and relatives.

He said there was never any doubt that he would go to Illinois, considering the tradition his brothers had established.

George, who threw two touchdown passes in the final six minutes, got Illinois into its hurry-up offense in its comeback.

His first scoring pass went to wide receiver Shawn Wax, a 53-yard play. The ball was tipped by USC linebacker Scott Ross, and Wax came up with the ball, then broke a tackle by USC strong safety Cleveland Colter, who was off balance.

“It was a designed play,” George said with tongue in cheek. “I knew that someone was going to tip the ball and Wax would come up with it.”

Split end Mike Bellamy was the intended receiver on the play, but Ross’ tip changed the direction of the ball.

Illinois Coach John Mackovic said his players told him the winning touchdown pass to Williams would work.

“We had been throwing underneath a lot and they began to come up on us,” he said. “Our quarterbacks and wide receivers told me that we were ready for that type of fake of a short pass.

“So Steven Williams ran a quick out and went down the the sidelines. It was certainly an exciting finish, especially for Steven playing in his home territory.”

Mackovic said he thought it would be a low-scoring game because of the dominating defenses of both teams.

“When we fell behind by 13 points in the third quarter, I told our offense that they’d have to have a heck of a fourth quarter because we needed two touchdown drives,” Mackovic said. “We went into our two-minute offense with 6:50 left and stayed in it the rest of the game.”

So the Big Ten is on a roll with consecutive Rose Bowl victories (Michigan State and Michigan) over USC, and now Illinois has beaten the Trojans, who were highly ranked in preseason polls and favored to win the Pacific 10 Conference championship again.

“I think we have a great conference. We don’t have to apologize for it,” Mackovic said. “The game we played tonight is the game we play eight weeks a year in the Big Ten. This was college football at its best.”

For Illinois, yes. The Trojans might not agree.