Trojan Defense Went Into the Tank, Smith Says

For weeks, USC Coach Larry Smith has been saying his football team might not be as good as everyone thought.

But nobody listened.

Not either of the news services, both of whom picked the Trojans to finish among the top five schools in the nation.

Not the national magazines, in which USC was picked anywhere from first to sixth in the country.

Not the odds makers, who made the Trojans a 14 1/2-point favorite over Illinois in Monday’s season opener.

Now Smith has their attention.

His premonitions of trouble proved to be more than a case of a coach trying to keep his team hyped up. USC, leading 13-0 through three quarters Monday night at the Coliseum, lost to Illinois, 14-13, on two fourth-quarter touchdown passes by quarterback Jeff George.

“Our defense went in the tank,” said Smith after reviewing the films. “We played well for 3 1/2 quarters and controlled their offense. We had a chance for three or four interceptions, a chance for maybe six sacks, but we didn’t get them.

“But once they scored on that tipped play (a pass from George went through the hands of linebacker Scott Ross to receiver Shawn Wax for a 53-yard touchdown play), it was like we crashed. We never recovered. Then on that last drive for the winning touchdown, we just did not put pressure on them.”

While the USC defense stumbled at the end, the offense never got out of the starting blocks, but Smith refused to point a finger at his redshirt freshman quarterback, Todd Marinovich.

“There was not a whole lot positive about our offense, but our quarterback graded over 90% on his performance,” Smith said. “(Fullback Leroy) Holt and (tailback Ricky) Ervins played pretty well. Other than that, there’s not a whole lot to shout about.

“I know that Illinois has a fine defense, but we didn’t even dent them. I was shocked and disappointed. They didn’t do anything different than we’ve seen, but man for man, they whipped us. There was no movement on our line, no sustainment of blocks, not very many creases to run through for the backs. And when they had them, the backs didn’t run well. They just basically stuffed our run.”

Part of the problem was Marinovich’s failure to balance the offense with deep throws. He didn’t go long until the final two plays.

“He was coached to take what the defense gives,” Smith said of his quarterback. “He was so geared into that. We are just going to have to say to him, ‘Hey, throw deep. The outside people will go catch it.’

“But because we were not controlling the line, the defense was causing us to hurry and go to the short stuff. We were calling the deeper stuff, but they were taking it away and forcing us to go underneath.”

Smith indicated there may well be changes in his starting lineup for the Trojans’ next game, Sept. 16 against Utah State.

His uneasiness with his team began with the two crushing injuries the club suffered in camp. At the end of the first week, starting nose guard Don Gibson went down with a knee injury that will keep him out at least another four weeks.

Then, last week in the final preseason scrimmage, starting quarterback Pat O’Hara suffered a season-ending knee injury.

“That all dulled us,” Smith said. “It had a mental effect on the team. You could see it in practice. You could see it off the field. You could tell them, ‘Hey, go for broke. Have fun on the football field,’ but it just wasn’t there.”

X-rays revealed no break in the dislocated right thumb of tailback Scott Lockwood. He suffered the injury returning a punt late in the first quarter and never got an opportunity to rush from scrimmage. Lockwood is expected to be out about three weeks.