USC Goes for Two and Pulls One Out, 18-17 : Marinovich Fuels 91-Yard Drive in Last 3 1/2 Minutes, Passes for Conversion to Beat WSU

USC has had many historic scoring drives in its 100 years of college football. Another one made the all-time list Saturday at Martin Stadium.

Todd Marinovich, a redshirt freshman quarterback, led USC on a 91-yard surge in the final 3 1/2 minutes, and the Trojans beat Washington State, 18-17, before 38,434 fans on an overcast afternoon.

Marinovich completed two fourth-down passes to keep the drive alive and with four seconds left threw a two-yard touchdown pass to Ricky Ervins in the left flat.

Now for an agonizing decision. Should the Trojans go for the almost automatic extra point to salvage a tie, or go for victory?

After calling time out, the first of the drive and the last that USC had, Coach Larry Smith chose to try for two points.

Marinovich floated a pass to flanker Gary Wellman deep in the end zone. Wellman was barely inbounds when he made the catch and then was mobbed by his teammates. “Intelligence-wise, we probably should have gone for a tie, because in our conference the championship is decided by the fewest loses (a tie counting as a half-game won and a half-game lost),” Smith said, “and we only play seven conference games.

“But it’s called the spirit of competition, and we went for it.”

Smith, near tears, said his decision was based both on emotion and momentum.

Smith said if the Trojans had scored with five minutes or more remaining, he wouldn’t have hesitated going for the one-point conversion.

It was the only sustained drive of the game for the Trojans, who nearly self-destructed earlier because of penalties, misjudged punts, a dropped pass and an interception, among other errors.

By winning the conference opener for both teams, USC improved to 3-1. Washington State (4-1) had been on a nine-game winning streak dating to last season.

“That was one great drive,” Smith said. “There were a lot of heroes out there. And we had a quarterback who was hot.”

Marinovich, who became USC’s starting quarterback when Pat O’Hara was injured nine days before the season-opening game against Illinois, turned into a veteran on the late drive, according to Wellman.

The 6-foot-4 quarterback from Capistrano Valley High School completed 11 of 17 passes on the final drive, including the two-point conversion pass to Wellman.

For the game, he was 27 of 41 for 268 yards. His 27 completions broke the school record of 25 set by Paul McDonald against Arizona in 1979.

“I can’t describe the feeling,” Marinovich said. “I had never done it before.”

Marinovich’s uncle, Craig Fertig, led USC on a similar drive to beat Notre Dame, 20-17, in 1964.

“I’m sure I’ll be hearing from Uncle Craig tonight,” Marinovich said, smiling.

Saturday’s 18-17 score recalled the 1975 Rose Bowl game, when Pat Haden led the Trojans to a late victory over Ohio State, throwing a touchdown pass to John McKay, the coach’s son, and then a two-point conversion pass to Shelton Diggs.

Marinovich worked out of a shotgun formation on the last drive, and the plays were signaled to him from the sideline.

Of the conversion pass to Wellman, Marinovich said, “I put a lot of air on the ball. I wanted to hold it (the ball) a little longer but I was under pressure, so I thought I’d throw it up to see what happened.”

What happened was that the 5-9 Wellman ran between two defenders, turned around and caught the ball.

“I looked down at my feet and I was only six inches inbounds,” he said. “It was a great feeling, and Todd played like a veteran.”

Wellman said Ervins was the primary receiver, but the defense converged on the tailback.

Washington’s State’s 17-10 lead, the result of touchdown passes from quarterback Aaron Garcia to wide receiver Tim Stallworth and tailback Steve Broussard, seemed safe when Rob Myers’ punt was downed on the USC nine-yard line.

The ball landed at the WSU 45-yard line, and USC strong safety Cleveland Colter watched it roll to the nine after mishandling the punt. It was an 81-yard punt.

There was 3:31 to play when Marinovich went to work. He had incompletions on three passes and then found Wellman for a 15-yard gain on fourth down.

Both Wellman and Marinovich said that the Cougar defenders were giving the USC receivers a cushion, backing off of them.

Marinovich faced still another fourth-down situation at his own 29, five yards to go for a first down.

The quarterback hooked up with split end John Jackson for a seven-yard gain.

“They were tired,” Marinovich said of the Washington State defensive players. “After a few completions, they were huffing and puffing.”

Marinovich completed two 16-yard passes, one to Joel Scott, a reserve wide receiver, and the other to fullback Leroy Holt on third down.

Then, Marinovich completed a seven-yard pass to Jackson before scrambling and throwing to Scott for 13 more yards.

With a first down at the WSU 12 and only 46 seconds left, Marinovich went to his tight end, Scott Galbraith, for a seven-yard gain to the five-yard line.

He threw a pass away under pressure, then, on second down, tossed a short pass to Ervins, who scrambled out of bounds at the WSU two-yard line, stopping the clock and providing USC with a first down.

The touchdown pass to Ervins followed.

Then came the timeout and Smith’s decision to go for the win, rather than a tie.

“Leroy Holt said in the huddle that one man can make a difference,” Jackson said, meaning that all of the Trojans had to play to their ability.

Jackson had a rewarding day, catching 11 passes for 102 yards and a touchdown. His 11 receptions tied a single-game school record held by Fred Hill in 1964 and Jeff Simmons in 1982.

Jackson said that USC’s stirring finish reminded him of the 1988 Pacific 10 Conference opening game against Stanford.

He caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Rodney Peete with 1:19 remaining to give the Trojans a 24-20 victory over the Cardinal. USC drove 80 yards to win that game.

As for Saturday’s game, the Trojans, two-time defending conference champions, had problems containing Washington State’s spread-out, one-back, four-receiver offense. Also, they were repatedly fooled on clever quarterback draw plays by Garcia.

The Cougars scored in the first quarter on a 77-yard pass play from Garcia, like Marinovich a redshirt freshman, to Stallworth.

USC free safety Mark Carrier lunged at Stallworth’s ankles at the 12-yard line, but the wide receiver kept on going for the touchdown.

The Trojans made it 7-3 in the second quarter on Quin Rodriguez’s 33-yard field goal. This was matched by Jason Hanson’s 23-yard field goal in the same quarter. USC earned a 10-10 tie at halftime when Ervins threw an eight-yard touchdown pass to Jackson. Ervins had thrown only one pass earlier in his USC career and that was an incompletion as a freshman. The 5-foot-8 tailback set up the touchdown with a 49-yard run when WSU’s blitzing linebackers breezed right by him as Ervins accelerated on a counter play.

Ervins had his third straight 100-yard-plus rushing day with 138 yards in 23 carries for a six-yard average.

The Cougars came back with another big play early in the third quarter.

Broussard was matched up on USC linebacker Scott Ross near the sideline and broke to the middle of the field to catch Garcia’s pass. Broussard caught it at the USC 26-yard-line and scored easily. The play covered 49 yards.

It seemed that the 17-10 lead would hold up and that the Cougars would once again upset USC in their home area know as the Palouse Country. Washington State upset USC, 34-14, here in 1986.

For sure, the Trojans were making enough mistakes to provide the Cougars with opportunities.

USC had four personal-foul penalties in the first half, including a roughing-the-kicker penalty. Jackson dropped a pass at the WSU five-yard line, and the Trojans settled for a field goal in the second quarter.

Marinovich threw an interception preceding WSU’s second touchdown. Then, in the third quarter, Marinovich’s 38-yard pass to Wellman that carried to the Cougar one-yard line was nullified by an illegal-motion penalty.

And Colter misjudged two punts, depriving USC of advantageous field position.

For Washington’s State’s positive-thinking coach, Mike Price, the loss was devastating.

“I thought we had them,” he said. “Did anyone else think they could go 80 yards (91), or whatever it was for a touchdown with three minutes to go?”

THE WINNING DRIVE

Down Ball on Time 1st USC 9 3:31 left 2nd USC 9 3rd USC 9 4th USC 9 3:06 left 1st USC 24 2nd USC 19 2:48 left 3rd USC 9 4th USC 29 1st USC 36 1st WSU 48 2nd WSU 48 1:31 left 3rd WSU 48 1:22 left 1st WSU 32 1:13 left 2nd WSU 25 1st WSU 12 0:46 left 2nd WSU 5 3rd WSU 5 0:14 left 1st WSU 2

Down Play 1st Marinovich pass for Scott Galbraith, incomplete. 2nd Marinovich pass for Gary Wellman incomplete. 3rd Marinovich overthrows Joel Scott. 4th Marinovich pass to Wellman for 15 yards. 1st Marinovich sacked for five-yard loss. 2nd Marinovich sacked for 10-yard loss. 3rd Marinovich pass to Scott for 20 yards. 4th Marinovich pass to John Jackson for seven yards. 1st Marinovich passes to Scott for 16 yards. 1st Marinovich pass for Scott incomplete. 2nd Marinovich pass for Jackson incomplete. 3rd Marinovich pass to Leroy Holt for 16 yards. 1st Marinovich pass to Jackson for seven yards. 2nd Marinovich pass to Scott for 13 yards. 1st Marinovich pass Galbraith for seven yards. 2nd Marinovich throws ball away. 3rd Marinovich pass to Ricky Ervins for three yards. 1st Marinovich pass to Ervins for touchdown with four seconds left.

Conversion attempt Marinovich passes to Wellman for two-point conversion.