COLLEGE FOOTBALL REPORT : WEEKDAY UPDATE : USC : Trojans Will Be Careful With Kickoffs

Don’t expect any spectacular kickoff returns Saturday in the Coliseum by Penn State’s Gary Brown, who averaged a school-record 40.2 yards on five kickoff returns last week against Texas, including a 95-yard non-scoring return on the opening kick.

USC doesn’t plan to kick to him.

“I’m not going to put my head on the guillotine,” USC Coach Larry Smith said. “He’s good. He’s excellent.”

Although USC and Penn State are among the winningest teams in college football, they rarely recruit the same players.

“They’re very difficult to beat in Pennsylvania and on the East Coast,” Smith said of the Nittany Lions, whose roster includes no Californians and only three players from west of the Mississippi River. “It’s like beating Notre Dame in the Chicago area. You just can’t do it.”

What happened to Curtis Conway?

“Right now, he’s not one of the top four (receivers), and the top four are usually the guys who play,” Smith said. “I think he’ll get on the field more as the season goes on. He’s battling more experienced players more than anything else.”

A highly regarded freshman from Hawthorne High, Conway sat out last season while attempting to qualify academically.

He returned a kickoff 29 yards against Syracuse.