Trojans Don’t Lose the Grip on Penn State : USC: It holds on to win, 19-14, after Marinovich’s pass is dropped by Nittany Lion linebacker during the fourth quarter.

Larry Smith said it would be like this.

Although USC was established as a solid favorite over Penn State in the first regular-season meeting between two of college football’s all-time winningest teams, the Trojan coach predicted a struggle.

That’s what unfolded Saturday at the Coliseum, where USC outlasted the Nittany Lions, 19-14, before 70,594.

USC’s second victory in as many games wasn’t secured until free safety Stephon Pace made his second interception with 1:18 remaining.

And Penn State, winless after two games, might have flown East with a victory if linebacker Keith Goganious, anticipating a pass from Trojan quarterback Todd Marinovich, hadn’t let the ball slip through his fingers.

“It hit my hands and I just dropped it,” said Goganious, who was within 20 yards of the goal line and probably would have sprinted untouched into the end zone if he’d made the catch. “There’s no excuse for it. Nine times out of 10, I would have caught it.

“And I knew if I caught it, I’d have had six points.”

Less than 4 1/2 minutes remained when the ball fell incomplete, and Penn State, which never led, had closed to within the final margin only about 90 seconds earlier, seemingly taking the momentum.

A fourth-quarter goal-line stand by the Trojans, who stopped Penn State on three plays from the one-yard line, had only stalled the Nittany Lions, who regained the ball at USC’s 31-yard line moments later after Tisen Thomas made an 11-yard return of a punt by the Trojans’ Ron Dale.

Penn State quickly drove to the two, where tailback Leroy Thompson took a handoff from quarterback Tony Sacca and scored.

The Nittany Lions had closed to 19-14 with 4:59 left.

But after a second-down pass by Marinovich eluded Goganious’ grasp, the Trojan sophomore completed a 16-yard pass to Gary Wellman for a first down. When Penn State got the ball again, only 2:02 remained.

And after Sacca fumbled the snap on third down, he misfired on fourth and Pace made a diving interception at midfield.

USC then ran out the clock and a relieved Smith told reporters: “It was just a plain, good win.”

And not easily attained.

The Trojans accumulated 360 total yards to 313 for Penn State, and mounted two impressive drives, the second covering 92 yards in 15 plays and giving USC a 19-7 lead with 2:10 remaining in the third quarter.

The first covered 78 yards in 16 plays, took 8 minutes 9 seconds and gave the Trojans a 7-0 first-quarter lead.

Marinovich, who passed for a career-high 337 yards two weeks ago against Syracuse, was slightly more erratic this time, completing 22 of 34 passes for 240 yards, including a five-yard touchdown pass to tight end Frank Griffin that ended the Trojans’ first possession.

“Average,” was how Marinovich, who is still bothered by a sprained left wrist, described his performance.

Wellman was again his favorite receiver, with nine receptions for 121 yards after making seven for 109 yards against Syracuse.

Tailback Rickey Ervins was the Trojans’ leading rusher, carrying 26 times for 80 yards and a touchdown.

Smith said that the Trojans “blocked a little better” than they had against Syracuse, when they were limited to 2.8 yards per running play, but USC still was held to 120 yards in 46 attempts.

That figure, however, was superior to the Nittany Lions’.

Held to 70 yards in 28 rushing attempts, Penn State relied on Sacca, an inconsistent junior who matched a one-week-old career high by passing for 243 yards. He completed 16 of 34 attempts, with two interceptions.

“We didn’t handle the down linemen very well,” Penn State Coach Joe Paterno said. “We never got into a groove with the running game. Part of that is because we weren’t throwing the ball very well.”

Sacca completed six of 16 passes in the second half.

He made a spectacular play to give Penn State a second-quarter touchdown, ducking a tackle by linebacker Kurt Barber, who wasn’t fooled by a fake handoff, and passing eight yards to tight end Al Golden in the end zone just before taking a hit from strong safety Marcus Hopkins.

In the end, though, he and Penn State ran out of time.

“It’s really hard to beat a team when you don’t make something happen,” Paterno said. “We had some chances.”

Still, the margin of victory was only two second-quarter field goals by Quin Rodriguez, including a 46-yarder with 3:59 left in the half that followed a fumble recovery. It was one yard short of Rodriguez’s longest in four seasons.

“Was I worried?” asked Smith, repeating a question. “Hell, yes. I was worried from the opening kickoff till the last tick off the clock.”

He had good reason.

The Nittany Lions kept attacking and if USC’s goal-line stand hadn’t slowed them, they might have pulled an upset.

“Though it wasn’t the deciding factor,” Smith said of the defensive stand, “it was probably the key to the whole game.”

Penn State had first-and-goal on the nine, and Gary Brown’s eight-yard run put the Nittany Lions close. After two running plays went nowhere, they were surprised by the Trojans’ all-out blitz on fourth down. Sacca, attempting to avoid the rush, retreated to the 20, where Barber knocked the ball out of his hands for what was ruled an incomplete pass.

“We were told to come (after him),” linebacker Scott Ross said. “We brought everybody, and if it was going to be a pass, we were going to get to him before he passed it.”

The Penn State coaches wanted to try another running play, but Sacca suggested a pass and Paterno told him to go ahead.

“It was my call,” Paterno said.

It ended up costing the Nittany Lions several minutes.

That was all USC needed.