Stanford Has 15 Minutes in Sun, Then USC Romps : Trojans: Marinovich, Wellman have big games after defense slows Cardinal quarterback Palumbis, 37-22.

A surprise victor over Notre Dame a week ago, Stanford hoped to knock off another giant Saturday in Stanford Stadium.

USC wanted no part of it.

And so, delayed but not demoralized by a fast Stanford start that included 230 yards passing by quarterback Jason Palumbis in the first quarter, the Trojans dominated the last three quarters of a 37-22 victory over the Cardinal before 62,000.

“Early, things looked like they were going to come apart for us,” USC Coach Larry Smith said.

When the game was finished, though, USC had a season-high 500 yards and scored on five of seven possessions in the second and third quarters to overcome a 16-7 deficit and run its record to 5-1 overall, 2-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Stanford is 2-4 and 1-2.

Stanford Coach Dennis Green called USC’s offense overpowering. After the first quarter, the Trojan defense was overpowering, too.

Quarterback Todd Marinovich completed 17 of 30 passes for a career-high 338 yards and three touchdowns. He also scored a touchdown on a nine-yard pass from reserve flanker Curtis Conway.

“I had a good rhythm,” said Marinovich, whose passing was used to complement USC’s resurgent running game in the Trojans’ previous two games. “In previous weeks, I didn’t feel like I had a good rhythm.

“I just felt confident throwing the football. Whenever you get back there enough times, you get into a groove.”

Marinovich called it an “enjoyable” game plan.

Also sharing in the fun was flanker Gary Wellman, who burned the Cardinal’s man-to-man coverage for seven receptions and 194 yards, falling seven yards short of a school record set by Hal Bedsole against California in 1962.

“No one in the country can cover Gary straight one-on-one,” said Marinovich, who connected with Wellman on touchdown pass plays of 77 yards in the first quarter and 34 yards in the second.

“When I get man-to-man coverage,” Wellman said, “I feel I can get open, and I feel like I can get open on anyone.”

Sophomore tailback Mazio Royster, making his second start in place of injured senior Ricky Ervins, again led the ground game with 112 yards in 22 carries. He rushed for 203 yards against Washington State a week ago.

Stanford’s ground game was all but nonexistent, which proved to be the Cardinal’s undoing.

In the first quarter, Palumbis moved the Cardinal consistently, completing 13 of 18 passes. His favorite receiver, Ed McCaffrey, had six receptions in the quarter for 125 yards.

“It looked like we were standing in concrete,” Smith said.

The Trojans were fortunate to be down, 16-7.

Stanford’s first possession ended when McCaffrey fumbled through the end zone after reaching USC’s one-yard line. Its second ended with John Hopkins kicking a 29-yard field goal.

Then, after Stanford was unable to move after recovering Conway’s fumble on the next kickoff, Hopkins missed a 40-yard attempt.

What could have been a 21-0 deficit was 3-0.

Marinovich, who hadn’t thrown a touchdown pass since the first quarter of a 19-14 victory over Penn State on Sept. 15, then hooked up with Wellman on the 77-yard pass play and USC had a 7-3 lead.

It didn’t last long.

A 73-yard Stanford drive ended with McCaffrey making an over-the-shoulder catch behind cornerback Mike Salmon on a 22-yard touchdown pass. A 39-yard punt return by Glyn Milburn set up another Stanford touchdown, this one scored by Cory Booker on a 38-yard pass from Palumbis to make it 16-7.

After that, though, Palumbis and the Cardinal offense went cold and USC scored 27 consecutive points to take control.

What happened?

Smith said the Trojans made only minor defensive adjustments.

Linebacker Scott Ross said that USC’s success in shutting down the Cardinal was due in part to Stanford’s inability to run. Stanford ran for four net yards in 19 attempts.

“There was no threat of the run,” Ross said. “And for a team to win a game, it’s got to have a run threat.”

Realizing that Stanford had none, USC put added pressure on Palumbis and the quarterback’s completion percentage suffered. Sacked five times, he passed for 360 yards and three touchdowns, completing 30 of 45 attempts, but after the first quarter, he was 17 of 27 for 130 yards.

Marinovich and the Trojans continued to roll.

A 34-yard field goal by Quin Rodriguez brought USC to within 16-10 with 9:33 left in the half, and a 34-yard touchdown pass from Marinovich to Wellman put the Trojans ahead to stay, 17-16, a few minutes later.

Another field goal by Rodriguez made it 20-16 at halftime.

Stanford’s first possession of the second half started at its five, which was bad enough for the Cardinal, but USC linebacker Kurt Barber made it worse when he popped the ball out of Milburn’s hands after the sophomore halfback had taken a swing pass from Palumbis.

Strong safety Marcus Hopkins recovered for the Trojans.

They scored on a third-down pass play from Conway to Marinovich, who pitched to Conway before drifting into the left flat. Running to his right, Conway stopped and lofted a high pass to the unguarded Marinovich, who caught it and scored.

Conway was a quarterback at Hawthorne High, but USC hadn’t practiced the play before last week, he said. Kidded about it, he defended his lob by saying: “Todd told me to put it up high for him because he’s tall.”

When USC scored again less than five minutes later on a 12-yard pass from Marinovich to Joel Scott, Stanford faced a tall order because USC had a 34-16 lead.