Eye Has It for Morton on Big Play : USC: His wink signals Marinovich that all systems are go for winning pass pattern.

As USC lined up for the game-winning play Saturday, split end Johnnie Morton winked at quarterback Todd Marinovich.

“He knew I was coming to him,” Marinovich said. “The defensive back (Dion Lambert) knew it, too. He shook his head (as if to say), ‘No, you’re not going to get it.’ But we know what happened.”

What happened was that Marinovich lofted a 23-yard pass into the left corner of the end zone, Morton leaped to catch it with 16 seconds to play and the Trojans defeated UCLA, 45-42, at the Rose Bowl.

Before the snap, Morton noticed a seam in UCLA’s defense.

“I was supposed to run an 18-yard comeback (route), but versus that coverage, we adjusted to a post corner route,” Morton said. “I winked at Todd, letting him know that I could make the play, and he threw it into a perfect spot.

“There are certain holes in that defense and one of them is the post corner. You just get past the first guy, fake the second guy and the corner’s wide open. It wasn’t that wide open, but Todd made such a perfect pass that I couldn’t have missed it.”

As Morton cut toward the corner, Lambert slipped and fell. Safety Michael Williams gave chase, but wasn’t able to prevent Morton’s catch.

Knocked down after he threw, Marinovich didn’t see it.

“I felt some pressure,” said Marinovich, who was belted by linebacker Roman Phifer as he released the pass. “I knew I had to get rid of the ball in a hurry. I got rid of it just in time and got leveled.”

He was on his back when Morton caught the ball.

“I looked up and saw our crowd jump up, saw about 10 players jump on top of me and knew it was good,” Marinovich said. “I don’t know what happened. I guess he made a great play.”

Morton made a similarly spectacular catch three minutes earlier.

Leaping to take a pass away from Lambert in the end zone, Morton scored with 3:09 left to give USC a 38-35 lead.

“I thought that could be the game-winner and I was so excited,” said Morton, a redshirt freshman from South Torrance High who made a season-high four receptions for 70 yards. “And then to see them score again brought me down, but we still had 1:19 left to pull it out.”

Morton suffered a shoulder injury on his first touchdown catch.

“I was so excited that I didn’t feel it until a few minutes later,” he said. “By that time, we had to go back in.”

On Tuesday, Morton suffered a tendon injury in a finger and feared he might not be able to play.

“He was all down and I said, ‘Johnny, what’s the matter?’ ” said Mike Sanford, who coaches USC’s wide receivers. “He said, ‘Coach, this is a game I want to play in so badly. I want to beat these guys so badly.’ ”

Morton ignored the pain as the USC offense took the field with 1:13 left, six seconds after UCLA regained the lead, 42-38.

Marinovich, however, ignored him until the last play.

He completed passes of 27 and 22 yards to senior flanker Gary Wellman, setting up the winning play.

“I just wanted to work the ball down the field and not throw a bomb right away--just work the ball to Gary, and Gary made some great plays,” Marinovich said. “You just can’t get caught up in how big a situation it is--just read the coverage and throw to the open guy.

“That’s all it is: Reading and playing catch.”

Overshadowed for much of the game by UCLA quarterback Tommy Maddox, who completed 26 of 40 passes for a school-record 409 yards and three touchdowns, Marinovich threw for only 105 yards in the first 3 1/2 quarters.

But on USC’s last two possessions, he completed six of eight passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns.

On the first, Morton was not his first option.

“He was looking to the other side of the field--to a fullback or tight end,” Sanford said. “He saw that it wasn’t open and he came back to the other side to Johnnie Morton.

“He wasn’t open, but Todd put it where he’d have a chance to catch it. The (defender) overran it and Johnnie came back and made the play.”