Guessing Game Is the Key : USC: By anticipating what Maddox would do, Trojan defenders come up with two touchdowns on interceptions.

When USC sophomore safety Stephon Pace looks back to his first game against UCLA freshman quarterback Tommy Maddox, he will remember Saturday’s showdown at the Rose Bowl as a guessing game filled with big plays.

On nearly every offensive play for the Bruins, Maddox tried to outguess Pace and the Trojan secondary by audibilizing at the line of scrimmage after looking at USC’s defensive coverage. He passed for 409 yards and three touchdowns, but two plays on which he guessed wrong cost the Bruins in USC’s 45-42 victory.

Maddox’s first mistake came on the game’s second play from scrimmage when he attempted to throw a screen pass to tailback Brian Brown. Figuring that the Trojans were in their regular zone pass defense, Maddox did not see Pace, who stepped in front of his pass and returned it for a 27-yard touchdown.

“He thought that we were in a two-deep coverage or that we were in a blitz,” said Pace, who calls signals for the USC secondary. “I was just standing right there when he dumped the ball off.”

On the play, Pace was in a special “robber” position and not in his normal free safety spot. It was a coverage USC had in its game plan to confuse Maddox.

“We knew that they would come into the game throwing,” Pace said. “After their win against Washington last week, we knew that Maddox would be putting it up.”

After Pace’s interception, Maddox would complete 18 of his next 25 passes for 265 yards, including a 47-yard touchdown to Sean LaChapelle, in the next three quarters.

However, on his first pass of the fourth quarter, Maddox made his second major mistake of the game, again at the hands of Pace.

With the Bruins trailing, 24-21, Maddox audibilized an out pattern to split end Reggie Moore. Maddox saw USC freshman cornerback Jason Oliver in man-to-man coverage on Moore but did not notice Pace, who deflected the pass through the hands of Moore and into the arms of Oliver. He returned it 34 yards for a touchdown.

“On the sidelines before the play, (Oliver) told me that if Maddox thinks that he is playing off, (Maddox) will throw an out pass,” Pace said.

“What I tried to do was disguise it and then run hard into the flat and I was able to get a piece of it.”

Oliver, who also returned an interception 66 yards for a touchdown last week against Oregon State, said the Trojans were simply successful in outguessing Maddox on his touchdown.

“Even though he was passing for a lot of yards,” Oliver said, “we did not go out there depressed on every series. We were excited because we knew we had a chance to make a big play. We had fun in trying to outguess him.”

Said Bobby April, USC’s coach of defensive backs: “No coach ever wants to give up 409 yards passing, but I am really happy with how our secondary played. We did score 14 points on defense, and the bottom line is that we won the game.

“The key for us was how we were able to disguise our coverages against Maddox. Pace played really well for us in making those big plays and calling our defenses. He has gotten better in his knowledge of the game throughout the year.”

USC used five defensive backs for most of the game in trying to stop receiver Scott Miller, who caught eight passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns.

USC cornerback Calvin Holmes said the Bruins’ shotgun formation gave the Trojans problems.

“I feel that we got the better of them, but (Maddox) picked us apart with us playing so much zone out of the shotgun,” Holmes said. “What we tried to do was move into our real coverage after he made his audible, which helped us on our two interceptions.”