Sports World Is Topsy-Turvy

You say you want to know what’s wrong with USC football.

You say you can’t imagine how a football team from USC could lose six of nine games.

You say you still don’t understand how a football team from USC could lose to Memphis State at home by 14 points, but lose to Notre Dame at South Bend by only four.

You say you wonder why a football team from USC can hold Washington to 14 points and Penn State to 10, but give up 32 to Arizona State and 52 to Cal.

You say you never thought you would see the day when a football team from USC would hope to salvage a season by defeating the football team from UCLA.

Hey, what can we tell you?

Mama said there would be years like this.

If you stick around long enough, you will see just about everything.

The New Orleans Saints are one of the best teams in football. The New York Giants are 4-5.

The Pittsburgh Penguins won hockey’s Stanley Cup. The Edmonton Oilers lost by four goals the other night to . . . the San Jose Sharks.

The Clippers look like a basketball team to take seriously. The Lakers look like a team to pity.

For a month or more, every lover of good baseball in America was talking about . . . the Atlanta Braves.

And nobody back East, not one fan of college football, is saying a word this season about “Southern Cal.” They actually have more interest in that Berkeley football team . . . you know, Northern Cal.

The world is definitely turning.

With a little better luck, a couple of better calls and a couple of better play-calls, USC might not have had to endure that 14-3 defeat Saturday at the Coliseum at the hands of undefeated Washington.

But football teams with records of 3-6 know better than to go around blaming it on being unlucky.

About all the Trojans can do is take their medicine like men, if you will pardon an unintentionally sexist cliche.

Jason Oliver, a cornerback, understood the situation perfectly after Saturday’s loss. He made an interception, played pretty well and summed things up even better.

Oliver said USC is pretty much limited to one goal now: “Show our pride and dignity. No matter what happens, we’ve got to show we’re a class act, even in defeat.”

Oliver is absolutely right, although this was hardly the Trojan rallying cry in training camp: Lose With Dignity.

There was nothing particularly the matter with USC’s defense Saturday. The team was up against a very good Washington squad in general and a very, very good running back by the name of Beno Bryant, who is (we’ll go out on a limb here) probably as good a running back as anybody named Beno who ever played the game.

Assessing the damage, Coach Larry Smith said if his defense had played that way all season, his team would have six victories by now, not six defeats.

It isn’t easy to brag about your defense with the week-old memory still fresh of Russell White and the Cal Golden Bears digging their heels into your chests and rubbing your noses into the dirt on the way to 52 points.

That’s why linebacker Matt Gee was hardly jumping up and down with glee about the 10 unassisted tackles he made Saturday, or the equally good football some of his teammates on defense played.

“When you compare it to the way we played at Cal . . . well, (the Cal game) was a disgrace,” Gee said.

Quitting football not being an option, Gee encouraged the Trojans to get pumped for the game at Arizona, where Smith used to coach, and then the season-ender against UCLA’s guys, who had to sit home last season and watch USC in a bowl game.

Like we said, the world turns.

Washington will be--barring something truly bizarre--in the Rose Bowl. Now that USC’s players have had up-close looks at both Washington and Cal, wide receiver Johnnie Morton called Washington’s players “faster, stronger than Cal’s, with a little better instincts, especially in the secondary.”

Remember, Cal scored 52 points against USC, Washington 14.

Oh, well. Since the Trojans have little else to enjoy this season, the least they can do is needle Cal.

The way things are going in the wide world of sports these days, by this time next year we might all be talking about the national ranking and Rose Bowl prospects of Oregon State.