Cougars Lose a Game of Keep Away : USC: Washington State pays the price when kickoffs end up in hands of Conway and Crayton.

Washington State Coach Mike Price said last week that the only way USC’s Curtis Conway would see the ball on kick returns would be to buy a ticket and sit in the stands. He said he had seen enough of the Trojan speedster on film to know better than to kick to him.

Confronted with that statement--after Conway had returned three kickoffs for 82 yards, including one for 58 yards that broke open what had been a tight game Saturday--Price said grimly, “It looks like I was right, doesn’t it?”

What made Conway’s performance during the Cougars’ 31-21 loss at the Coliseum even harder to swallow was the fact that it was the coach’s son, junior Aaron Price, who kicked the ball to Conway.

“We wanted the ball deep, way deep, and away from Conway,” the elder Price said of the kickoff after Washington State pulled to within 24-21 with under three minutes remaining in the game.

“They had their ‘hands’ team in there, and our kicker was told to kick the ball 25 yards deep, right on the hash mark against their hands team. And that’s what he did. That was the incorrect thing to tell him to do.”

Asked if it was his call, Price said: “No. . . . It will be next time.”

Price would not say which of his assistants made the kickoff call.

The kick went to Conway at the Trojan 30, setting up a crisscrossing runback that brought the 54,048 spectators to their feet before Mike Fields tackled Conway on the Cougar 12. The damage was done, however, as two plays later fullback Wes Bender bulled his way into the end zone.

Washington State took five minutes to drive 99 yards to its touchdown, only to have the Trojans score in 24 seconds.

Aaron Price wouldn’t say whose call it was, either.

“That’s where I wanted to kick it,” he said. “Maybe not quite that deep, but that was about right. They had 10 of their 11 guys about 15 yards away from the ball, so if you kick it about 25 yards down there and it’s not caught, it’s a free ball. He made a great play just catching it.”

Conway agreed with that analysis.

“I wasn’t surprised they kicked it to me, they’d kicked a couple of others to me before,” Conway said. “And if they didn’t, (Estrus) Crayton was there to get it.

“The only thing I had on my mind was not letting the ball touch the ground and maybe having them get a loose ball. I was playing up close because I knew if he kicked it over my head I could get back and get it. I knew it would be harder to come up and catch the ball if it was short. I was just trying to get as much out of it as I could. I got through one hole and there was lots of daylight.”

Conway’s 82 yards in kickoff returns moved him to within 13 of Anthony Davis’ school record of 1,361 yards.

The elder Price said the Cougars discussed trying an onside kick, but rejected the idea because he believed three minutes would be enough to get the ball back for quarterback Drew Bledsoe to try some last-minute heroics.

“Our defense had done a great job, holding them on the one before our drive and we thought we could contain them again,” Price said.

USC was ready for any possibility, Coach Larry Smith said.

“We were anticipating a short kick,” he said. “We practiced on squib kicks and pooch kicks all week, so we were ready for it.”

An earlier kickoff return by Crayton, coming right after Washington State moved 75 yards in seven plays for the game’s first touchdown, reversed the momentum in the Trojans’ favor and set up their opening score.

Price, who takes such a short run before his kickoffs that he looks as if he is trying to kick a field goal, didn’t get the ball near the goal line in four tries.

Crayton took the first one at the 13 and raced down the left sideline for 38 yards. Conway climaxed the 49-yard drive by taking a reverse from Crayton and running 24 yards for a touchdown.

During the second quarter, with USC leading, 14-7, Conway displayed yet another of his talents by catching a 27-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Rob Johnson. It was the 17th consecutive game in which he has caught a pass.