In 95 Yards, Conway Ends Confusion : USC: His kickoff return for a touchdown breaks open game and lifts Trojans over Arizona State, 23-13.

The latest addition to Curtis Conway’s personal highlight film didn’t look like much at the start.

A 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that helped USC to a 23-13 victory over Arizona State on Saturday before 51,096 at Sun Devil Stadium, it began as a muff by one of Conway’s teammates, Bruce Luizzi.

“It was a knuckleball,” Luizzi said of Mike Richey’s kick.

Luizzi faded to field it, but it caromed off his left arm at about the 25-yard line and bounced crazily toward the goal line.

Conway, too, had a hard time getting a handle on the ball.

He bobbled it before gaining control at the five-yard line.

“The only thing that was going through my mind was to get on the ball,” Luizzi said. “But once I saw Curtis pick it up, I turned around and blocked the closest guy to me. And Curtis just took care of business.

“It was like having a racehorse on your team.”

Except that horses don’t have Conway’s moves.

“I looked up and everybody was just going crazy,” Conway said, describing the confusion. “I figured, if I can just get past this one guy, hopefully I can get some good yardage out of it and that’s what happened.”

Conway cut back to his right and carried the ball all the way to the end zone for the first kickoff return for a touchdown by USC since Nov. 30, 1974, when Anthony Davis returned the second-half kickoff 102 yards to propel the Trojans to a 55-24 come-from-behind victory over Notre Dame.

This one, which moved Conway past Davis to the top of USC’s all-time kickoff-return yardage list, also turned the momentum.

Arizona State, attempting to overcome a 14-0 deficit, had scored twice in 82 seconds--on a 37-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Grady Benton to tight end Bob Brasher and a 46-yard field goal by Richey--to pull to within 14-10 with 20 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Conway’s return made it 21-10 only 16 seconds later.

USC Coach Larry Smith said that Conway had predicted it.

“He told me before the game, ‘I’m going to bring one back some way, somehow,’ ” Smith said of his junior flanker, who has scored eight touchdowns this season--including another Saturday on a 31-yard pass from Rob Johnson--on five receptions, a run, a punt return and a kickoff return.

Said Conway: “I was just jiving around with him. He just popped up with the question, ‘Curtis, what is the return team going to do?’ And (I said), ‘We’re going to run (one) back (for) a touchdown.’

“I was like, Why did I say that? Why did I put that much pressure on (myself)? But it happened, thank the Lord.”

Until the final minutes of the third quarter, it didn’t look like the Trojans, who improved to 5-1-1 overall and 4-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference, would need such a timely lift from Conway.

They opened a 7-0 lead midway through the second quarter when Conway jumped over cornerback Kevin Miniefield to take a touchdown pass from Johnson, who was knocked to the ground as he threw and didn’t see Conway’s catch.

“The ball was kind of short,” Conway said of Johnson’s 11th touchdown pass. “(Miniefield) turned his head, but his momentum was carrying him back, and I just stopped and jumped for it.”

Although Arizona State outgained the Trojans, 338 yards to 252, with Benton completing 21 of 36 passes for 251 yards, USC increased its lead to 14-0 on its first possession of the second half.

Getting 53 yards in six carries from second-year freshman Dwight McFadden, the Trojans marched 98 yards in probably their most impressive drive of the season. McFadden scored his first touchdown on a five-yard run.

Arizona State (4-4, 2-3) then scored its only touchdown on an unusual play. On fourth and one from USC’s 37-yard line, Benton seemed to overthrow tight end Brian Ryder, who was running to his left across the field. Ryder suffered a separated shoulder as he dove in vain for the pass.

The ball, however, was caught by Brasher, who was running to his right, and he carried it through the USC defense into the end zone.

Two plays later, cornerback Lenny McGill intercepted a pass by Johnson and returned it 24 yards to the Trojans’ 32. Three plays netted only four yards, but Richey’s 46-yard field goal made it 14-10.

USC’s defense was fatigued.

“It just felt like one big two-minute drill out there,” said Trojan defensive tackle David Webb, who had three sacks of Benton on Arizona State’s final three plays, the last in the end zone for a safety. “Guys were tired. We were bent over, trying to catch our (breath).”

Enter Conway.

“Can we put him up for the Heisman?” safety Stephon Pace asked.

Tired as they might have been, Webb and Pace and USC’s other defenders were only too happy to return to the field after Conway’s runback.

“It’s hard to go back to back (with only a short rest in between Arizona State possessions),” Webb said, “but the rush he gives you . . .

“You’re just (saying to yourself), ‘All right, let’s get out there and prove something.’ You just want to kick people’s butts.”

USC had four of its seven sacks after Conway’s runback.

Why is it that opponents can’t seem to deny him the ball?

“I don’t know,” Smith said, smiling, “and I’m not going to worry about it. That’s other people’s problem.”

And the Trojans are glad of it.

Trojan Notes

Curtis Conway returned two kickoffs for touchdowns last season, but both were nullified by penalties. . . . Conway is the first Trojan to score on a kickoff return and a punt return during the same season since 1954, when Aramis Dandoy did it. . . . USC nose guard Thomas Holland suffered a broken arm on Arizona State’s first play and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. . . . The starting time for USC’s game against Stanford on Saturday at Palo Alto has been changed to 3:30 p.m. to accommodate Prime Ticket.