COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : USC : Band Stays Longer Than Trojan Players

USC had a two-hour workout Monday in its first on-campus practice this season, but the band practiced three hours.

On his way to practice at Howard Jones Field, Coach John Robinson went first to Cromwell Field, where the Trojan band was practicing “Fight On.”

He stood on a six-step tower, where the band members cheered him. Then, using a microphone, he told them: “I don’t know if the team will be worth a damn Sunday night. If they’re not, I’m putting all of you in the game.”

As he left, the musicians started up a Rose Bowl chant.

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Starting tailback Dwight McFadden suffered a lower back pull early in practice. Tight end Johnny McWilliams sat out practice because of a strained calf.

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Senior safety Reggie Perry was mistaken last week when he said he had already earned his degree. He has one class left before earning a marketing degree.

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Former coach John McKay was in rare form Saturday night, speaking before a crowd of 900 at USC’s “Salute to Troy” football banquet at the Biltmore Bowl.

Of his first year as the Trojans’ coach in 1960: “(School President) Dr. Norman Topping gave me a one-year contract and said ‘We’ll talk at the end of the season.’

“We went 4-6. Dr. Topping called me the day after the last game and asked me to meet him at Julie’s (restaurant). So we went over there and had vodkas on the rocks. Then some sportswriters, including Dan Hafner (of The Times), came by. We had more vodkas. Pretty soon, Dr. Topping forgot why we were there.”

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McKay on junior college transfer O.J. Simpson’s first practices at USC, in 1967: “I noticed he was carrying the ball away from his body, but I also noticed no one could tackle him. Craig Fertig (McKay’s quarterback) came running up to me and said, ‘Coach, he’s carrying the ball improperly, and he’s carrying it with the wrong hand.’ I said to Fertig, ‘Shut up.’ ”