Tar Heels Knock Trojans Goofy : College football: North Carolina befuddles USC with option attack, 31-9. McFadden is sidelined for the season.

John Robinson’s call for a return to the vaunted USC running game of decades past seemed about a year away in the Trojans’ football opener Sunday night.

In the Disneyland Pigskin Classic at Anaheim Stadium, North Carolina chopped up USC’s running defense into little pieces and blew out the Trojans, 31-9. In addition, USC lost its starting tailback, Dwight McFadden, for the season.

It was a double dose of bad news for Robinson and his team, which had eagerly looked ahead to a rebirth of the dominant teams Robinson coached in his 1976-1982 era at USC. Dominant? First, USC must be competent.

Not only was USC’s rushing defense completely incapable of shutting down North Carolina’s option plays, but the Trojans’ starting tailback, sophomore McFadden, suffered a broken left ankle in the first quarter.

Afterward, Robinson said McFadden would be sidelined for the season. He will undergo surgery today or Tuesday.

It gets worse.

McFadden’s backup, inexperienced sophomore Scott Fields, gained only 16 yards in seven carries. Fullback Deon Strother gained 13 yards in four carries. Not until the fourth-quarter appearance of the No. 3 tailback, freshman David Dotson, did USC move the ball competently on the ground.

Dotson led a 14-play, 71-yard touchdown drive by carrying 10 times for 48 yards. But by then, most in the crowd of 49,309 were already in their cars, on their way home.

How bad was it? Shades of Missouri, 1976. It was every bit as bad as Robinson’s first debut, in 1976, when his team was upset by Missouri, 46-25.

Simply, USC was battered by two Tar Heel running backs, Curtis Johnson and Leon Johnson (no relation). Taking pitches from quarterback Jason Stanicek, those two accounted for 172 of North Carolina’s 291 rushing yards.

USC ran for only 101 yards, and 48 of those were by Dotson, in the Trojans’ final series. North Carolina outgained USC, 408-268. Stanicek, who was busy pitching on option plays, threw only eight passes, completing six for 101 yards.

Afterward, Robinson could only state the obvious.

“They wanted to play that option until we stopped it, and we still haven’t stopped it,” he said. “It was a basic, standard option play and we just didn’t defend it.”

Mack Brown, the North Carolina coach, said his team stuck with option plays to stay out of USC defensive end Willie McGinest’s way.

“He’s one of the best in the country, and we felt we had to neutralize him,” he said.

Said Robinson: “Losing McFadden for the year was a blow to us, and we never recovered from it. We made mistakes early and we got worse. And I’m concerned we didn’t play with much quickness.

“We still have high expectations, but right now we obviously have some problems.”

Such as tailback, to name one.

The Trojans were out of it early in the third quarter, when North Carolina went ahead by 21-3, sending the first waves of spectators to the parking lot.

USC didn’t score a touchdown until 2:03 was left in the game, when the Trojans drove to the five-yard line and Tyler Cashman caught a five-yard pass in the end zone from Rob Johnson.

For USC, it wasn’t pretty. About the only area where Robinson’s team seemed to excel was in pass blocking, Johnson getting plenty of time to pass. However, he threw most of the time to his tight ends, North Carolina’s quick secondary limiting USC’s deep threat, Johnnie Morton, to four catches for 36 yards.

Robinson had said throughout practices that Johnson would be throwing considerably this year to his tight ends and fullbacks, and he wasn’t kidding.

Cashman caught four passes for 25 yards in the first half and Strother had four catches for 42.

Johnson was 13 for 16 at the half for 111 yards, with 10 of the passes directed to tight ends or fullbacks. But while Johnson was completing short passes, North Carolina was beginning to wear down USC’s defensive line.

McFadden was injured after a 19-yard run up the middle with 1:33 left in the first quarter. He reached the North Carolina 23, where he was bent over backward in a pileup. McFadden, a sophomore who played behind Estrus Crayton last season, had gained 44 yards in seven carries.

Trojan senior safety Mike Salmon left the game one series before McFadden because of a shoulder injury. He left with his left arm in a sling and didn’t return.

Salmon, who started at strong safety, collided with North Carolina’s split end, Marcus Wall, after a long gain. Both went down, but Salmon didn’t get up.

The Tar Heels scored first on a nine-play, 79-yard drive with 12:55 to go in the half. USC came back to trail by 7-3 when Cole Ford kicked a 27-yard field goal with 8:11 left in the half.

North Carolina made the score 14-3 on a six-play, 67-yard drive late in the second quarter highlighted by a 47-yard gain by flanker Bucky Brooks, who beat Jason Sehorn down the middle and made a diving catch of a Stanicek pass.

Curtis Johnson scored from the three six plays later.

* TAILBACK U. WORE BLUE:It was North Carolina, not USC, that produced an impressive ball-control offense. C11