Trojans Hope to Recapture Old Mystique : College football: In remodeled Coliseum, USC will play Houston, try to erase memories of opening-night loss.

Seventy years after it opened as a track and field stadium, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum officially becomes a football-only stadium this afternoon.

In the first football game to be played at the remodeled stadium, USC (0-1) meets traditionally explosive Houston.

On Oct. 6, 1923, USC and Pomona College met in the first football game at the Coliseum. USC won, 23-7, before 12,863. A crowd of about 50,000 is expected for today’s 3:30 p.m. kickoff.

The Coliseum, built primarily to attract the 1932 Olympics, now looks like a place built for football. The running track is gone, the field has been lowered nearly 12 feet and 14 rows of new seats extend within a few feet of the sideline.

On display will be Houston quarterback Jimmy Klingler, the nation’s total-offense leader last season, when he averaged 342.6 yards a game.

Klingler watched USC lose in its opener last week to North Carolina, 31-9, and indicated this week that the old Trojan mystique is gone.

“We’re not playing the USC of the past; we’re playing a team that got beat last week,” he said. “There’s nothing to be in awe of. There’s no O.J. there.”

Houston Coach Kim Helton, a former Raider assistant, isn’t so sure.

“USC got beat by a quarterback (North Carolina’s Jason Stanicek) who had a hot night,” he said. “I saw the game and if they played again, I’m not so sure they wouldn’t have the same score in the other direction.”

Helton, in the first game of his first season, says Houston will pass a lot, but not quite as often as in recent years.

“We’re going to throw 45 to 50 balls, but not 75,” he said. “Our philosophy hasn’t changed much--we have 19 wideouts and no tight ends.”

For USC Coach John Robinson, confidence-building and a tailback search were the week’s primary objectives.

No one will know if the rest of the Trojans remain shaken from last Sunday’s loss in Anaheim until this afternoon, but Dwight McFadden still is.

The starting tailback, McFadden broke an ankle in the first quarter. He is gone for the year, which left Robinson trying to decide this week between Scott Fields and David Dotson.

Dotson is a freshman but turned in a strong fourth-quarter performance last Sunday, gaining 48 yards in nine carries. Fields was much less impressive, carrying seven times for 17 yards.

Robinson wasn’t expected to announce his choice until today.

Helton seemed to prefer that it not be Dotson.

“That little running back who came in late in the game scares me to death,” he said. “He looked like Marcus Allen to me.”

Dotson is 5 feet 11 and 185 pounds. If anyone in the Trojan backfield looks like Marcus Allen, it’s Fields, who goes 6-3 and 200.

A third tailback, freshman Shawn Walters, may play today, too, Robinson said. Walters was hobbled throughout training camp by a leg injury.

Whoever starts, Robinson seemed intent on getting his team’s running game operating at peak efficiency. He was more animated at Thursday’s practice than at any time this season, yelling, cajoling, criticizing, supporting.

He was practically in the backfield, demanding that the running plays be run at a faster pace, that running backs run through tackles.

Defensive coordinator Don Lindsey had a long week. He has to wonder how his unit, which gave up 408 yards to North Carolina, can cope with a Houston offense that averaged 519 yards and 34.4 points a game last season. Worth noting, however: Houston was 4-7.

Robinson spoke this week of defensive confidence.

“Our guys have got to keep the faith during the games, and play the total game,” he said. “We have a lot of defensive players in new positions, and they need to get settled in before we’re a good defensive team.”