USC Needs a Victory to Keep Hopes Alive : College football: Trojans still in running for Rose Bowl, but won’t go to any bowl game if they lose at Washington today and against UCLA next Saturday.

What Trojan Coach John Robinson calls the Pacific 10 Conference playoffs will continue today, with USC playing Washington before an anticipated 72,500 in Husky Stadium.

USC, 6-4 overall and 5-1 in the Pac-10, tries to defeat Washington--and break a three-game losing streak against the Huskies (6-3, 4-2)--and hopes Arizona is upset by California.

If that happens, and the Trojans defeat UCLA next Saturday, the first team of Robinson’s second USC career will be in the Rose Bowl.

But if the Trojans lose today and to UCLA, they won’t go to any bowl game. The NCAA requires bowl teams to have a winning record, and USC would finish 6-6.

The numbers aren’t in USC’s favor this afternoon:

--Washington has won 17 in a row at home.

--USC hasn’t beaten Washington in Seattle since 1987.

--USC’s strong suit, its passing, will be up against the conference’s No. 2-rated team in pass defense. Only Arizona in the Pac-10 defends better against the pass.

Robinson, however, is encouraged by two factors:

--USC has had its best games of the season the last two weekends, 42-14 and 45-20 victories over Cal and Stanford.

--And the Trojans will get 6-foot-8, 295-pound offensive tackle Tony Boselli back. He sat out five games because of a knee injury.

Boselli will be matched against two of the Huskies’ best defenders, end Jamal Fountaine and outside linebacker Donovan Schmidt.

Slowly, Robinson says, his team has figured out how to play well.

“Defensively, we’re getting a growing sense of confidence about ourselves,” he said.

“We’re an absorbing kind of defense. We are like a sponge. We’re not a great pass-rush team, but we make teams go the hard way to score. That slows them down.”

The first assignment for USC is to slow Napoleon Kaufman, a 5-9, 175-pound junior tailback who has rushed for 999 yards--most in the conference--and added another 139 yards receiving.

“Kaufman is the kind of player you stop eight times in a row, then he kills you on his ninth carry,” Robinson said.

Kaufman is getting about 20 carries per game and averaging 5.5 yards.

Another troublesome matchup for the Trojans is quarterback Rob Johnson against Washington’s aggressive secondary. The Huskies, with 20 interceptions, are tied with Wisconsin for most in the nation. Russell Hairston, Louis Jones, David Killpatrick and Reggie Reser have 13 between them.

Johnson, who is on track for a single-season Pac-10 record for pass completion percentage, has thrown only four interceptions.

Washington’s secondary should have its busiest afternoon. Johnson has passed to 17 receivers this season, but the Huskies’ primary concern will be Johnnie Morton.

Morton has caught 71 passes, scored 12 touchdowns and is averaging 17.4 yards per catch.

The 1,233 yards are a Pac-10 record. Another eight catches and he will break the conference mark of 78, shared by Oregon State’s Dave Montagne and Stanford’s Brad Muster.

Johnson has a 69.6% completion rate and 23 touchdowns. He has had four three-touchdown games and one four-touchdown game. And although Morton is his favorite target, six others have reached double figures in receptions.

Fullbacks Deon Strother and Rory Brown have caught 50. The tight ends have caught 58.

Washington has played two quarterbacks, junior Eric Bjornson and sophomore Damon Huard. Huard, a 6-4, 220-pounder, started up to the Oct. 30 Arizona State game, when he couldn’t move the club.

The 6-5, 225-pound Bjornson came in and got two touchdowns, but Arizona State won, 32-17. Bjornson started in last Saturday’s 28-21 victory over Oregon State and is scheduled to start today.

How important is all of this?

The winner of the last six USC-Washington games has gone to the Rose Bowl.