Oregon Substitutes for Victory : College football: Graziani, a sophomore, takes over at quarterback and leads the Ducks past sloppy USC, 22-7.

No one could see him, but if you closed your eyes, you could almost feel his presence in the Coliseum.

Some in the crowd of 44,232 might almost have heard Harvey Winn laughing in the closing minutes of Oregon’s 22-7 victory over USC on Saturday night.

Harvey Winn was the 5-foot-8 substitute quarterback who last guided Oregon to victory over USC at the Coliseum, in 1971.

Twenty-three seasons later, it happened again.

Until Saturday, USC was 15-1-1 over Oregon in the last 17 meetings.

This time it was Tony Graziani, a left-handed sophomore from Modesto heretofore unheard of and unfeared in West Coast college football.

In 1971, Winn, filling in for injured Dan Fouts, led the Ducks to a 28-23 victory over USC at the Coliseum.

Saturday night, Graziani had a far easier time than Winn. Taking over for starter Danny O’Neil--sidelined after finger surgery--he led an Oregon offense that took advantage of poor USC tackling and pass coverage.

Even better for Graziani: He caught USC on a night when its offense looked as if it was still in training camp.

Oregon (3-2) and USC (2-2) have played football since 1915. Not since 1958, when Oregon beat the Trojans, 25-0, has a USC been beaten so soundly by Oregon.

Said USC Coach John Robinson, who was on that 1971 Oregon staff that last beat USC here: “They played a great game; they came down here and overwhelmed us.

“Their quarterback played just about a perfect game. Their defense came after us, and we were out of sync the whole game.”

That comment was echoed by USC offensive tackle Tony Boselli, who said Oregon’s blitzing defense was more active than expected.

“They got after us and played a great game,” he said.

“They brought a lot of people after (quarterback Rob Johnson) on blitzes, and we didn’t pick it up.”

Said Oregon Coach Rich Brooks: “I’m very, very proud of this group of young men. A lot of guys were playing hurt. I think we disrupted their offense. Seventeen of our top 22 on offense are freshmen or sophomores. . . . They showed a lot of poise.”

Said USC center Jeremy Hogue: “They stunted a lot and they really have some good people up front. They had a great game plan. And we came out flat too.”

A week earlier, USC tailback Shawn Walters had carried 31 times for 207 yards against Baylor.

Not Saturday night. He had only 17 carries and gained 85 yards. Against Oregon, USC seemed intent on short-yardage pass plays on first down, and in fact passed 18 times on first down.

“We wanted to run,” offensive coordinator Mike Riley said. “But they made a lot of good plays off their blitzes and we couldn’t sustain anything.”

Walters ran for 26 yards on the game’s first play. It would be his only long run this night.

Johnson completed 20 of 30 passes for 237 yards and the Trojans’ only touchdown. He finished the game on the sideline because of a sprained right ankle suffered late in the third quarter. He said later he didn’t think his sprain was serious and said he told Robinson late in the third quarter he could pass, but not run well.

“Coach told me he didn’t want me to be a sitting duck back there,” Johnson said.

Backup quarterback Brad Otton finished up.

Said Johnson: “Oregon played really well. I kept feeling we’d start to make big plays, but it never happened.”

It didn’t happen in part because USC receivers dropped about a half-dozen of his passes. Ken Grace dropped two.

Graziani, who completed 16 of 31 passes for 287 yards and a touchdown, led his offense to a 478-yard night. USC totaled 347. Johnson showed an exasperating inability or unwillingness to throw the ball away under pressure and was sacked seven times. Oregon had nine sacks for the game.

But for USC, the worst of it was in the secondary, where the inexperienced Graziani had a field day with Trojan regulars John Herpin, Quincy Harrison, Sammy Knight, Micah Phillips and Scott Fields all taking turns missing assignments, tackles, or coverages.

“Our secondary has not played well . . . heck, my dog and my wife could tell you that,” defensive coordinator Don Lindsey said.

For Trojan coaches, it was downright embarrassing. A couple of dozen recruits were on hand and were brought into the locker room afterward. Cornerback coach Dennis Thurman said to two of them: “Please, don’t judge us by this. . . .”

Of the poor tackling, Lindsey didn’t have a ready answer. “You’re either a good, natural tackler or you’re not,” he said. “You can improve as a tackler, but to do that you have to scrimmage, and that’s how guys get hurt. That’s how we lost (tight end) John Allred to a broken leg the other day.”

This one was pretty much over at halftime, when the Trojans were booed off the field.

Johnson’s four first-half sacks continued to frustrate not only USC fans, but the coaching staff as well.

All that was bad enough.

But when USC, trailing by 16-7 and at midfield in the final seconds of the half, allowed the clock to run down without Johnson throwing a ball into the end zone, the boos grew as the teams walked off the field.

Six plays after Walters’ carry on the game’s first play, Oregon’s Ken Wheaton took a pass out of the hands of Grace and returned it 34 yards. That led to Matt Belden’s 24-yard field goal.

Then it was 10-0 on a 49-yard run by Dino Philyaw. He was aided by muffed tackles by Phillips and Herpin in the final five yards. Earlier in the play, Fields missed Philyaw.

Johnson took USC 66 yards in nine plays on the next series to make the score 10-7, but with 7:20 to go before intermission, Cristin McLemore beat both Harrison and Herpin in the end zone and scored on a 19-yard pass from Graziani. The conversion was wide and Oregon had a 16-7 halftime lead.

An hour after it ended, Oregon’s players began emerging from their locker room. A few of them walked down the dark tunnel one more time, toward the field where they had won a game they will long remember.