Otton Proving Quite the Answer Man : Trojans: Quarterback replaces Johnson again and is impressive in victory over Cardinal.

At least we now know what’s wrong with the Stanford football team. It can’t count.

Bill Walsh actually might be a strategic genius, as many of his football minions insist, but it cannot be ignored that the team he coaches twice had too many players on the field Saturday against USC.

Apparently this is not the way a sound football team is supposed to play, judging from the outcome of the game at Stanford Stadium, a 27-20 loss to the suddenly mathematical Trojans.

USC knows the answer to its almost weekly subtraction problem. Take away one quarterback from the starting lineup and what do you get?

It’s Brad Otton, a 6-foot-6 relief pitcher of a quarterback, once again called upon to take over when Rob Johnson re-injured his right ankle.

Otton played well enough for USC to get out of town with a victory, but not well enough to please him.

“I feel comfortable we got the win, but I played pretty bad,” Otton said. “Just inconsistent. Made some bad reads, threw bad balls. I had trouble getting into it.”

Well, it sure looked a lot better than that.

Otton passed for 114 yards and found receivers 10 of the 20 times he threw the ball. He also didn’t throw an interception. He also didn’t get a bad review from Coach John Robinson.

“I thought he was great,” Robinson said. “And the best thing about him is the way he can come in, and he’s got the respect of his teammates. That’s a big part of playing quarterback, making the rest of the team feel OK.”

Chances are good that Otton will receive another opportunity next week against California at the Coliseum. Johnson left in the second quarter because of a sprained ankle and doesn’t expect to be able play against Cal.

Johnson watched the second half wearing street clothes and a bad attitude.

“I’m just frustrated,” he said. “It’s really bugging me. I wish I could get healthy, but that’s football.”

So far, Johnson has sprained his ankle and his patience. Before he had to leave the game Saturday, he had completed seven of 10 passes for 109 yards, including a 46-yard touchdown pass to Keyshawn Johnson.

But once he left the field sitting in the back of a golf cart, his game was over and Otton’s was just beginning.

It is a familiar situation. Two weeks ago, Otton stepped in when Johnson injured his ankle against Oregon. USC lost. Last week, Otton started against Oregon State. USC won.

Unlike Stanford, Otton can count.

“I’ve gotten it done twice and didn’t get it done once,” he said.

USC tailback Shawn Walters said Otton is part of the Trojans’ “one big family.”

If one person goes down, said Walters, somebody steps in. Once again it was Otton.

“He comes in the huddle, he’s calm and cool,” Walters said.

Mike Riley, USC’s quarterback coach, said Otton is a pupil who is looking out of his helmet at a bright future.

“He’s very capable,” Riley said. “We expect him to be able to step in and do the job.”

Otton said he might have felt more comfortable if he had taken more snaps in practice last week. But because Johnson was coming back after a layoff and needed the practice, Otton’s work was sort of limited.

“I was taking mental snaps,” he said.

Mental snaps?

“Just pretending you’re in (Johnson’s) shoes,” he said. “It’s not easy to do.”

It’s not easy coming off the bench at all, Otton said, mainly because he’s not used to it. He was a star at Weber State. And even though Robinson said he will be a star at USC, the fact is that Otton is a backup to Johnson as long as Johnson can play.

Otton understands the situation.

“But it’s not my life goal to be a backup quarterback,” he said. “I don’t know what is, but I know what it’s not.”

The way he said it, it sounded as though you could count on it.