COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : USC : Washington May Play Saturday

John Robinson said Tuesday that tailback Delon Washington “certainly” will play in any bowl game for USC, and indicated there’s a slight chance he could play against Notre Dame on Saturday.

“I don’t know what kind of shape he’s in, so I don’t know if he can play Saturday, although that’s not out of the question,” he said.

Washington, the freshman star in USC’s opening-game victory over Washington, had his eligibility restored Monday. USC had removed him from competition after two games.

Washington and another freshman player, Ken Cooper, were accused of having someone else take their American College Testing exams. Washington said Monday he had taken the test again and received an acceptable score.

Sources said Cooper failed to score high enough to gain reinstatement.

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Robinson took the blame Tuesday for USC’s poor play in Saturday’s 31-19 loss to UCLA.

“We made errors, and that’s coaching,” he said. “We roughed their kicker on a key play, we kicked the ball out of bounds, we got sacked three times in two series. . . . it was a whole series of events like that. We were embarrassed and disappointed.”

Robinson said he wondered early last week about possible emotional fatigue with his team, after hard-fought, back-to-back victories over Washington State and Arizona.

“I thought we seemed a little tired in practice last Tuesday, but by Saturday I thought we were fine,” he said.

“We felt our young players had matured a lot, that they were on fire . . . and that fire was doused. They didn’t play well, and that’s my job.”

Robinson’s defensive coordinator, Don Lindsey, also felt his players showed signs of fatigue.

Obvious question: Can mental fatigue be eliminated before Saturday, when USC tries to snap an 11-year losing streak to Notre Dame?

Said senior linebacker Jeff Kopp: “If you’re emotionally drained when you run out of that tunnel before 93,000 people and Notre Dame is waiting there for you. . . . Well, something is wrong with you. I’ll be ready to play.”

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Robinson, on being asked which is bigger, USC-UCLA, or USC-Notre Dame: “That’s like asking which was bigger, World War I or World War II?” . . . Fullback David Dotson has a hamstring injury and will not play Saturday. Robinson said Terry Barnum will start at fullback, backed up by LaVale Woods.