COLLEGE FOOTBALL: THE BOWL GAMES : No Ticket Scalping by Texas Tech Fans : Cotton Bowl: They’ll be out in force to root for the Red Raiders against the Trojans.

Winless in its last two starts, USC’s football team plays in a bowl game today in a setting perhaps more intimidating than any since the Trojans’ last visit to Notre Dame.

Seas of scarlet-and-black-garbed Texas Tech partisans will greet John Robinson’s team today in the sold-out (68,252) 59th Cotton Bowl, the final one in which the disbanding Southwest Conference plays a role.

Texas Tech (6-5) becomes the final SWC champion to play host to the game. Next season, the invitations will be open. After that, the game will match the No. 2 Big 12 team against the Western Athletic Conference champion or the No. 2 Pacific 10 Conference team.

With a 4-3 conference record, Coach Spike Dykes’ team finished in a five-way tie for the SWC title with Texas, Baylor, TCU and Rice.

USC (7-3-1) reached Dallas by tying for second (6-2) in the Pac-10 with Arizona. The Trojans had a five-game winning streak late in their season, but lost to UCLA, 31-19, and tied Notre Dame, 17-17.

Dykes, in his eighth season as the Red Raiders’ head coach, is noted for teams that play much better late in the season. Since 1987, his teams are 32-13-1 after the midway point.

Texas Tech sold its 20,000 Cotton Bowl ticket allotment within 48 hours, then received and sold another 5,000 that USC didn’t sell.

Robinson, however, seems unfazed at the prospect of playing in what will seem like a Texas Tech home game.

“I’d rather play in an environment where people have been fighting for tickets rather than in a half-filled stadium,” he said.

Today marks the final appearance for USC senior quarterback Rob Johnson and All-American offensive tackle Tony Boselli.

Johnson bows out as USC’s all-time completions leader with 660 and his career completion percentage, 64.4%, is a hair away from the Pac-10 record of 64.5%, held by Cal’s Rich Campbell. His 55 touchdown passes is also the USC career record.

Two summers ago, at USC’s preseason training camp, Johnson looked one day at Rodney Peete’s 8,225 yards passing from 1985-88, the Trojan career record, and said: “I have no shot at Peete, no shot.”

Wrong.

He needs only 43 yards today to surpass Peete.

The 6-4 Johnson started hot in 1994, completing 18-of-23 passes in USC’s opening 24-17 victory over Washington. But he missed the equivalent of three full games with a mid-season ankle sprain, then had one of his great outings in the Trojans’ season high point, the 45-28 victory over Arizona.

He was 25 for 35 for 390 yards and three touchdowns. He completed his last 15 passes against the Wildcats, then connected on his first eight against UCLA, giving him an NCAA record 23 in a row.

The challenge for new USC defensive coordinator Keith Burns today is a 185-pound freshman quarterback, Zebbie Lethridge, who is a 50.6% passer and a troublesome scrambler.

“He can run or gun on us, and we need to keep him in the pocket,” Burns said.

Tech’s best runner is another freshman, Byron Hanspard (761 yards), who last year was one of the two best Texas high school tailbacks. The other was Delon Washington, who plays for Robinson.

“We recruited Delon really hard, but we never really felt like we had a shot at him,” Dykes said.

“If you’d asked 20 college coaches who saw both of ‘em play last year which one they liked the best, 10 would’ve said Byron and 10 would’ve said Delon.”

USC has two Dallas running backs who should figure prominently today. Washington, who missed most of the season because of a challenge of his college entrance exam score, played at Dallas’ Kimball High last year.

Sophomore Shawn Walters, who leads USC in rushing this season with 894 yards and 10 touchdowns, went to Lamar High in nearby Arlington. No Trojan rusher has gained 1,000 yards in a season since Mazio Royster rushed for 1,168 in 1990.

Defensively, the Red Raider stoppers are “The Blitz Brothers,” middle linebacker Zach Thomas and free safety Bart. Those two have nearly 200 tackles.

It’s assumed Tech will try to mount a fierce rush on Johnson, to avoid having his best receiver, 6-4 Keyshawn Johnson, match up with Tech’s two 5-8 cornerbacks, Cat Adams and Shawn Hurd.

Robinson can take heart in one stat today: Since 1988, when Texas A&M; beat Notre Dame, 35-10, SWC teams have lost six Cotton Bowl games in a row.

COTTON BOWL

TODAY’S GAME

* Teams: USC vs. Texas Tech

* Site: Cotton Bowl, Dallas

* Time: 10 a.m. PST

* Records: Texas Tech 6-5, USC 7-3-1

* TV: Ch. 4.

* Radio: KNX (1070), XTRA (690), KGRB (900).

* Rosters: C15.