USC Will Tune Up Against Houston

With his double-quarterback/triple-tailback offense poised for another game of chess moves and high point production, USC Coach John Robinson takes a final nonconference look at his Trojans tonight.

The opponent in the Coliseum is Houston, which has lost to Florida, 45-21, and Louisiana Tech, 19-7.

This same matchup occurred two years ago, when USC beat Houston, 49-7, but Robinson says he expects nothing like that tonight.

“Houston wasn’t very good then, and they’re much better now,” he said.

“You look at their film of the Florida game and there were times in that game when Florida couldn’t stop them. Houston easily could’ve had 35 points.”

The 1993 game was Kim Helton’s first as Houston’s coach, and matters don’t seem to have improved much. Houston is 2-21-1 in his two seasons, but he says he can see light at the end of the tunnel.

“I have a bunch of real good kids, nice young kids who behave themselves,” he said.

“They do all the right things. There’s just not enough of them right now, and they’re not big enough. We were a really bad team when we came out here the first time.

“Against Louisiana Tech [last weekend], we saw some good things. But we had some turnovers, and we dropped about 150 balls.”

Robinson remained coy about USC’s tailback starter, saying he would decide “around game time” whether it would be Shawn Walters, Leonard Green or Delon Washington.

The quarterback rotation tonight will be the same as last week’s, Brad Otton playing the first and third quarters, Kyle Wachholtz the second and fourth.

A continuing two-quarterback offense was expected. But it was surprising when Robinson dropped the 225-pound Walters from the starting lineup last week. Green started, and Walters, who had gained 976 yards a year ago, shared playing time as well with Washington.

As it turned out in the 45-7 victory over San Jose State, Walters had only eight carries for 26 yards, Green 12 for 50. Washington, the sophomore, was the most productive, with seven for 55.

Robinson said he was happy with both quarterbacks. Otton, a junior who backed up Rob Johnson a year ago, is particularly adept at seeing his receivers when under pressure. Wachholtz, a senior, brings perhaps better playmaking ability and a stronger arm to the mix.

Robinson blamed opening-game jitters on the early misfires that slowed his offense last week. USC scored all 45 of its points after the first quarter. But Robinson indicated his defense was nearly ready for prime time.

“We played with focus and quickness, and we appeared to be pretty fast,” he said.

“If I had to name a guy who was maybe our best player on the field, it would be Scott Fields.”

Fields, a senior linebacker playing his fourth position at USC--he was a tailback in the 1993 Houston game--is paired with another senior, Errick Herrin, in the Trojans’ new 5-2 defensive setup. Together, they had nine tackles against San Jose.

Helton’s favorite USC defensive player is senior defensive end Izzy Ifeanyi, the Nigerian by way of Orange Coast College. Helton said he eagerly awaits Ifeanyi’s matchup with his 6-foot-8, 300-pound offensive tackle, Jimmy Herndon.

“I can’t begin to pronounce No. 55’s name [it’s if-YAWN-ee], but he’s excellent,” Helton said.

“Herndon is a fine tackle who will play in the NFL. That should be worth the price of the ticket, just to watch those two get after each other.”