Notes on a Scorecard - Oct. 23, 1995

Maybe it is time for USC to replace Notre Dame on its schedule with some other school from the state of Indiana, such as Purdue or Wabash. . . .

Notre Dame rose to the occasion Saturday. . . .

USC didn’t. . . .

That is nothing new, considering the Irish have won 12 and tied one of the last 13 meetings. . . .

But this performance must rank among the most disappointing in USC history. . . .

During the Trojans’ winless streak in what is supposed to be college football’s greatest intersectional rivalry, only a 37-3 defeat in 1985 has been more lopsided than the 38-10 beating they suffered Saturday. . . .

The high-riding Trojans roared into South Bend unbeaten at 6-0, ranked fifth nationally, and favored over a team that had lost twice and come within a foot of being upset by Army. . . .

They limped out of town humiliated. . . .

It was a team defeat. . . .

Nobody played or coached very well. . . .

The opposite could be said about Notre Dame. . . .

Lou Holtz treated this game as though it was the most important on the Irish schedule. . . . He put in things that the Trojans hadn’t seen in the films. He saved his best stuff for third down, when the Irish converted 15 of their 20 opportunities. . . .

John Robinson tried to treat this as any other game. He didn’t want his players to get too excited. He must have figured that what got the Trojans to 6-0 would be good enough to get them to 7-0. . . .

The Irish were animated the moment they left the dressing room. In contrast, the Trojans seemed to be going out of their way to look businesslike and unemotional. It translated to being flat. . . .

Not long ago, Robinson said turnovers were the most important statistical category in football. . . .

The Trojans committed one during the first 5 1/2 games of the season. . . .

In the second half against Washington State, they committed two. Saturday, they committed four. During those six quarters, they were outscored, 52-17. . . .

On a day when USC was held to 101 yards rushing, UCLA tailback Karim Abdul-Jabbar rushed for 261 during the Bruins’ 42-28 comeback victory over Stanford at Palo Alto. . . .

Abdul-Jabbar, a hard worker who seems to get stronger during the course of an afternoon or evening, reminds me of Charles White. . . .

The Bruins figure to snap their five-game losing streak against California on Saturday at the Rose Bowl. . . .

More questionable is how the humbled Trojans will perform at Seattle against Washington in a game that, as they say, will have major Rose Bowl implications. . . .

If Ohio State and Northwestern finish in a tie for the Big Ten title, the Buckeyes will go to Pasadena because of a better nonconference record. . . .

*

Don’t underestimate the San Francisco 49ers’ chances to go all the way now that Ken Norton Jr. has become a scoring threat. . . .

Elvis has returned to the stadium. . . .

Against the 49ers, Chris Miller looked more like the quarterback that Los Angeles Ram fans remember. . . .

Buffalo (5-1) plays New England (1-5) tonight. Weren’t those records supposed to be reversed? . . .

New York, New York: The Jets now have as many victories as the Giants. . . .

Do you have the feeling that Billy Joe Hobert isn’t the Raiders’ quarterback of the future? He was drafted out of Washington on the third round in 1993, but doesn’t play for Oakland even when Jeff Hostetler is injured. Of course, Vince Evans is old reliable. . . .

Meanwhile, Hobert’s old Husky teammate, Mark Brunell, is doing good things for the Jacksonville Jaguars. . . .

It wouldn’t be Sunday without at least one overtime game in the NFL. . . .

For the record: Oregon State was 8-2 in 1964 before being selected as the AAWU representative in the Rose Bowl. USC was 7-3. . . .

I might have underrated Larry Robinson as a coach when I predicted he would lift the Kings to respectability. . . .

James Roark, 49, died Thursday after being brutally beaten by four teen-agers as he was walking to a train station in Portland, Ore. Roark became a chef after the closing of the L.A. Herald Examiner, where he was photo editor. However, I will remember him best as an exceptional sports photographer, whose photo of Rick Monday rescuing an American flag from protesters who were trying to burn it at Dodger Stadium was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 1976.