COLLEGE FOOTBALL BOWL GAMES : Two QB, or Not Two QB? : Rose: Even after Trojans went 8-2-1 and won Pacific 10 title, that’s still the question.

USC’s two-headed quarterback experiment, one game away from a wrap, was being pronounced a success by John Robinson’s players this week.

Well, most of the players. Neither quarterback was ever crazy about the idea.

The consensus: “OK, we lost to Notre Dame and UCLA. But look where we are on Jan. 1.”

Wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson’s response to a poll-taker Wednesday was typical:

“We’re in the Rose Bowl. Last year, with a one-quarterback offense, we didn’t get there. Does that answer your question?”

Well, sort of.

Any chance the 8-2-1 Trojans might have been 11-0 had Robinson chosen either Brad Otton or Kyle Wachholtz last August to be the season-long starter?

Not likely, most players said.

Said tailback Delon Washington: “When we were playing poorly, when we had those bad first halves . . . that was poor execution, it had nothing to do with who was playing quarterback.”

Robinson and his offensive coordinator, Mike Riley, have pointed out that a one-quarterback system was never really in the cards.

Otton and Wachholtz were dead even coming out of spring practice and also at the end of preseason camp. In August, Robinson said he and Riley had agreed last spring that if they felt both players were still even after preseason camp, both would play.

With Otton playing the first and third quarters and Wachholtz the second and fourth, the Trojans sailed away to a 6-0 record.

Then it all came apart in the cold and rain at South Bend, Ind. After the 38-10 loss to Notre Dame, USC hasn’t been the same. The Trojans, who didn’t even have a close game in the season’s first six weeks, finished 2-2-1.

Even against Pacific 10 doormat Oregon State, USC was in a life-and-death struggle until the final minutes.

Monday in the Rose Bowl, Otton will start. Robinson said Wachholtz will play.

And so critics, who had little to say about the two-quarterback offense in the first six weeks, were suddenly all over Robinson down the stretch for not choosing and staying with one quarterback.

Robinson, who has said any controversy about the two-quarterback offense is media- generated, professes to not understand it.

“The two-quarterback offense saved our season,” he said, pointing out each player bailed the team out in late-game rallies at Washington and against Stanford. And he pointed to Wachholtz’s solid game at Oregon State, when he went the distance (Otton was hurt) on a night USC clinched the Rose Bowl berth.

“When games were on the line, we had quarterbacks who had played to turn to, not some inexperienced backup,” he said.

Not surprisingly, each quarterback would have preferred to have taken every snap this season. Did they think the two-quarterback offense worked?

Otton: “If you’re asking me if when we played poorly was it because we had a two-quarterback offense, no, that wasn’t a factor. Was the team hurt by it? No.

“Are Kyle and I better quarterbacks because of it? No. We were being compared all the time, and that was frustrating. But we got along well off the field, we handled it well.”

Wachholtz: “I wasn’t happy with it, but I worked with it. There were games where it helped us and games where it didn’t.

“It definitely didn’t work at Notre Dame. In a cold-weather game, it’s hard to go in there and immediately get into a rhythm, after you’ve been standing around on the sideline for a quarter. I went in there the second quarter and the first thing I did was fumble the snap.”

“But overall, I’d say it played out to a positive advantage.”

Statistically, there’s little to separate the two.

Washington’s Damon Huard led the conference in passing efficiency with a 143.26 rating. Wachholtz and Otton were second and third, 139.59 and 136.93.

Wachholtz completed 61.4%, Otton 61.3%. Wachholtz had 11 touchdown passes, Otton 12. Wachholtz threw three interceptions, Otton four, in 41 more attempts. To some players, it didn’t matter who was calling signals.

“I was never really aware of which one was in there, when I was blocking,” tackle John Michels said. “There was no feeling of transition or a change of pace, when one guy would go out and the other came in.

“It worked because they’re both mature, older players, not wrapped up in stats or publicity. They’re team-oriented guys.”

Riley said the experiment came out a plus but would caution any other coach considering it.

“Looking at everything, it was pretty good for us,” he said.

“But over the long haul, you have to consider the number of practice snaps you’re taking away from a guy who might be your game-long starter. In an average practice, a starter might get 50 snaps.

“We gave these guys about 30 each. So over a season, that’s hundreds of snaps a starter doesn’t get. When I look at those numbers . . . that impacts me.

“Also, it’s sometimes hard for a quarterback to get into a rhythm in one quarter. At Washington, in the first quarter, Otton was one for one for five yards, and he’s out. I thought at the time: ‘Wow, are we doing this right?’ But then we kept Otton in in the fourth quarter and he gets us the three touchdowns for the tie.”

An added reason for the double-quarterback offense, Robinson said early, was he wanted a broad distribution of responsibility for winning. He believed three-year starter Rob Johnson bore too much responsibility in 1993 and ’94.

Wide receiver coach Mike Sanford: “The way it ended up, we never had to go with backup guy, a guy who didn’t know what to do or a guy who hadn’t run the two-minute offense.”

Washington State defensive coordinator Bill Doba was asked for an opinion. In USC’s 26-14 victory over the Cougars, Otton was 14 for 24 and Wachholtz nine for 16. Each threw a touchdown pass.

“Both guys were effective against us,” he said.

“Wachholtz kind of worried us a little more because he’s more mobile than Otton. But Otton hangs in there very cool under pressure. He definitely has a presence.

“But the fact we were going to face them both, that didn’t make our practices any more difficult that week.”

USC defensive tackle Matt Keneley didn’t fault the two-quarterback system: “The games we lost, if the coaches made me make a list of reasons why we lost to them, the fact we played two quarterbacks wouldn’t be on it.”

Added defensive tackle Darrell Russell: “An offensive unit has to click as a whole. It shouldn’t matter who’s playing quarterback.”

Fullback Terry Barnum: “All I know is we’re the Pac-10 champion and in the Rose Bowl. Sure, it worked. But I’m not a coach. Even if I disagreed with it, it wouldn’t matter.”

Wachholtz is a fifth-year senior and is expected to be at least a mid-round NFL draft pick.

Otton is a junior and returns next season, presumably to wage a new battle for the starting assignment with redshirt freshmen John Fox and Quincy Woods.