COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : ROSE BOWL : Distractions? What Distractions?

By HELENE ELLIOTT

Dec. 30, 1995 12 AM PT

Despite a hectic schedule that this week included visits to Disneyland, Universal Studios and on Friday to “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” Northwestern players said they’re well prepared for Monday’s game against USC.

“We’ve practiced all we can practice, seen as many films as we can see, drawn up as many plays as we can draw up,” running back Darnell Autry said Friday. “If we’re not ready now, I don’t think we’ll ever be ready.”

Autry, who carried the ball a school-record 355 times this season, said he’s ready for another busy day. Asked how many times can he carry it Monday, he replied: “As many times as they give it to me.”

USC Sports

Helene Elliott

Helene Elliott was with the Los Angeles Times’ Sports department from 1989 to 2024, first as a staff writer and then, starting in 2006, as a columnist. She became the first female journalist to be honored with a plaque in the Hall of Fame of a major professional sport as the 2005 winner of the Hockey Hall of Fame’s Elmer Ferguson Award, awarded to writers “who have brought honor to journalism and to hockey.” A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., and graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, she has covered 18 Olympics.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL / DAILY REPORT : ROSE BOWL : Distractions? What Distractions?

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