If Trojans Can Run, They Have a Snowball’s Chance

Still seeking its running game--the one that disappeared a month ago--USC begins its Pacific 10 stretch run tonight in chilly, hostile, 37,600-seat Martin Stadium.

When last they visited eastern Washington, the Trojans were greeted with snowballs as they came onto the field, most of them directed at Coach John Robinson, who hid behind the officials.

After a 23-10 victory, Robinson crowed: “A fat guy like me, and not one of those guys could hit me.”

They may get another chance. There was snow on the ground in Pullman on Friday, and the forecast for today called for a chance of rain mixed with snow showers, with game-time temperatures in the low 40s.

Robinson’s offensive plan requires softening up defenses with a dominating running game, then picking it apart with passes. Since the Sept. 14 Oregon State game, USC hasn’t been able to do either.

LaVale Woods and Delon Washington have combined to average only 90 rushing yards while the Trojans have gone 2-2 in the last four games. Tonight, perhaps a role can be found for USC’s best running back, Shawn Walters.

Trojan receivers are averaging about four drops a game, and no one has more than 26 catches.

USC’s track record against Washington State is good--it has beaten the Cougars more frequently than any other Pac-10 school, an 87.5% victory percentage (47-5-4) since 1921. The Trojans have won 24 of the last 25 and the last eight.

USC, 4-3 overall and 2-2 in the Pac-10, virtually out of the Rose Bowl hunt after last week’s 48-35 overtime loss at Arizona State, wants to win its last six and finish 10-3.

Robinson expressed that goal Monday but later called it a team goal, not his prediction.

Washington State (5-2, 3-1) is tied with Washington for second place in the Pac-10, having beaten Cal, Oregon State and Oregon, and lost to Arizona.

The Cougars rank fourth in rushing defense (USC is ninth), second in pass efficiency defense (USC is first) and seventh in total defense (USC is fifth).

Both teams have dangerous kick-return games. Washington State’s Nian Taylor is averaging 22 yards per kickoff return and USC’s Chad Morton is fourth in league punt return rankings at 9.9 yards per return. Washington State’s Shawn Tims is second, at 14.1.

But no matter what, as one USC player said this week, it’s the running game that must be brought back to life.

Said guard Chris Brymer: “We’re going to have to run to win this game. We’ve got to take the pressure off Brad [quarterback Otton].”

With Brymer back in the lineup last week at Arizona State, pass protection improved significantly.

If anyone a week ago had told Robinson that at Arizona State he’d get a gift touchdown from the officials, a kickoff return for a touchdown and that Otton wouldn’t be sacked once, he’d probably have thought the game a lock.

All of those things happened, but because the Trojans couldn’t run consistently (90 yards, to Arizona State’s 266) and Otton’s receivers dropped five passes, USC’s defense was asked to do too much and it wobbled in overtime.

Said senior linebacker Sammy Knight: “I’ve never been as tired as I was in the fourth quarter and the overtime.”

Robinson sees his receivers going through a maturation period.

“They practice hard, they all show an ability to catch the ball, but now they’re in a period where maybe they’re all pressing too hard,” he said.

USC Notes

John Robinson said this to his team, minutes after the loss at Arizona State: “I’ve never been more proud of a football team that I am of you guys right now. I will never allow anyone to tell me that every one of you didn’t leave everything you had on that field.” . . . USC has two players from Washington, Brad Otton from Tumwater and Travis Claridge from Vancouver. Washington State has 43 Californians. . . . With 48 tackles in the last three games, freshman middle linebacker Chris Claiborne has taken over the team lead with 65. Sammy Knight is second at 59, Mark Cusano third at 48. . . . John Allred, whose previous best season was 11 catches, has 26 for the team lead and needs 18 to tie Joe Cormier’s 1985 USC tight end mark of 44 in a season. . . . Washington State hasn’t beaten USC in Pullman since 1986, when the Cougars upset ninth-ranked USC, 34-14. . . . The Trojans are recruiting Sammy Knight’s younger brother, Darryl, a 6-foot-3, 205-pound quarterback/linebacker/safety from Riverside. He’d be the third Trojan Knight--older brother Ryan was a 1980s tailback.