Both Will Have Guns Smoking

The Coliseum becomes Dodge City this afternoon, with USC’s young guns staring down Marshal Dillon.

Washington’s Huskies (5-2 overall, 4-1 in the Pacific 10 Conference) hope to run their new top gun, Corey Dillon, through, around and over the Trojans and hold onto second place in the Pac-10, behind unbeaten Arizona State.

And USC (5-3, 3-2), its hopes bolstered by a turnaround of its own running game last Saturday, seeks to keep Washington’s offense on its bench today with the kind of run-dominated, clock-eating drives it used to close out Washington State a week ago.

The big cannon in Washington’s offense this season was to have been Rashaan Shehee, but he is hobbled by a month-old ankle sprain.

Enter Dillon, the fastest and most effective running back USC has faced since Penn State’s Curtis Enis in the Kickoff Classic. Enis buried the Trojans, amassing 241 yards and scoring three touchdowns in a 24-7 Penn State victory.

A 6-foot-2, 220-pound junior college transfer from Utah, Dillon not only leads the Pac-10 in rushing at 130 yards a game, but ranks third in the nation in all-purpose running with 208 yards a game.

Everywhere USC’s defense looks today, it will see Dillon, who:

--Gained 295 all-purpose yards at Oregon last week.

--Ranks second among the Huskies in receptions with 14 for 190 yards.

--Has averaged 22 yards on 16 kickoff returns.

--Can go over 1,000 yards rushing today with 94. He would then be in position to challenge Napoleon Kaufman’s school record of 1,390 yards.

Washington comes to today’s match off big victories over UCLA, 41-21, and Oregon, 33-14. USC, after its 48-35 overtime loss at Arizona State two weeks ago, took the lead twice in the fourth quarter and beat Washington State at Pullman last Saturday, 29-24.

Coach John Robinson told his players at halftime he’d had it with the team’s sputtering pass offense and they should run the ball--or else.

In the fourth quarter, USC ran on 12 of 16 plays, ending its 60- and 83-yard drives with touchdowns.

Washington Coach Jim Lambright hopes his team’s kickoffs won’t be as interesting as USC’s kickoff returns in the two games. Freshman R. Jay Soward has registered 98- and 78-yard returns for touchdowns the last two Saturdays.

Trojan Notes

A crowd of about 60,000 is expected. . . . Tight end John Allred and defensive lineman Cedric Jefferson are out of today’s game, Allred because of an ankle injury, Jefferson because of a knee problem. Robinson on the loss of Allred: “If you were making a list of our top three players, he’d be on it.” . . . For the record: Anthony Davis, not Curtis Conway, holds the USC record for kickoff return average, 34.03 yards.

Robinson, talking about the successful pitch plays to Delon Washington last week, said John McKay once kept calling pitch plays to the near sideline, toward USC’s bench. “I asked him why he wanted them going to the near side and he said, ‘Because I can’t see ‘em if we run to the wide side.’ ” . . . How ineffective are USC’s wide receivers? Fullback Rodney Sermons leads the team in catches at 26 and Allred, a tight end, is tied for second.

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WASHINGTON at USC

* Time: 12:30

* TV: Channel 7

* Radio: KLSX- FM (97.1)