Overtime a Good Time for Robinson

Entering the ballroom for the Notre Dame-USC luncheon Friday at the Bonaventure Hotel, John Robinson was greeted with a standing ovation from Trojan fans among the crowd of 1,500. Some wore cardinal and gold buttons that read, “John, We Love You.” When it was his turn to speak, Notre Dame’s coach, Lou Holtz, acted like he did too, insisting that there is “not a better coach or a better person in the country than John Robinson.”

Considering that USC’s opponent Saturday would be Notre Dame, perhaps it was appropriate that the day before the game seemed more like an Irish wake for Robinson than a pep rally. The body, however, was still kicking.

Late Friday afternoon, when a teary-eyed USC fan asked to hug Robinson after practice as if it might be the last time she would see him on campus, he responded with both chins up.

“Hey,” Robinson said, “I’m not looking at this thing like it’s over.”

“This thing” he referred to was his second tenure as USC’s head football coach, and, if you believe some speculation in the media last week, it would be finished if the Trojans did not win or, failing that, die trying against 10th-ranked Notre Dame.

About 27 hours later, the Trojans had their upset, beating the Irish, 27-20, for the first time in 14 seasons in a come-from-behind overtime victory that was almost as unlikely as their come-from-ahead overtime loss the previous Saturday to UCLA.

“I’m very happy with this win,” Robinson said later. “It’s one of the best moments of my life.”

No one who heard him speak could doubt that he had reached an emotional peak, but it was not for the reasons one might think. As he explained, he was elated to finally end USC’s humiliating streak of failures in one of the nation’s most storied intersectional rivalries, elated for seniors such as quarterback Brad Otton, tight end John Allred and linebacker Sammy Knight who ended their college careers with a victory and elated to have received the game ball from the players.

To suggest, however, that Robinson’s job had to be saved by outcome of one game, by the narrow margin of a five-yard touchdown pass from Otton to running back Rodney Sermons on the fourth play of overtime, was an insult to a man who has been among the leading college coaches for more than a decade.

“If you talk about me, you have an obligation to talk about the total me, what I’ve done over the years,” he said. “If you want to evaluate me, evaluate the whole me.”

Despite the outcome, this game would not rank among the best that his players have played or his coaching staff has coached. The Trojans threw an interception in the end zone, dropped several passes and called a questionable fake punt from their own 26 that fooled no one.

Notre Dame, though, had a conservative game plan that seemed to have been designed to keep the Trojans in the game, had four turnovers--including a fumble at the USC goal line--and missed an extra point attempt that would have all but clinched the victory.

But even if the Trojans had not won, finishing the season with a losing record at 5-7 for only the third time in 35 seasons, Robinson’s job should have been secure.

Only two factors are pertinent, how he and his teams have represented the university in the past and how they can be expected to do so in the future. Without a crystal ball, or the sports section from one of the “Early Edition” newspapers, the latter is considerably more difficult to figure than the former.

On the field, it is hard to imagine that anyone could have had much more success than Robinson in his 11 seasons as USC’s head coach. His record is 98-30-4, a 75% winning percentage surpassed among active coaches with more than 10 years experience only by Nebraska’s Tom Osborne, Penn State’s Joe Paterno and Florida State’s Bobby Bowden.

Now it would be as impossible to ignore as a wart on the Mona Lisa’s nose that the current Trojans finished 6-6. Even so, Robinson since he returned in 1993, finding an era in college football when it is considerably more difficult to win than before because of stricter scholarship limitations, has won nine games once and eight games twice and taken his teams to three bowls.

The challenge facing USC administrators, though, is to determine whether the Robinson of the future will be the coach he was in his previous 10 years with the Trojans or the coach he was in this one.

Observing a team in practice Friday that will return next season with 40 of its best 45 or 46 players, Robinson said: “Our prospects are very good for the future. The decision that has to be made is whether I’m the person to bring about that success.”

We know how Robinson would vote. We also know that USC’s administrators agreed as recently as last May, when they gave him a five-year contract extension through 2001 after his 9-2-1 team beat Northwestern and the latest coaching genius, Gary Barnett, in the Rose Bowl.

Surely the administrators are not going to tell us that they are a lot smarter now than they were seven months ago.

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Winning Time

Overtime play-by-play

USC

Down: Result

1st and 10 at 25-yard line Sermons 14 pass from Otton

1st and 10 at 14 Allred 7 pass from Otton

2nd and 3 at 5 Washington minus-1 run

3rd and 4 at 5 Sermons 5 pass from Otton for touchdown

PAT--Abrams kick (Note: 5-yard penalty on Notre Dame, running into the kicker.)

NOTRE DAME

Down: Result

1st and 10 at 30-yard line Chryplewicz 6 pass from Powlus

2nd and 4 at 24 Denson minus-5 run

3rd and 9 at 29 Powlus pass incomplete

4th and 9 at 29 Powlus pass deflected by Cusano. Game over.

Final score: USC 27, Notre Dame 20 (OT)