Van Raaphorst Starts Again

Redshirt freshman Mike Van Raaphorst will start at quarterback again this week after playing the first half in USC’s loss to Washington last week.

“We feel like the circumstances of last week’s game prevented him from doing what he could have,” Coach John Robinson said. “We feel good about his week in practice. We like him for the same reasons we liked him the first week.”

Van Raaphorst completed five of 18 passes and was intercepted twice but was plagued by dropped passes before being replaced by John Fox in the second half.

Robinson stopped short of saying that Fox, the starter the first seven games, will get into the game as he promised last week, and wouldn’t comment on a rotation.

“This is not anything permanent. It’s strictly we take it as it comes.”

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Receiver Mike Bastianelli did not practice because he had to work on some classwork, but the move was unrelated to his two-game suspension, athletic department spokesman Tim Tessalone said.

Bastianelli sat out two games after admitting he received improper assistance from a tutor on a paper two years ago.

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NEXT FOR USC

WHO: Stanford

WHERE: Coliseum

WHEN: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

TV: Channel 7

RADIO: KLSX-FM (97.1)