In Some Ways, This Is a Big Game for USC

This season of the faltering offense and its 1-2-3-punt possessions has come down to its final few games, and basically one question remains:

Will it be three and out for Coach John Robinson too?

USC can still have a winning season if the Trojans manage victories in two of their last three--against Stanford today, at Oregon State next week and against No. 10 UCLA on Nov. 22.

But lose today, with the UCLA game still looming, and USC figures to have its first consecutive seasons without winning records since 1960 and ’61. And if that’s the case, Robinson doesn’t figure to come back.

Still, there will actually be bowl scouts on hand at the Coliseum today, representatives from the Independence, Las Vegas and Motor City bowls. They will be looking only at the winner of this matchup of teams that started the season in the top 25 but have stumbled to 4-4 records.

Mathematically, the Trojans can still finish with seven wins, among them victories over Notre Dame and UCLA for the first time since 1981.

Realistically, they need to win today to hope to go 6-5, not lose to UCLA too badly, and play in some small-time bowl.

Pessimistically, they could lose their final three and go down as the worst Trojan team since Larry Smith’s 3-8 bunch in 1991.

Stanford is trying to right itself as well, after losing its last three games and spoiling a 4-1 start with turnovers and a stalled running game.

“This game is very important to both teams,” Robinson said. “Both are capable of coming out of this offensive slump and getting going again.”

USC has risen from its deathbed twice this season--beating California after a 0-2 start, then beating Notre Dame after a 35-7 loss to Arizona State had prompted Robinson to say he would resign if the Trojans don’t turn things around.

Can they pull off Act III after a 27-0 loss to Washington last week? The shutout was their first in seven years.

At this late stage of the season, USC is pinning its hopes on new quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst, the redshirt freshman who replaced John Fox as starter last week. Van Raaphorst showed promise but was plagued by dropped passes, and Fox replaced him at halftime.

USC’s offensive line couldn’t hold off Washington’s pass rush, but the Trojans ought to fare better physically this time around, even though Stanford has defensive end Kailee Wong, the Pac-10’s sack leader with nine.

USC is more likely to stick with Van Raaphorst this week, and hope for a boost at tailback from converted defensive back Chad Morton, a 5-foot-8 scatback who had a 143-yard game in emergency duty against Oregon State last season.

Given that much can’t be expected of a young offense that ranks last in the Pac-10 in scoring at 17.6 points a game, a lot will be left up to a defense that played one of its best games against Washington.

“We have to get our defense to stand up again and get this win,” Robinson said.

Stanford Coach Tyrone Willingham’s team has hit a rough stretch after bowl appearances in his first two seasons. The three consecutive losses are Stanford’s first since 1994.

“It’s very obvious that the No. 1 difference between our early success and our slump right now is the absence of our run game,” said Willingham, whose team lost 34 yards in a 27-7 thumping by UCLA last week.

“We moved away from our run game a little too soon, and I think that’s my fault. We’ve got to improve our execution and find better ways to attack the eight-man fronts that we’re seeing.”

Mike Mitchell and Anthony Bookman are capable runners and average 130 yards a game between them, but run defense has been one of USC’s strengths. USC ranks seventh nationally, giving up only 87.5 yards a game after holding Washington to 31 yards rushing.

Stanford quarterback Chad Hutchinson, also a standout pitcher on the baseball team, has thrown for an average of 229 yards a game, and his favorite target is Troy Walters, who has 61 catches for 779 yards.

One of the wild cards today is how the players on both teams respond to the dwindling promise of their seasons.

After the shutout loss at Washington, USC’s Daylon McCutcheon stood as tall as a 5-11 cornerback can and said he would not give up on the final three games.

“I don’t know about anybody else, but I don’t think our team is made of quitters,” he said. “I don’t think anyone will give up. I expect everyone to come out next week and fight.”

R. Jay Soward, who was held without a reception against Washington before being knocked out of the game because of a concussion, walked off the practice field this week with what seemed a different feeling.

“I’m just going to play for fun,” he said. “I’m not going to worry about it. I just want to finish off the year right.

“What can we do? We’re 4-4. Of course we’re playing to beat them, but we have to go out and have fun and put everything on the line. We have little to lose.”