Unquestionably, USC Loses Ugly

It was an endorsement, however carefully worded, but in the end it might prove only to be setting the date for the execution.

“I’m with John for the whole year,” USC Athletic Director Mike Garrett said as he walked off the field behind Coach John Robinson after a 35-7 loss to Arizona State on Saturday at Sun Devil Stadium. Garrett was remarkably calm and composed for the circumstances, but he was also honest enough to state the obvious: “I thought it was ugly.”

It was so ugly that there could be no dismissing it, not like surviving a scare from a small-time team such as Nevada Las Vegas.

Robinson has no illusions about where he and his 2-3 team stand going into next week’s game at Notre Dame, and he issued his second “We choked” soliloquy of the season without prompting after the game.

“Our performance was a disgrace to every person involved,” he said. “We’re ashamed. Every man who has worn this uniform in the past, I know, is embarrassed by what they saw today. No one is going to escape the pain and humiliation of what happened to us today.

“We didn’t seem to have any fight in us at all. We wallowed in our own mistakes. The fault for this is mine. The responsibility for this poor performance is mine. I take the blame. But every man on this football team has to sit down and find out if they have the kind of courage [to recover].

“We’re choking in the games. Choking on our own mistakes . . .

“I’m not going to take any questions. It was a terrible performance by everyone involved--every player on this football team, and every coach. It was humiliating.”

That it was. Arizona State, a team that had not scored more than 14 points in its last three games--a team that has a freshman quarterback trying to replace Jake Plummer--absolutely shredded USC for 528 yards and held them to a mere 214, then took mercy on the Trojans at the end.

USC is not used to pity, but that was Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder’s best attempt at softening a blow to an old friend in Robinson when he declined to score on first and goal from the three-yard line in the final seconds, downing the ball on back-to-back plays.

Ryan Kealy, a freshman, passed for 281 yards and three touchdowns, completing 21 of 34 passes with one interception. His favorite target was Lenzie Jackson, one of several receivers who took apart USC’s vaunted secondary. Jackson caught seven passes for 132 yards.

By all rights, the score should have been 42-7. As it was, it equaled Robinson’s third-worst loss in 12 years at USC. The worst was a 38-7 loss to to 12th-ranked Arizona in 1993. Saturday’s 28-point loss equaled the worst since then, a 38-10 loss to No. 17 Notre Dame in 1995.

“We’re in hell and can’t get out,” offensive lineman Chris Brymer said. “We’ve just got to reassess and go on.”

USC has victories over only California and UNLV, and with a 1-2 record in the Pacific 10 Conference is almost certainly out of the Rose Bowl picture. Next week is Notre Dame, with Stanford, Washington and UCLA to come.

“Coach Robinson is really disgusted,” Brymer said. “We’ve got to win. It would be a tragedy for him to lose his job because of our season, because of our performance today and in the past. He’s a great coach. It’s not the coaches’ fault right now. It’s the players.”

It is midseason, but the Trojans played as though it was a preseason scrimmage Saturday, thwarting themselves with six penalties for 52 yards, many of them in crucial situations, with still others declined because other mistakes made them moot.

One that really hurt was a questionable holding call against center Jonathan Himebauch that brought back a long, potentially game-turning run by Delon Washington in the third.

If it continues to go like this, there might be little suspense over Robinson’s future by the end of the season, a year after a tense few weeks were broken by a victory over Notre Dame.

Garrett, perceived as eager to get rid of Robinson last year, has said all season he is “committed” to him, has been a dutiful regular at practices and media luncheons, and was in the locker room after Saturday’s loss.

USC started the game looking as if it would be able to run the ball against the Sun Devils, but a shoulder sprain to freshman Malaefou MacKenzie in the first half seemed to derail that, even though he later returned. Washington, once the starter, came in as the third stringer with LaVale Woods already out for this week and probably next because of an ankle injury.

Arizona State’s lead at halftime was a hardly insurmountable 13-7. The Sun Devils’ first field goal came after Mitchell Freedman intercepted a pass off the hands of tight end Antoine Harris, and its first touchdown came after USC turned the ball over on downs, when MacKenzie couldn’t gain two yards on fourth and two.

Even with quarterback John Fox passing ineffectively, a six-point deficit seemed no crisis.

Then came the third quarter, when Arizona State piled up 200 yards and held USC to 11.

“We just didn’t do it,” said Fox, who completed only eight of 23 passes, including a 21-yard scoring play to Mike Bastianelli in the second quarter, and was replaced for the first time this season in the fourth quarter, when offensive coordinator Hue Jackson sent redshirt freshman Mike Van Raaphorst into the game. Quincy Woods also played.

“At that time I felt we needed to give the other guys an opportunity. Sometimes that will spark something,” Jackson said. “John Fox is still our quarterback. No question. There is no quarterback controversy.”

Fox played with both ankles taped over his cleats, probably to disguise the fact that his right is troubling him, though he insisted, “My ankle is fine.”

“We got completely embarrassed,” Fox said. “I agree with everything Coach said. I don’t think there’s anyone in this room that doesn’t feel that way.”

USC Notes

Arizona State tailback J.R. Redmond suffered a hip injury in the fourth quarter and did not return. . . . USC freshman tight end Lonnie Ford broke his collarbone in the first half.