USC Taking Hard-Line Stance

What USC needs to do is go out and make a deal for a big, quick, veteran offensive lineman who not only has been around the block but also knows how to block.

What? They don’t allow trades in this league?

“I told them the other day, I can’t trade you. You’re my guys,” said offensive line coach Mike Barry, who, with no game Saturday, is putting the Trojans through a blocking boot camp this week.

Coach John Robinson needs no prodding to admit that USC has a “major glitch” in its running game, having rushed for an average of 28 yards against Florida State and Washington State in a pair of seven-point losses.

The running game starts--and too often stops--with the offensive line, although the tailback position remains an open question as well.

The really nagging question is whether USC’s offensive line is as good as it needs to be, whether it’s up to the standards that have produced 26 first-team All-Americans since 1964 and 18 first-round NFL draft picks in the last 20 years.

Robinson says it has to be.

“We can’t say we don’t have the horses,” he said. “Whether it’s a horse or it’s a mule, it’s got to block.”

With an 0-2 record, USC has to divide its problems between those that can be corrected and those that can’t.

A false start on fourth and one? That’s correctable.

Play-calling? It can be improved.

Running out of timeouts in the third quarter? Silly, but you can fix it.

The losses to Florida State and Washington State? Can’t be helped now.

As for the running game, Robinson’s word for it is “repairable.”

“When I walked off the field after the Washington State game I thought, ‘God, we don’t block anybody,’ ” he said. “I watched the film, and we’d have three guys blocking and one or two guys missing.

“We haven’t run the ball at all the first two games. Take that one area out, and our football team is on track in other areas. The defense played well enough to have won the first two.”

It’s easy to forget how much USC struggled to run last season, too, averaging only 114 yards a game and netting minus-14 against Washington, the worst rushing performance in USC history.

The good news was that the entire offensive line was back--that apparently was also the bad news--along with 1995 starter Phalen Pounds, who sat out last season because of shoulder surgery. With veteran left guard Chris Brymer back for his senior season and Travis Claridge, a standout as a freshman and now a veteran at right guard, USC thought it had the makings of a solid unit. Center Jonathan Himebauch is a senior and tackle Ken Bowen, though he isn’t very mobile at 6-feet-8 and 330 pounds, was considered improved. A freshman, Antoine Harris, won the competition to replace tight end John Allred, an NFL second-round pick.

But another slow start--even against two rather strong defensive lines--has been enough to raise the question: Is the issue performance or personnel? Is USC getting the caliber linemen it needs, or are the Trojans being left in the dust going for bulk while other schools are finding size and speed?

“You look for the best athletes,” Robinson said. “You’d like to have a Tony Boselli, a John Michels, that kind--big and fast. That’s the trend everybody’s going to. Sometimes when things aren’t going well, you begin to say, ‘Gee, I wish we had more speed.’ Or if you’re not big, ‘I wish we had more size.’ What’s really hurting us right now is a lack of confidence or a lack of consistency. . . . One of the things we have to overcome is a lack of confidence that we’re going to [be able to] run the ball.”

Washington State Coach Mike Price believes USC’s line is going to come around, and that in retrospect, people might give a little more credit to the Cougars’ defensive front, rated among the best in the Pacific 10 Conference.

“I hope what happens is, it turns out they were playing against two pretty good defensive lines in Florida State and Washington State--and I know that’s probably what they’re hoping too,” Price said.

“I really believe Mike Barry . . . will get that thing turned around. He’s a great coach and he did an excellent job bringing them along last season.”

Barry has a solid reputation, some of it built as an offensive line coach at Colorado, where he contributed to the 1990 national championship. But Barry is quick to take this line’s struggles personally.

“I can sit and yell and scream and blame them for not doing the right thing, but ultimately it’s my fault,” he said. “I’ve got to hold myself accountable, rather than point a finger.”

Against Washington State, the line was without Brymer, an aggressive blocker and emotional leader who watched from the sideline because of an injury but is expected to return against California on Sept. 27.

“I saw a number of guys playing really hard, namely Claridge,” Brymer said. “I saw a few guys--Himebauch, Phalen Pounds--playing hard. I can’t say the whole line was. The job wasn’t getting done. I think there is maybe a confidence factor for the offensive line.

“It’s a combination of things. Everyone knows the right technique, but everyone isn’t doing it in the game. We were 100% on during the week, but the technique wasn’t there in the game.”

Barry is focused on technique as well.

“There were some mistakes made physically and some other mismatches, but more than anything, they just physically weren’t doing what we practiced.

“It’s not rocket science, but you’ve got to apply the right technique. It was stepping with the wrong foot more than missed assignments. We were probably 95% on who to block.”

Brymer isn’t one of the biggest linemen at 6-3 and 310 pounds, but he has learned the techniques and he knows there’s such a thing as being too tall.

“You have to play with low pads,” he said. “If you don’t, you won’t have the leverage, and you’re going to get a stalemate or you’re going to get pushed back. And we have to use our hands better, get your hands inside, on their chest not their shoulders. Those are two huge technique areas we need to improve on.”

The line also needs to improve on handling the stunting and various confusion tactics the defense is going to try. More than anything, Barry said, it’s back to basics.

“Stepping with the right foot. Staying low, good stance,” he said. “I’m going right back to Day 1. Right now, we haven’t got good habits.”

They have one bad one: losing.

“I don’t think we have a chance to have success unless we run the ball effectively,” Robinson said. “We don’t have to lead the league or anything, but we have to be effective with it as a weapon to open up other weapons for us. There’s no alternative, as far as I’m concerned.”