Trojans’ Loss Is Tough to Bear

USC had the game in hand, and then it teetered, turned and finally veered sharply and irreversibly out of control.

A 21-point lead over Cal was swallowed up by a mire of mistakes--penalties, fumbles, bad decisions--and a hell-bent Cal team scored 22 unanswered points to upset the No. 19 Trojans, 32-31, in front of 65,678 Saturday at the Coliseum.

It was a disaster, and a stunning one. You almost had to blink to believe a scoreboard that read Cal 32, USC 31, with 3 1/2 minutes left after Cal took its first lead of the game on a three-yard run by Marcus Fields and the extra point by Tim Wolleck.

USC’s final stunned, helpless attempt to score failed, and Cal (4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Pacific 10 Conference) celebrated its second win in a row at the Coliseum, together with the 1996 victory that was Cal’s first in the Coliseum since 1970.

Justin Vedder, the cocksure Cal quarterback from Laguna Hills High and Saddleback College, ran up the famous Coliseum tunnel and saw Traveler standing to the side, looking as forlorn as a horse can.

“Hey, hey, Traveler!” Vedder said. “Bye-bye!”

Who could have guessed it would end that way?

“It’s tough,” USC receiver Billy Miller said. “This was a team we should have beat.”

After R. Jay Soward’s dancing, tackle-slipping 80-yard punt return for a touchdown with 7:21 left in the third quarter, USC led, 31-10.

But bit by bit, it disappeared.

“It was a shock,” said tailback Petros Papadakis, who scored on a 65-yard run and had a 58-yard touchdown run called back because of a third-quarter penalty that turned the game--a personal foul call against the Trojans’ Larry Parker for shoving defender Nate Gelderman far behind the play.

“A lot of things happened, intangibles,” Papadakis said. “They came in here and took it to us in the second half.”

That they did, and here’s how it fell apart:

* Carson Palmer, the freshman quarterback, came in during the third quarter, and was sacked in the end zone for a safety.

“He had no chance, there was nothing he could do,” USC Coach Paul Hackett said. “I take part of the blame, it was an adventurous play call. Probably the product of the score and being upset about the holding call. We were going to throw deep.” The score: USC 31, Cal 12.

* Cal scored on the next possession, to make it 31-18 after missing the extra point. But in the third, Parker’s penalty negated Papadakis’ run. Why so crucial? A couple of plays later, Trojan tight end Antoine Harris fumbled a pass from Palmer. Cal’s Damian Marzett picked up the ball and raced 40 yards to the USC 37. Five plays later, Vedder passed two yards to tight end A.J. Kunkle for a touchdown with 13:51 left in the game. The score: USC 31, Cal 25.

* More trouble. This time freshman tailback Frank Strong fumbled at his 43. Cal recovered, and 10 plays later, after a couple of crucial third-down plays, Fields carried the ball in for the touchdown. The extra point makes the score Cal 32, USC 31.

USC started its final drive at its 33 and got no further after three incomplete passes by Mike Van Raaphorst, who came back in to replace Palmer.

“I thought we were going to do it,” Van Raaphorst said. “We just didn’t. I had a chance to hit Billy [Miller] on first down. After that, they pinned their ears back and came at us.”

What happened? Did the Trojans relax?

“You look back, and you say yeah, we did, but it feels different at the time,” Van Raaphorst said.

Just as surely as USC had overwhelmed most of its opponents in the fourth quarter, this time the Trojans were overwhelmed.

“I’ve said all along and I’ve been asked all along about the penalties,” said Hackett, whose team had nine for 89 yards, many in critical situations. “We dodged the bullet for a while. This time we couldn’t dodge the bullet. The penalty situation overwhelmed us, and a very opportunistic Berkeley team got us. You’ve got to give them credit for what they did.”

A Cal offense that was averaging only 13.5 points a game had plenty of stars.

* Receiver Dameane Douglas set a record for most receptions by a USC opponent, catching 13 passes for 151 yards--without any catch longer than 29 yards. He was also the Bears’ sure-handed man on crucial third downs.

* Deltha O’Neal, a cornerback, return specialist and occasional offensive player, threw a touchdown pass on a trick play, returned eight kickoffs or punts for 197 yards, caught two passes for 12 yards, carried once for five and made four tackles and broke up two passes.

* Vedder broke out of a slump by completing 28 of 39 passes for 244 yards and one touchdown with one interception.

USC (4-2, 2-1) was without starting tailback Chad Morton, who sat out a second consecutive game because of a bruised back, but USC wasted the efforts of Papadakis, who rushed for 118 yards in 13 carries, his first 100-yard game, and Soward, who scored on a 77-yard reception in addition to the 80-yard punt return.

Van Raaphorst passed for 203 yards, completing 11 of 22 passes with two touchdowns, and Palmer--who didn’t spark a comeback this time--completed one of two for nine yards.

When the game was on the line, Hackett went back to Van Raaphorst.

“My feeling was go back to Mike and try to go back to the momentum of the first half,” Hackett said. But Van Raaphorst couldn’t find the rhythm again.

Look back, and there were so many things in a one-point game. There were the penalties, the fumbles, the safety--and just before halftime, USC kicked a field goal from the one-yard line instead of trying to score a touchdown.

“Yeah, that one’s going to haunt me,” Hackett said. “I thought then, and I really outsmarted myself, I felt we couldn’t afford to go away with no points. I felt a halftime lead of 24-10 would hold up.”

Not this time.