Oregon St. Gives USC Rare Scare

This was the puzzle for USC as the Trojans waited through a long day of football before their game against Oregon State at the Coliseum.

If Oregon State beat Baylor, which beat North Carolina State, which beat Florida State . . . what might that mean for USC?

Turns out, it meant a bit of trouble.

No. 18 USC couldn’t exhale until the final minutes of Saturday night’s game, when the Trojans finally ended Oregon State’s bid for its first victory over the Trojans since 1967--a streak of 25 games.

But USC scored two touchdowns in the final two minutes to win going away, 40-20, in front of 45,629 and remain unbeaten at 3-0.

“Until the very end of the game, I didn’t relax one moment,” USC Coach Paul Hackett said.

Tailback Chad Morton’s 12-yard touchdown run with 1:27 left finally sealed it. Morton, bothered by a back strain this week, didn’t start the game but nevertheless ran for 123 yards in 23 carries, the fourth 100-yard game of his career and his second in a row.

USC linebacker Chris Claiborne made the victory emphatic when he intercepted a pass by Tyler Tomich and returned it 40 yards for a touchdown with 59 seconds to play.

“I feel kind of bad how the game got away at the end,” Oregon State Coach Mike Riley said. “We were trying to steal one and we had an opportunity to go for the win.”

It’s still hard to say what that chain from Oregon State to Florida State means--but rest assured, USC will find out Saturday, when the Trojans play the No. 11 Seminoles at Tallahassee.

“Win or lose, we’ll get to see where we are,” Claiborne said.

That’s what the Trojans are eager to find out.

“It’s going to be tough, just to fight the crowd there,” Morton said. “But a win would mean so much to us, because it’s their house.”

The Oregon State game was another game of spectacular big plays for the Trojans--but they were interspersed by unsettling gaffes and far too many penalties (11 for 102 yards).

“We just were raggedy,” Hackett said.

The quiet hero was Adam Abrams, the USC kicker who faltered suddenly last week by missing three field goals after making 12 in a row. He put that night behind him by going four for four against Oregon State (1-2).

The four field goals (tying the school record held by Quin Rodriguez and Steve Jordan) came from 33, 28, 33 and 43 yards, the final one with 2:11 left in the game.

That gave USC a 26-20 lead--one probably safe from the 50-yard range of Oregon State kicker Jose Cortez.

“I never lost my confidence in myself,” Abrams said. “I know some people did, but I know I’m a good kicker. I just wanted to show my team they can trust me.”

USC led, 17-10 at halftime, and then the Trojans found out R. Jay Soward wasn’t the only man in the Coliseum who can turn a game on its head in a matter of seconds.

Oregon State’s Tim Alexander, a remarkable athlete playing receiver this year after three seasons as the starting quarterback, took the second-half kickoff at the goal and took it right through the heart of USC’s coverage, outrunning everybody for a touchdown.

Just like that, it was 17-17.

Alexander’s was the first 100-yard kickoff return against USC since 1991, when Washington State’s Anthony Prior accomplished the feat.

Alexander’s was only the second goal-line-to-goal-line run of the night.

A German shepherd did it first, starting in the USC end zone and drawing a huge cheer from the crowd when it crossed the Oregon State goal line with USC leading, 17-7, in the second quarter.

That was a lighter moment than those in the second half, when the upset seemed possible.

Carson Palmer, USC’s freshman quarterback, appeared in the first and second halves, directing USC to two second-half field goals as the Trojans tried to stay afloat.

One, Abrams’ 28-yarder, came with 11:03 left in the third quarter on a drive that began after Oregon State tailback Ken Simonton fumbled a punt, and USC’s Pat Swanson recovered. That kick made it 20-17.

USC was trying to hold on to a six-point lead in the fourth quarter when Oregon State extended a drive with a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-one from the USC 28. But the Beavers had to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Cortez after USC stopped the Beavers on third and six from the 10, Terrance Bryant sacked by Mark Matock and Shamsud-Din Abdul-Shaheed.

At the game’s outset, Larry Parker played the Soward role, catching a 47-yard touchdown pass from Mike Van Raaphorst on USC’s fourth play from scrimmage, and USC had a 7-0 lead only 1:42 into the game.

Soward, the game-breaking big-play man against San Diego State when he scored three touchdowns, allowed his imperfections to show through. He finished with seven catches for 82 yards, but lost the total yardage battle to Alexander, 234-144, and fumbled a punt, leading to an Oregon State touchdown.

Now Florida State is in the Trojans’ sights.

“I think we’re ready,” Hackett said. “We’re ready to see where we stand nationally.”

* J.A. ADANDE

Those R. Jay Soward statistics about touchdowns-per-touch might be misleading. C11