Task in Tallahassee Is Enormous

Maybe the horse will make USC feel at home.

Only instead of Traveler, it will be Renegade, ridden by Florida State’s Chief Osceola at 80,000-seat Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee, where the Trojans will play the Seminoles on Saturday.

It’s a particularly difficult place to play.

Florida State--ranked 10th in the nation-- hasn’t lost at Doak Campbell Stadium since 1991, when Miami beat the Seminoles, 17-16.

That’s a 35-game unbeaten streak, and the only tie in that stretch was against Florida in 1995. In Coach Bobby Bowden’s 22-plus seasons at the school, the Seminoles are 111-16-2 at home.

Still, 18th-ranked USC can take some confidence from last season’s game at the Coliseum, when the Trojans lost, 14-7, before the teams went on to wildly divergent seasons. USC went 6-5, and Florida State finished 11-1.

The score was tied in the fourth quarter, 7-7, when USC cornerback Brian Kelly, looking at an almost certain interception, dropped the ball at the Florida State 10-yard line. The Seminoles went on to score the winning touchdown on that drive.

“USC is going to be a very tough opponent,” Bowden said. “We didn’t win the game last year until the fourth quarter. They’re going to be darn tough.”

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Here’s the ugly penalty toll from Saturday, when the Trojans lost 102 yards on 11 infractions: This time the defense committed the most egregious penalties. Besides a holding call, USC was flagged for a facemask, pass interference by cornerback Ken Haslip, roughing the passer, and spearing by linebacker David Gibson.

The offense was guilty of an illegal block, three holding calls, illegal motion and a false start.

After three games, USC has committed 33 penalties for 263 yards.

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Next Up for USC

Who: Florida State

Where: at Tallahassee, Fla.

When: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

TV: Channel 7

Radio: XTRA (690)