Ballhawks

From the day Daylon McCutcheon decided he would return to USC for his senior season, this was the game.

USC versus Florida State.

McCutcheon at cornerback versus Peter Warrick at receiver.

Mano a mano, backpedal against pass route, speed versus speed.

McCutcheon usually is the essence of cool, but this week his demeanor is a little different. Not unsettled, mind you, but more excited. He has been counting the days for a while.

“Oh, yeah,” McCutcheon said, and laughed. “I knew their team, and I knew the schedule.

“I always said, ‘To be the best, you’ve got to compete against the best.’ Obviously, he’s one of the best, if not the best, receiver in college football. This is something I’ve looked forward to a lot.”

He knows this is his chance to prove to some 80,000 fans in Doak Campbell Stadium, an ABC audience and plenty of NFL eyes on Saturday that all the promise he showed early in his career is still there after a disappointing junior season.

“There’s no question. It’s the game within the game,” said Dennis Thurman, the Trojans’ secondary coach.

“We’ve talked about this one since January. When he said he was coming back, we analyzed it and took a look at our schedule. This is the game we’ve pointed to since then. I believe he’s up to the challenge, I really do.”

Warrick is sort of the Seminole equivalent of R. Jay Soward, a speedy, big-play receiver--only taller at 6 feet and a leaper too. And, like Soward, he is occasionally prone to dropped passes. So far this season, Warrick has caught 16 passes, averaging 18.4 yards a catch and 98 yards a game.

“He’s a very talented receiver whose inconsistency is the only real problem,” Florida State Coach Bobby Bowden said. “Last year, he’d catch one, drop one, catch one, drop one. This year, he goes the first ballgame and doesn’t drop a thing, but the last two ballgames, he’s dropped two each game. He’s got unlimited talent if he learns to catch every pass.”

The Trojans see plenty to admire--and to try to slow down.

“Peter Warrick is a beautiful receiver,” Thurman said. “He’s a heck of a competitor, and considered to be in the top three or five college receivers.

“‘Our goal is to see if we can contain him. I’m not sure you can stop him totally.”

McCutcheon will get the assignment-- perhaps even shadowing Warrick all over the field, from the sound of it.

“I’m the most experienced, and it’s kind of like a personal challenge to myself,” McCutcheon said. “I think everyone understands that.”

McCutcheon usually plays left corner, although against the left-handed quarterbacks of San Diego State and Oregon State he played the right side some too.

It’s not a bad bet he’s going to play Warrick this week, wherever he may roam. Thurman only smiles and says he can’t reveal the game plan.

“A lot will be determined by how Southern Cal plays their corners,” Bowden said. “Peter Warrick plays both sides of the field. They can put one corner on him, or if their defensive back sits on one side of the field, we can keep Warrick away from him.”

Last season, Brian Kelly went against Warrick more than McCutcheon. Then, the Seminoles had a pair of top receivers in Warrick and E.G. Green.

Warrick remembers the game well--a 14-7 Florida State victory in a game the Seminoles survived only after Kelly dropped an interception deep in Seminole territory with the score tied in the fourth quarter.

“I feel their secondary stepped up last year,” Warrick said. “They made great plays, even though they dropped that interception. I feel their secondary will be a challenge this week.

“Last year there was more talk about Kelly, but we also knew McCutcheon is a nice cornerback. Now he’s our main focus.

“I watched him on film. He’s a great cornerback. I’m preparing all week, practicing hard. When Saturday comes, we’ll play hard. Go out and execute.”

McCutcheon figures to get all the action he can handle.

He knows what it’s like to watch all the balls go to the other side of the field. And he knows what it’s like to get lulled to sleep--and to be caught unaware by receivers who don’t have big names, such as Damon Williams of Nevada Las Vegas and Lenzie Jackson of Arizona State, players who burned USC’s secondary last season.

McCutcheon’s draft stock dropped as the Trojans’ pass defense yardage soared.

With Kelly in the NFL now, teams tend to pick on Ken Haslip or Antuan Simmons, and leave McCutcheon alone. That’s something he has to overcome.

“The first three games, I got about four passes a game thrown at me,” McCutcheon said. “Before, when they did that, I don’t think I concentrated as much, and you’d get caught off guard. This year, whether they throw at me 100 times or one time, I’m going to be ready.

“If you’re only going to throw at me three times, I’m going to make sure you’re not going to catch three. That’s all I can do. I can’t control their offense.”

Thurman nods his approval.

“The thing I’ve been impressed with, he hasn’t had a lot of balls thrown at him and hasn’t been the focal point of the attack. But he’s contributed in other ways, special teams, doing things and getting his job done regardless. He definitely is a team guy.”

There should be no lack of activity against Warrick.

“He’s the big-play guy,” McCutcheon said. “If the game’s on the line and it’s third and 15, you know they’re going to him.

“You can’t expect him not to catch any passes. You can’t keep him down completely.

“But when it’s a key down, or the game is on the line . . . they’re going to No. 9. I know it, everyone knows it. He’s their best receiver. That’s even sweeter if you can stop him when everyone knows they’re going to throw it to him.”

Sweetest of all would be an interception. McCutcheon doesn’t have one yet this season and had only two last year--one against the Seminoles and one against Oregon State.

But Florida State quarterback Chris Weinke is capable of throwing them--he threw six against North Carolina State as the Wolfpack upset the Seminoles.

If McCutcheon ends up with an interception and the game in his hands the way Kelly did last season, he’ll know what to do.

Hang on. Because there won’t be another chance.

“The way I kind of think about it is, it’s the Big Money Game,” McCutcheon said. “Going into it, you can gain a lot, or you can lose a lot.

“It’s a big-time game. It’s USC against Florida State, but it’s also us against each other. I just want to win.”