USC Learns Hard Way

It wasn’t the heat, it was the humility.

Hurricane Georges veered away and sent only rain showers on a steamy day, but Florida State bore down on USC on Saturday afternoon, showing the Trojans how far they have to go in a 30-10 Seminole victory in front of 79,815 at Doak Campbell Stadium.

USC’s offense all but stalled against the onslaught of Florida State’s pass rush. Twenty-three yards passing in the entire game. Three completions. Five fumbles--four of them lost. And at the end of the day, only eight first downs and 189 yards of offense.

A solid defensive effort by a unit that spent almost 40 minutes on the field kept No. 18 USC in striking distance of No. 10 Florida State at times, but the slumped shoulders of players on the bench told the tale: Hardly anyone could think USC was going to win.

“It’s humbling for us, definitely,” tailback Chad Morton said. “Their guys were overwhelming.”

Humbling, but educational.

“I’m not all that shocked,” said USC Coach Paul Hackett, who lost for the first time as USC’s coach and is now 3-1. “We need to understand the level we’ve got to play at. That’s the thing they told us today--how you have to play if you’re going to be a powerhouse. We’re not up to that.”

They’re not alone, either. Florida State hasn’t lost at home since Miami beat the Seminoles in 1991--a streak of 36 games.

The Seminoles aren’t quite up to their usual standards with one loss already to North Carolina State and a sometimes shaky quarterback in Chris Weinke, but they did what they had to do to improve to 3-1.

“It was another important game that we had to win if we wanted to stay in the race for the national championship and we were able to get the job done,” said defensive lineman Jerry Johnson, one of the leaders of the vaunted Florida State pass rush that harried and hurried USC all afternoon.

“That’s what they’re known for,” Hackett said. “Our quarterbacks never set their feet all day long.”

With USC starting quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst fighting off flu symptoms that began Saturday morning, USC had only five yards passing until the third quarter, when freshman Carson Palmer came in on the second series and played the rest of the game.

“Mike came down with something,” Hackett said. “He had an IV before the game. He was not 100%.”

Van Raaphorst completed one of nine passes, a five-yard pass to R. Jay Soward, and had a pass intercepted by Dexter Jackson on an overthrown bomb meant for Soward. He was sacked twice.

“There’s never an excuse. I should have played better,” Van Raaphorst said, adding that he didn’t want to come out.

“No question, if I ever want to come out, if I don’t want to play football, then I should not be playing the game.”

Palmer completed two of 10 for 18 yards, was sacked twice and stripped of the ball once--a fumble he lost with USC trailing only 20-10.

But he also was running the offense when freshman tailback Frank Strong found a hole and broke a 73-yard run down the left sideline before he was hauled down at the seven-yard line.

Morton came in for the next carry, started left and then scampered back to the right side of the field to score, taking advantage of a block by Palmer, and USC cut the lead to 20-10 with 3:54 left in the third quarter.

But that and a 49-yard field goal by Adam Abrams in the first quarter was all the scoring USC could muster. Abrams’ kick was not only the longest field goal of his four-year career, it was the longest he has attempted at USC.

For all USC’s shortcomings, though, the score was only 10-3 in the second quarter, 13-3 at halftime, and 20-10 after Morton’s touchdown.

Florida State often wasn’t able to take full advantage of terrific field position, settling for field goals by Sebastian Janikowski three times--one of them after one of two fumbles by Strong--this one at the USC 11-yard line in the fourth quarter.

Florida State’s touchdowns came on a seven-yard run in the first quarter by running back Jeff Chaney--who rushed for 89 yards while filling in for Travis Minor, who sprained an ankle and had only 19 yards--a five-yard pass from Weinke to Peter Warrick in the third quarter, and a 35-yard pass from Weinke to Ron Dugans in the fourth.

Weinke completed 13 of 31 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns, and didn’t have an interception after throwing six two weeks ago in the N.C. State loss.

“We played a fine football team today, which is a tribute to Florida State,” Hackett said. “Our defense played well, but we needed offensive contribution. The third quarter was the key to the game, and we needed to drive, but we couldn’t do what we needed to get done.”

Linebacker Chris Claiborne led the defense with 14 tackles, but the USC secondary, despite a game effort early, was no match for Warrick, who caught six passes for 112 yards, including a 41-yard play after he caught a short pass, then stepped around Ken Haslip and ran for most of the yardage.

USC cornerback Daylon McCutcheon, who matched up with Warrick at times, played well much of the game but became a victim too.

But the story was the offense--which didn’t quite match the record for fewest passing yards of 0, most recently in 1945--and the mistakes.

USC had 11 penalties for 92 yards, almost reaching the century mark a third game in a row.

“The penalties--with things like that, we kill ourselves,” said Soward, who was held to one reception, 25 yards on one kick returns and one run for 20 yards.

For USC, the job is still ahead.

“I think what’s important is how we bounce back,” Claiborne said. “They lost to N.C. State and they bounced back.”

Morton agreed.

“We were on a great roll. A lot of new guys haven’t even experienced losing yet. This one hurts. It seems like we haven’t lost in a long time.

“I think this game wakes us up. We’ve really got to step up and play hard, come back and get ready to play next week. I think it’s Arizona State.”

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