Trojans Try to Stay Focused

With a game Friday, USC’s players will meet at 10:15 this morning for a brief walk-through, leaving them free to celebrate Thanksgiving until 9 p.m., when they must report to the team hotel.

The concern is how well the team will handle the holiday a day before a game.

“Practice has been really good, now everyone will go spend time with their family,” Coach Paul Hackett said. “Everybody’s going to be talking about UCLA, that’s human nature. But we have to get to the hotel and refocus and tend to business. The ability to handle the next 24 hours and get ready to play is big.”

Linebacker Zeke Moreno, debating whether to go to San Diego and risk getting caught in traffic, called it “awkward” being around an empty campus, but said the team knows the business at hand.

Hackett compared the distractions to a bowl game.

“You’ve got all these things going on, but you’ve got to come play the football game,” he said.

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After the UCLA game, quarterback John Fox returned to the first-grade class where he student-teaches at Edison Elementary in Glendale and was greeted with a sign: “Congratulations, Mr. Fox.”

“It was nice,” Fox said. “They all signed it.”

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Linebacker Markus Steele practiced only lightly but is expected to be able to play despite an abdominal bruise. . . . Matt McShane will start at center for Eric Denmon, who is doubtful because of a sprained ankle.