COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT / USC : Old Problems Crop Up

There wasn’t much to nit-pick in USC’s 62-7 victory over Hawaii, but here are a couple of things:

The Trojans didn’t complete any passes to the tight end, a mainstay option in the West Coast offense.

And reserve tailback Frank Strong fumbled twice, losing one.

Both are old problems for the Trojans.

“To be a complete offensive football team, no question, we have to add getting the ball to the tight end,” Coach Paul Hackett said. “[Otherwise], teams will overcompensate and overplay the outside receivers.”

The problem is twofold: USC has seldom thrown to the tight end the last two seasons, and starter Antoine Harris has struggled with drops.

“We’ve just got to keep working on it,” Hackett said.

Strong thought he had overcome his fumbling problem--he lost three last season--but it cropped up again.

“I was playing timid and wasn’t really concentrating on holding onto the ball, to be honest,” he said. “I just got lackadaisical carrying the ball.

“I feel I can conquer it. You can only go through so much, and after I went through what I went through last year, I feel I can overcome anything.”

Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson said Strong has done better in practice this week.

“Obviously, our goal is to have no fumbles whatsoever, but the first hit was a pretty good hit. I’m not sure that the guy’s helmet didn’t hit the ball,” Jackson said. “The second one, I’m sure Frank would tell you he was very careless. His elbow came away from his body. All those things are very correctable things.

“I’m not concerned about it. We’ll pay attention to it. I think he understands, though, if you don’t take care of the football, you don’t play.”

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With no game Saturday, the team will participate in a rally at the USC Health Sciences Campus today before visiting patients at USC’s three hospitals--USC University Hospital, USC-Norris Cancer Center and Hospital, and County-USC Medical Center. . . . Receiver R. Jay Soward returned to practice Thursday after being out two days because of illness.