It’ll Be Worth Staying Behind Palmer

His feet kept getting tangled up. His eyes always were looking the wrong way. That sense he always had, that feeling that would tell him, “Watch your back,” was missing. So when those defensive linemen smashed him from behind, Carson Palmer was surprised.

Funny how all the experts on Saturday’s college football games and pre-game shows kept slobbering over Palmer, saying how eager they were to watch the USC quarterback, predicting great things for the Trojans because the great Carson Palmer was healthy and back at quarterback.

How unfair.

Carson Palmer is a tall, strong, poised, confident quarterback who has started nine games for USC. He is, in other words, practically a rookie.

It has been almost a year since Palmer played in a full-speed college football game. And when he broke his right collarbone in USC’s third game last season, the Santa Margarita High graduate still was learning what it took to be a big-time college quarterback.

It was giving Palmer too much credit when his injury was used as an excuse for USC’s dismal 1999 and it is giving Palmer too much credit should USC be great in 2000.

“We won without a quarterback today,” Palmer said immediately after USC had walloped Penn State, 29-5, Sunday at the Kickoff Classic.

In that single sentence, which Palmer followed with a good laugh, the quarterback was thanking his team for making things much easier.

Just because Palmer completed 10 of 20 passes for only 87 yards, just because he was moving about 20 miles an hour slower than everybody else, just because he seemed afraid, almost, to look for second or third receivers or heave the ball downfield, just because he forced too many passes and was lucky to have thrown only one interception, that didn’t doom USC to losing.

The Trojans have a defense. They have a running game. They have dangerously good special teams.

“I came out real excited,” Palmer said. “I came out ready to play. But then I found out I didn’t have any rhythm.”

Said receiver Kareem Kelly, who hopes to soon see the real Carson Palmer, the one with the cannon arm and the impeccable timing: “You could tell by the release of his ball that it wasn’t Carson. Usually Carson throws spirals and bullets. He wasn’t doing that today.”

It was unfair to think Palmer would.

It was unfair to think Palmer, who is 6 feet 5, who weighs 220 pounds, who looks like what an NFL quarterback should look like, who many people think will be an NFL quarterback next year, was going to play like an NFL quarterback after sitting out a year.

Can’t be done.

So Palmer said a silent thank you when Frank Strong blocked Penn State’s first punt and Sandy Fletcher recovered it and scored a USC touchdown before Palmer touched the ball.

Palmer’s first pass was incomplete, not even close to Sultan McCullough. His second pass was intercepted. The ball was badly under thrown and Palmer slapped his helmet as Penn State’s Bhawoh Jue grabbed the pass intended for Marcell Allmond.

“We can simulate things in practice all we want,” said Hue Jackson, USC’s offensive coordinator and quarterback coach, “but you can’t simulate the speed and ferocity of a game.”

There is nothing like angry linebackers within spitting distance of your facemask or defensive linemen waving their hands in front of your eyes within a second of your receiving the snap.

“Everything moved so much faster,” Palmer said. “I felt like I could never catch up.”

This honesty is as important as Palmer’s arm strength or footwork. He was not touchy when asked about playing badly. He did not act as if mistakes hadn’t happened. He did not mind that people seemed eager to hammer him for the great expectations of others. Palmer expected to be good. He should. That is what confident athletes do.

But the rest of us should be slapped for expecting greatness immediately.

“He will get better,” Jackson said. “I’m not worried about Carson.”

Palmer termed his interception “stupid.” He criticized himself for not rewarding receivers who ran good routes with good passes. He thanked his defense--”They were unbelievable,” Palmer said--and praised tailback McCullough, who gained 128 yards--”Sultan was awesome and people who said we don’t have a running game, they’re crazy.”

There was a pass in the fourth quarter, just a seven-yard completion to Kelly, but it was special. The ball had zip. It spiraled. It was thrown between two defenders and into the only spot Kelly could have grabbed it. Palmer slapped his thigh, just a little reaction to a little completion but you could tell.

That pass felt good. His feet were in the right place. His mind was in the right place.

“I’ve got two more weeks of practice now,” Palmer said, “and a game under my belt.”

If we thought USC was going to ride Palmer’s coattails, at least for a game it was Palmer who had to catch up to his teammates.

That’s good. It means there is a team worth catching up to. A team with a defense, with a talented runner, with the ability to win without a quarterback. The Trojans also have a quarterback who will be very special very soon. Palmer will catch up.

* Diane Pucin can be reached at her e-mail address: diane.pucin@latimes.com.

FO USC quarterback Carson Palmer scrambles for yardage against Penn State. The sophomore struggled in his return from injury.