Trojans Will Tackle Fundamentals

The USC defense can expect more than the usual share of tackling drills when practice resumes this afternoon.

After surrendering only six rushing yards to Penn State in the opener, USC gave up 150 yards to Colorado’s Marcus Houston in a 17-14 victory Saturday evening.

Time and again, Houston broke into the secondary, forcing Trojan safeties Ifeanyi Ohalete and Troy Polamalu to bring him down.

The freshman tailback had a 26-yard run to set up a field-goal attempt in the first quarter. His 32-yard gain in the third quarter led to a Colorado touchdown.

“Is it the runner or is it our inability to tackle?” Coach Paul Hackett asked.

After watching films of the game, the coach is putting the onus squarely on his players.

“We were in position,” Hackett said. “He broke, in our opinion, far too many tackles.”

The Trojans still rank 19th in rushing defense, allowing 71.5 yards a game, and have yet to surrender a touchdown on the ground. They also have an open date Saturday, giving Hackett and his staff two weeks to drill them on fundamentals.

After that, they will be tested.

San Jose State comes to the Coliseum on Sept. 23 with Deonce Whitaker, a preseason Doak Walker Award candidate whose 200 yards a game are third best in the nation. The next week, USC travels to Oregon State, where fourth-ranked Ken Simonton is averaging 187 yards.

“We’ve got two of them back-to-back,” Hackett said. “This was maybe a wake-up call.”

*

Hackett said his team deserved to move up a notch to No. 10 in the Associated Press poll because Colorado played “far, far better” than the Penn State team USC defeated in the Kickoff Classic.

But he wasn’t going to get too thrilled about the ranking, saying, “I’d like to be there at the end of the year.”

*

An error in Saturday’s postgame statistics had USC tailback Sultan McCullough tying a career high with 28 carries against Colorado. McCullough rushed 29 times against Penn State. His 57 carries in two games represents the busiest start by a Trojan runner since 1981.