Trojans Spooked by Past

In the spirit of Halloween, some USC players sat down to watch a horror show the other day. The colors were, appropriately, orange and black. It was game film of last season’s loss to Oregon State.

The 31-21 defeat was, in many ways, a turning point for the Trojans. They went into the game unbeaten and ranked eighth in the nation. They came out of it badly shaken, on their way to a five-game skid and an unprecedented last-place finish in the Pacific 10 Conference.

Now, Saturday’s rematch at the Coliseum could tell volumes about the rebuilding of the program.

Though the Trojans are struggling at 3-5, defensive end Lonnie Ford says the team “has a better attitude ... we go out and practice hard.”

And though it may sound overdue, the players insist they have learned not to overlook anyone in the conference, especially the 3-4 Beavers.

“Last year, the way we approached games was different,” tight end Kori Dickerson said. “We didn’t realize how good the Pac-10 was until after the season.”

The Oregon State game represented the start of that painful lesson.

USC had not lost to the Beavers in 26 consecutive meetings, a streak that dated to 1967. But playing before a raucous crowd at Reser Stadium, the Trojans were undone by penalties, turnovers and the running of Oregon State tailback Ken Simonton, who rushed for 234 yards and three touchdowns.

“We went into that game too confident,” receiver Kareem Kelly said. “We were reading too many of our newspaper clippings.”

Though they did not admit it at the time, players and coaches were taken aback. A few days later, the offense called a players-only meeting and former linebacker Zeke Moreno vowed to get after his defensive teammates for their performance.

“You could tell the emotion wasn’t there,” he said.

Whatever USC did, though, it did not work.

“Their season went up,” special teams coach Kennedy Pola says, cringing at the memory of the Oregon State loss. “Our season went the other way.”

The rest of the schedule included stumbles against underdog opponents such as California and Washington State. After a 5-7 finish, Coach Paul Hackett was fired.

If there has been a change this season, all the losses--with the exception of the one at Notre Dame--have been to teams that were unbeaten at the time. Now comes Oregon State, which has struggled considerably since last season’s Cinderella finish and Fiesta Bowl victory. The Trojans are favored but act as if they are in a fight for their lives.

“We’re hungry to win and that’s the drive we have,” Kelly said.

At his weekly news conference Tuesday, Coach Pete Carroll noted other improvements.

The fumble and interceptions that hurt against Oregon State last year were a season-long problem. The Trojans finished next to last in the nation in turnover margin, losing the ball 36 times and taking it away only 17 times. So far this fall, they have reversed that trend with 15 turnovers and 22 takeaways.

They are playing cleaner, averaging 20 fewer yards in penalties, and have improved on special teams too. At Oregon State last season, kicker David Newbury bounced a field-goal attempt off an upright and acknowledges that he never quite recovered.

This season, USC’s new kicker, David Davis, ranks atop the conference in field-goal percentage, having made 10 of 12 attempts.

“I think we are making progress,” Carroll said, his team having won two of its last three games. “We need to hold this momentum.”

That means the Trojans must come back with another week of hard practice. Kickoff coverage and the running game remain of particular concern. And they cannot afford to start out flat against an underdog opponent.

Pola might have taken care of that, at least for his special teams unit, by showing the old Oregon State films on Monday. It seems the assistant put a scare into his players.

“It’s not like we want to get [the Beavers] back,” Newbury said. “We just don’t want to play that badly again.”