Trojans Settle on Ballhandler

It has been almost 35 years since former USC coach John McKay said it, but his simple logic endures.

Asked why tailback O.J. Simpson carried the ball so often for the Trojans, McKay famously quipped: “Why not? It isn’t very heavy.”

Sultan McCullough can attest to that.

McCullough cradled the ball a career-high 39 times Saturday against California, the most by a Trojan running back in 15 years.

The senior from Pasadena, freed from the constraints of a rotation with Justin Fargas and Malaefou MacKenzie, tied his career-best with 176 rushing yards in the Trojans’ 30-28 victory over California.

“I’ll take it as many times as they want to give it to me,” McCullough said earlier this week. “If you get the ball, you’re going to get your yards. You never get tired helping your team win.”

The victory over Cal was a breakout game of sorts for McCullough, who gained more than 1,100 yards two years ago but missed most of last season because of an abdominal injury that required surgery.

McCullough was averaging a team-best 15 carries a game before the Cal game. However, he never rushed more than 20 times in the previous five games while alternating with Fargas, the senior transfer from Michigan, and MacKenzie, a sixth-year senior.

Last week, Coach Pete Carroll and offensive coordinator Norm Chow decided one back would bear the workload and balance the pass-oriented offense. McCullough, averaging 4.5 yards a carry, got the assignment.

“We went on the fact that he’d run the ball the most and his average was there,” Carroll said. “We thought, ‘Let’s go on something. Let’s give him the shot.’

“It probably helped the guys blocking up front. They got a feel for how he was running and everything seemed to jell better than it has at other times.”

McCullough rushed for 56 yards in 16 first-half carries and 120 yards in 23 carries in the second half. He ran the ball eight times for 38 yards on the first possession of the third quarter and capped the 68-yard, 12-play drive with a two-yard touchdown run that gave the Trojans the lead.

Later in the quarter, McCullough took a handoff from quarterback Carson Palmer, disappeared into a pile of linemen, then re-emerged in the backfield and ran around left end for a 29-yard gain.

“He dances in the backfield a little more than some other guys,” center Norm Katnik said. “On some plays where the hole is open and then closes pretty quickly, it might hurt him. But other times, he can use his speed because something closed up and turn it into something good.”

McCullough, who leads the No. 19 Trojans with 529 yards and five touchdowns, will start again Saturday against No. 22 Washington in a key Pacific 10 Conference game at the Coliseum. Washington Coach Rick Neuheisel knows McCullough’s capability. Last season, he gained 132 yards in a then-career-best 32 carries against the Huskies in a 27-24 defeat.

“He’s a threat to go the distance--that’s the problem,” Neuheisel said. “You can’t let him squirm out because all of a sudden, he will be gone.”

McCullough, the 1999 Pac-10 conference 100-meter champion, showed his breakaway speed in the second game this season when he scored on a 62-yard run against Colorado, the longest of his Trojan career.

The play -- a run off left tackle, a cut toward the sideline and sprint to the end zone -- mimicked the dozens of long runs McCullough made during three seasons at Pasadena Muir High, where he gained 2,145 yards and scored 27 touchdowns as a senior in 1997.

McCullough and Fargas, who starred at Sherman Oaks Notre Dame High, both were recruited by former USC coach John Robinson. But when Robinson was fired, Fargas headed to Michigan. McCullough signed with the Trojans and new coach Paul Hackett.

McCullough redshirted in 1998 and gained 410 yards as Chad Morton’s backup the following season.

With new running backs coach Kennedy Pola challenging him daily, McCullough wasted no time establishing himself as the starter in 2000. He rushed for 128 yards in the opener against Penn State and finished the season with 1,163 yards, the most by a Trojan since Mazio Royster ran for 1,168 in 1990.

In Carroll’s debut last year, McCullough rushed for 167 yards in 25 carries against San Jose State. Five weeks later, he had the big game against Washington. But the following week, McCullough suffered a strained abdominal muscle that ended his season and required surgery.

“I couldn’t walk, eat or go to the bathroom by myself after the surgery,” he said. “I didn’t know if I would be the same, if I would even get back to playing.”

McCullough recovered in time for training camp in August but was slowed by a hamstring strain. So was Fargas, who left Michigan in December 2000 and was No. 1 on the depth chart coming out of spring practice.

McCullough and MacKenzie shared playing time through the first three games and Fargas joined the rotation once Pac-10 play began against Oregon State.

But after Palmer passed 50 times in a 30-27 overtime loss at Washington State, Carroll and Chow got the Trojans back on track by giving the ball to McCullough.

If presented with the same opportunity on Saturday, McCullough intends to take full advantage in the same way workhorse Trojan tailbacks such as Simpson, Anthony Davis, Ricky Bell, Charles White and Marcus Allen did in the past.

After all, the ball isn’t very heavy.

“If you do it once, it doesn’t mean anything,” McCullough said. “You have to do it again and again.”

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Movin’ On Up

Sultan McCullough’s career-high 176 yards in a 30-28 victory against California last Saturday -- which earned him Pacific 10 Conference offensive player of the week honors -- brought the USC tailback’s season total to 529 and moved him to eighth place on the school’s all-time rushing list. A look:

*--* Rk Player Yards 1 Charles White 6,245 2 Marcus Allen 4,810 3 Anthony Davis 3,724 4 Ricky Bell 3,689 5 O.J. Simpson 3,423 6 Mike Garrett 3,221 7 Fred Crutcher 2,815 8 Sultan McCullough 2,515 9 Chad Morton 2,511 10 Ricky Ervins 2,337 11 Clarence Davis 2,323 12 Delon Washington 2,093 13 Orv Mohler 2,025 14 Shawn Walters 2,019 15 Jon Arnett 1,898

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