Theory of Touchdowns

Roger Pinto is a whiz when it comes to electrical engineering.

But Heisman trophies, Tommy Trojan and a horse named Traveler? No clue.

Which is why Pinto and about 30 other first-year USC international students participated in a football seminar on Thursday to become acclimated with a certain American sport, which engulfs the university each fall.

“It was quite interesting,” said Pinto, a 23-year-old native of India who begins classes on Monday. “I knew a little bit about American football from the New England Patriots and Green Bay Packers, but that was about it.”

The hour-long seminar dealt with everything from touchdowns to rivalries and ended with a highlight video -- played to Jay-Z and Linkin Park’s “Numb/Encore” -- of last season.

The hope is that the session would help calm any fretting or jitters that have arisen from the school’s more than 5,000 international students as frenzied thousands sweep through campus on a given September weekend, most dressed in cardinal and gold and some with their faces painted.

“The proud athletic tradition is one of the best factors that binds our alumni through the ages,” said Dixon Johnson of the school’s office of International Services Students and Affairs. “To get these students engaged in the tradition is important and fun.”

It will probably be the only time in a classroom setting at USC this year where a lecturer asks students if they have heard of Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and they respond by shaking their heads or yawning. However, certain aspects of the highlight show didn’t require explanation -- the image of Bush’s leap into the end zone over a UCLA defender eliciting oohs and ahs.

Jared Blank, a USC football administrative assistant, took questions during the hour-long session, including:

“What position does the punter, the guy that does the kicks, play?”

“These quarterbacks -- they are supposedly the most important players in the system, right?”

“What’s the difference between football and rugby?”

Blank deftly handled even the most basic queries, answering patiently and describing the game with color and detail.

But one question caught him off guard.

“Can you explain how, a couple years ago, three teams tied for first and two teams played for the national title,” asked Matt Robinson, of England, alluding to the 2004 regular season that ended with USC, Auburn and Oklahoma all undefeated.

After launching into a mini-lecture of the complicated Bowl Championship Series selection process, Blank asked Robinson if he understood.

“Yeah, a little,” replied Robinson. “It just seems a strange way of doing things.”