How USC’s world got rocked

Now it can be told: The Oregon State Beavers upset USC last Saturday while stoned.

Wide receiver Sammie Stroughter, who returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown in Oregon State’s 33-31 victory, brought a bag of stones to a players’ Friday-night Bible study meeting. Playing up the underdog angle, Stroughter handed a stone to each player in attendance.

“It was David and Goliath,” Stroughter told reporters after the game, “and we just kept saying, ‘Chop off their head.’ ”

Oregon State middle linebacker Alan Darlin played the entire game with his stone tucked inside his uniform.

“I kept it in my girdle pad during the game,” Darlin told the Portland Tribune. “It was a motivator.”

And apparently too much to overcome for a giant of an opponent. Even one with a quarterback whose middle name is David.

Trivia time

USC, ranked No. 3 at the time, was the highest-ranked opponent Oregon State has beaten in nearly 40 years. Which national powerhouse did Oregon State defeat in 1967?

What if he had smushed Smush instead?

“Lights Out” had an entirely different connotation for the Lakers and the Phoenix Suns last May, when Phoenix guard Raja Bell threw Kobe Bryant to the floor during Game 5 of their first-round playoff series.

Because of that foul, Bell drew a one-game suspension from the league, was vilified as public enemy No. 1 by Lakers fans ... and became something of a folk hero in Arizona, where he has been treated to free tacos for life and the use of a Cadillac Escalade this season.

The East Valley Tribune in Mesa, Ariz., reports that since the Bryant incident, Bell has signed deals with Taco Bell (naturally) and Cadillac. Also, ESPN has enlisted Bell to write a journal for its website throughout the season.

Thus, a new NBA strategy is born.

First there was: Hack-a-Shaq ... and win the game on missed free throws.

Now there is: Hack-a-Kobe ... and become a star.

Below-sea-level Hawks

The Atlanta Hawks resume their singular quest to go half a century between NBA championships as they open their 2006-07 season tonight with a loss at Philadelphia.

Clippers fans used to think they had it rough, but consider the Hawks:

* Last NBA title won: 1958, when the Hawks played in St. Louis, when their star player was Bob Pettit. No NBA team has gone longer without a championship.

* Last playoff appearance: 1999, the league’s second-longest postseason drought behind Golden State.

* Last time advanced past second round of playoffs since moving to Atlanta in 1968: Still waiting.

There is one advantage to playing for the Hawks, however.

Joe Johnson, who averaged more than 20 points for Atlanta last season, was quoted in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette noting happily, “I love to go out in the city and have nobody recognize me. If I could have it like that throughout my career, I’d love it.”

Johnson knows there is one way to achieve that goal.

Close out his career with the Hawks.

Trivia answer

USC. Oregon State’s so-called “Giant Killers” defeated O.J. Simpson and the No. 1-ranked Trojans, 3-0, on a muddy field in Corvallis.

And finally

Monday night, New England rookie Laurence Maroney returned to Minnesota, where he’d played college football, and returned a kickoff 74 yards during the Patriots’ 31-7 victory over the Vikings.

Minnesota Gophers Coach Glen Mason was asked recently by the St. Paul Pioneer Press if he wished he still had Maroney, who turned pro after his junior season.

“Would you like to win the lottery?” Mason replied.

mike.penner@latimes.com