USC Is in a Race by Itself After 48-6 Victory

The Beach Boys have again proved just how devoted their fans are.

At least you would have to assume the 72,139 people still sitting in the Coliseum Saturday in the fourth quarter of the USC-Oregon State game were Beach Boys’ fans, waiting for the postgame concert.

Or masochists.

Even the most loyal Trojan fan could be excused for leaving midway through Saturday’s 48-6 destruction of the Beavers.

It was 20-0 after one quarter, 34-0 at the half and 48-0 after three quarters, even though Coach Larry Smith was playing mostly second- and third-stringers by that point.

Long before the Beach Boys came on stage, the Beavers could have been excused for humming those lines from Sloop John B.: “I feel so broke up, I want to go home.”

The Trojans were doing some humming of their own after learning in the first quarter that Arizona, their closest pursuer in the Pac-10 race, had lost to Cal.

Saturday’s victory doesn’t clinch a Rose Bowl berth for USC, but it does mean Arizona’s only chance to get to Pasadena is to defeat the Trojans in next Saturday’s showdown, then beat Arizona State in its finale and hope UCLA can defeat USC.

Asked what effect news of the Arizona loss had on his team, Trojan defensive tackle Tim Ryan said, “It meant we could have fun (against the Beavers). There was not so much pressure on us.”

There was plenty of pressure on the Beavers. If Ryan and Junior Seau spent any more time in the Oregon State backfield Saturday, Coach Dave Kragthorpe would have had to give them Beaver uniforms.

USC sacked Oregon State’s Matt Booher eight times. Seau had 3 1/2 and Ryan added three.

Seau has surpassed by half a sack the Trojan single-season record of 13, set by Jack Del Rio in 1983, the first season sacks were tabulated at the school.

USC, already leading the nation in rushing defense with an average of only 60 yards a game allowed, limited Oregon State to minus 13. Add that to last week’s minus total against Stanford and the Trojans have held the opposition to a minus 19 over two games.

The USC offense was just as relentless Saturday.

The Trojans were successful in the air. Quarterback Todd Marinovich completed his first seven passes and finished with 14 of 18 for 226 yards and three touchdowns.

They were successful on the ground. Ricky Ervins gained 110 yards in 20 attempts. And Aaron Emanuel, returning after a month off with a shoulder separation, added 53 yards in 10 carries.

And the Trojans were even successful when they reversed roles.

After Marinovich had opened the scoring with a 57-yard touchdown pass to John Jackson, the quarterback pitched the ball to Ervins on the first play of USC’s second drive and went out for a pass himself.

Ervins headed to the left side, turned and fired the ball back across the field to a wide-open Marinovich. The USC quarterback sprinted down the right sideline until cornerback Brent Huff was finally able to catch up with him.

In all, the play covered 33 yards, with Marinovich getting 22 after making the catch.

“I told Todd, if he had any speed, he would have scored,” Smith saidwith a grin. “But he told me the defensive back had the angle on him. I’ll reserve judgment until I see the films.”

Marinovich wasn’t reserving judgment. He knew right away he loved being a receiver.

“I always wanted to catch one, since I was in high school,” the quarterback said. “The defensive back didn’t bite on it as much as I wanted, so I stepped out of bounds.”

Smith was asked about the advisability of pulling such a gimmick out of his playbook in a game such as this rather than waiting for a more crucial moment in the season.

“We saw it would be wide open,” he said. “We had it in last week, but we didn’t use it. Today, we came out and established the sweep. The guys upstairs called the play and we executed.”

That play set up USC’s second touchdown, which came on a 17-yard run by Ervins, highlighted by three broken tackles and a fancy spin move to shake loose the last would-be tackler at the five.

Marinovich threw two more touchdown passes in the half. The first was a 31-yarder to Gary Wellman, which he caught in the end zone despite that the ball was underthrown and defensive back Brian Beck bumped Wellman enough to draw a flag.

The second scoring pass was a 17-yarder to Joel Scott, thrown into the teeth of triple coverage in the end zone.

But it was the other first-half touchdown that should have told the Beavers they were going to strike nothing but low notes on this concert night.

Faced with a second-and-goal at the Oregon State six, Marinovich took the snap from center, turned and had the ball stripped loose by defender Esera Tuaolo.

The ball took one smooth bounce and landed in the arms of Ervins, who was just standing there as an interested observer. Ervins jogged into the end zone and Oregon State, despite its best start in years and a 3-1-1 conference mark coming in, was back to its usual position of also-ran.

In the second half, Ervins scored his third touchdown on a one-yard run and backup quarterback Shane Foley added an eight-yarder.

Booher, who managed to complete 25 of 32 for 216 yards despite feeling the breath of Seau and Ryan all day, managed to avoid a shutout in the final quarter when he managed to connect with Maurice Wilson on a 14-yard touchdown pass.

But mostly, the second half was garbage time.

Except for Shane Foley, for whom it was a most welcome bit of glory time.

Foley, a junior, doesn’t figure to see much playing time for the rest of his Trojan career since Marinovich is a redshirt freshman.

“It’s really difficult,” said Foley, who completed five of eight for 48 yards. “You prepare all week and then you wind up not playing.

“But you’ve got to keep things in perspective. I thank God that I have the opportunity.

“It felt good being out there. It’s been a long time. I practice hard, but a game is different.”

Foley also rushed 11 times for a net gain of 25 yards. He loved being out there, even when he found Oregon State’s defenders on top of him.

“I don’t mind getting hit,” Foley said. “I’ll take getting hit over standing on the sidelines every day of the week.”

It was also a big night for Emanuel, who got to play a little fullback for the first time.

“It was kind of neat,” Emanuel said. “It was exciting. My legs felt good. I didn’t think they would because I was kind of out of shape. But this was a good game to come back on.”

And a good game to attend.

If you’re a Beach Boys’ fan.

USC Notes

The Trojans are 7-2, 5-0 in conference. . . . This was the Trojans’ 18th consecutive conference victory, setting a school record and tying the third longest such stretch in conference history. Cal won 18 in a row from 1920 to ’24. The conference record is 22, also by Cal, from 1947-50. . . . USC has also won 18 in a row from Oregon State. The last time the Beavers beat the Trojans, the score was 3-0. The year was 1967. . . . Counting his years at Arizona, Larry Smith is 10-0 against Oregon State.