Easy USC Victory Is Rather Unsettling : College football: Trojans breeze past San Jose State, 45-7, with Otton and Wachholtz both doing well and Green starting instead of Walters.

Forty-five points. Twenty-six first downs, nine of 12 third-down conversions and 462 net yards.

Not a bad opener, you say, USC’s 45-7 victory over San Jose State at the Coliseum?

Sort of.

Coach John Robinson seemed pleased with nearly everything, but some of his assistant coaches and players weren’t.

Take Keyshawn Johnson. The All-American wide receiver had eight catches for 124 yards . . . and an end zone drop. His position coach, Mike Sanford, called it “average” for Johnson.

Johnson was even tougher on himself, and he mentioned the fourth-quarter pass from Kyle Wachholtz that slipped through his hands in the end zone.

He said the ongoing inquiry into whether he broke NCAA rules by accepting a loan from a sports agent had nothing to do with how he played. Sanford said it did.

“I need improvement, we all do,” Johnson said. “I ran several bad routes, I ran nine yards instead of 14. I lined up in the wrong place at least five times.”

The Trojans are still a two-quarterback offense, at least for another week. It’s also an offense without Shawn Walters in the starting lineup.

Brad Otton started the first and third quarters, Wachholtz the second and fourth.

Otton completed 14 of 20 passes for 182 yards and a touchdown, Wachholtz six of 11 for 62 yards. The battle between these two, which began last spring, might not produce a winner.

“Start both; I’m satisfied with both of them,” Johnson said. “And you can tell JR [Robinson] I said that.”

It was no surprise Otton got the start Saturday.

He had run the early series in two preseason camp scrimmages and played some last season in relief of Rob Johnson. But Robinson’s designation of Leonard Green as a running back starter over Walters was a surprise.

Walters, a 225-pound junior who should soon become a member of USC’s career top-10 rushing list, gained nearly a thousand yards last season. Green has sprint speed, but he was hampered all last season by a hamstring.

And even though he had an outstanding spring and an even better summer camp, it still came as a surprise when Green and not Walters lined up for the first series.

Robinson seemed to downplay it, saying: “It’s just how the rotation went. We feel we have three starting tailbacks.”

Walters, who was sent in to score two one-yard touchdowns and had only 26 yards in eight carries, dressed and left quickly.

“I imagine he’s upset,” offensive coordinator Mike Riley said.

“We told him Friday Leonard would start. Leonard had a great preseason, and we felt he earned that starting spot, but that doesn’t lessen what Shawn can do for us.

“We felt Leonard, without that hamstring injury last year, it could easily have gone the other way, in terms of who would have had all those carries.”

Actually, the best running back on the field Saturday was Delon Washington. The sophomore from Dallas had seven carries for 55 yards and the best run of the night, a weaving 18-yard burst to San Jose’s 12 on a fourth-quarter drive that would make it 38-7.

After a slow start, the Trojans scored four one-yard touchdowns, building a 28-7 lead midway through the third quarter.

Many of the 50,612 who showed up were gone when the fourth quarter started, but those who stuck around got a peek at USC’s future. Heralded freshman recruit Daylon McCutcheon picked off a pass with 9:18 left and ran it back 35 yards for the final touchdown.

The Otton-Wachholtz competition seemed to take a turn when the 6-foot-5, 235-pound Wachholtz broke two runs of his own.

He sprinted 28 yards down the San Jose sideline on his first series, when he took the Trojans 95 yards in 12 plays and a 14-0 lead.

Then, in the final quarter, on the way to 38-7, Wachholtz tried another keeper--and flattened San Jose safety Marcus Galbreath in a frightful sideline collision. Galbreath went down and got up slowly, while Wachholtz seemed to swagger just a bit.

Seeing Wachholtz’s second-quarter run, Otton laced up his cleats too.

Finding no one open on a pass play at San Jose’s eight, The 6-6, 225-pound Otton took off, stopped, then started again and scored, taking a big hit just after he crossed the goal.

Robinson kiddingly said later: “Brad runs with that dainty style, and with so much finesse. . . . We might put some quarterback option plays in for him. He looked like a giraffe.”

When asked later who the starter should be, Otton quipped: “If it was my decision, I’d play every snap and throw on every down.”

San Jose State Coach John Ralston may have made Otton’s and Wachholtz’s tasks a bit easier when he suspended two starting defensive backs from the game for missing curfew Friday night.

Robinson, on the subject of the NCAA inquiry of Johnson, put forth USC’s case.

“He’s been falsely accused, and I don’t care if they investigate him for 20 years,” he said. “We couldn’t comprehend not playing him. It would have been a horrendous act, not to play him. And it was the university’s decision.”

USC senior center Jeremy Hogue wasn’t happy afterward.

“Everyone was out of sync,” he said, meaning the offensive line. “We have a lot of work to do.”