Flu Bug Affects Many Players

For the Trojans on Wednesday, it wasn’t a case of how many players had stomach flu, it was more a question of who didn’t.

Most of the players were complaining of jumpy stomachs during a short, no-contact practice. Even the coach was ailing. John Robinson went home early Tuesday, he said, after nearly passing out at a team meeting.

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Quarterback Brad Otton didn’t throw in practice. He pulled a shoulder muscle against Penn State last Sunday and trainers told him to rest it until today. Otton said his off-day in the 24-7 loss to Penn State was attributable to a blanket-like Nittany Lion secondary, an effective three-man pass rush and first-game jitters.

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Robinson said his inexperienced offense wasn’t ready to employ a big-play offense against a good team in an opener. USC’s next game is Sept. 7 at Illinois.

“I want us to concentrate on being a tough, physical football team right now,” he said. “Maybe in October and November we can get back to the open stuff.”