Morton Kicks Off His Season in Style

Purdue was doing its Purdue stuff, moving the ball downfield, a small chunk at a time, making boilers with a nickel’s worth of passing here, a dime’s worth there, a 43-yard completion that seemed almost an afterthought.

It took four minutes, 40 seconds to fashion a 7-0 lead.

It took 17 seconds for USC to make it 7-7.

It doesn’t take Chad Morton 17 seconds to run 98 yards, but on Sunday, he had to wait a bit for a kickoff to settle into his arms, pick his way upfield away from Figueroa Avenue toward Vermont and veer left, toward Martin Luther King Boulevard, before he hit the afterburner.

Then there was that 11-ounce football, a weighty load.

And there was a small matter of dealing with Travis Dorsch, the Purdue kicker who tackles about like a kicker generally tackles, and who was hindered by a collision with a teammate while trying to get to Morton.

It was the first time Morton had touched a kickoff since his sophomore season in high school, but some things you apparently don’t forget, like riding a bicycle and running 98 yards to tie a football game.

“A funny thing about that kickoff,” Morton said. “I was nervous because it was almost too easy. Really, the blocking was great. The hole was so big, anybody could have run it back.”

Well . . .

There were about 56,623 watching the Trojans beat Purdue, 27-17, who couldn’t have run it back.

By Morton’s count there were at least four who could: himself, R. Jay Soward, Daylon McCutcheon and Larry Parker. They are Nos. 1-4 among the USC kickoff and punt returners, the order determined by whomever you ask.

Ask Paul Hackett, who really has the last say on such matters as USC’s coach, and you learn that No. 7 is No. 1.

And No. 18?

Soward, by all rights the top kickoff return man with two for touchdowns the past two seasons, was suspended for one game because of academic difficulties. And when academic things aren’t so difficult . . .

“No. 7 [Morton] is the No. 1 kickoff returner and punt returner and you can see why,” Hackett said. “It’s going to be hard to beat out No. 7.”

But No. 7 is also the No. 1 tailback, though Sunday it was difficult to discern it from his playing time in the first half.

After two quarters, Morton had three carries for nine yards and wasn’t all that happy about it. The Trojans were behind, 17-10, and much of the reason was that Morton wasn’t on the field all that much because their offense wasn’t getting enough playing time to earn a letter.

After four quarters, he had 15 carries for 53 yards and a smile on his face, the product of the win and of a 13-yard touchdown run to clinch it. The play went up the middle of the Purdue defense, with blockers sealing off things so that Morton had only one player to beat.

“It was a ‘read’ play,” he said. “I get the ball and kind of look between the guard and the tackle.”

And into the end zone, after reading on a touchdown level.

However, it was Morton’s kickoff return that started things for USC.

“It was huge,” said tight end Mike Bastianelli after acknowledging that some of the Trojans were a bit down after Purdue’s relatively easy 69-yard, eight-snap trip to a 7-0 lead.

“It showed what can happen with one play.”

Morton finished off Purdue and his day with a 185-yard aggregate on rushing, receiving kickoff return and punt return yards.

By day’s end, Morton had also touched the ball 21 times, about right, with two of those touches turning into 12 points.

“That’s my job,” said offensive backs coach Hue Jackson, who figures that his mission is that of ladling out a precious resource.

“It was hot today, and we didn’t have the ball much on offense in the first half. We have 13 games, and it’s my job to keep Chad Morton playing for all 13 games.”

That is best accomplished by not getting him beaten up, though Morton, who carries a muscular 185 pounds on a 5-foot-8 frame, asks no quarter.

And certainly doesn’t give any.

“A day like today, I like it,” he said. “I get a yard, a yard and a half, lose a yard. I hit and get hit, and it’s not like I got lucky and ripped off a 70-yarder or something.”

Lucky?

A 70-yarder, like a kickoff return, anybody could do it.