Smith Keeps Trying to Play Down Trojans : Despite 6-0 Record, USC Coach Is Wary of Flaws, Particularly in the Secondary

USC’s status is unchanged after an idle weekend. The Trojans are 6-0 and retained their No. 3 national ranking.

They’re also tied with UCLA for the Pacific 10 Conference lead, each with 4-0 records.

A comfortable position, to say the least, but USC Coach Larry Smith is far from satisfied with his team.

The No. 3 ranking could be 33 as far as he’s concerned. He doesn’t put much stock in it.

“I don’t have a negative attitude with the players, but you’re only as good as your last game,” Smith said Tuesday. “Coming off the Washington game (USC won, 28-27, Oct. 15), we’re a very average football team. We’ve got to get back to playing really good football.”

In other years, the Trojans would have what virtually would be another bye, considering that Oregon State is the next opponent Saturday at Corvallis, Ore.

But Oregon State, a longtime resident in the Bottom Ten poll, is a decent team this season. The Beavers, 3-3-1 overall and 1-2-1 in the Pac-10, are off to their best start in 20 years.

USC’s record isn’t too shabby, either, but Smith, apparently, is not impressed with it.

Asked to evaluate his “average” team unit by unit, Smith complied.

“I think the defensive line is playing as well as expected and it’s the same thing with the linebacker corps,” he said. “I’m disappointed in the secondary, especially the last game.

“Offensively, even though our top guy, Paul Green, is out with an injury, we haven’t missed a stroke at tight end with Scott Galbreath picking up the slack.

“As for the offensive line, I would rate it ahead of schedule up until the last two games. Now I would rate it very average.

“We’re getting everything we can out of our offensive backfield. I think they’re playing excellent football. However, when you’re playing five tailbacks in the first six games, you don’t get total continuity.

“Had we not had injuries to Aaron Emanuel and Steven Webster, we could be really rolling at this time. Nevertheless, that position is averaging over 150 yards (154.8) a game. I think Scott Lockwood and Ricky Ervins have done a fine job, but Emanuel gave us another dimension in our backfield.

“Our receivers are playing average football, but our quarterback is above average. The biggest difference between Rodney Peete now and a year ago is that he’s throwing better on the run, but our play-action stuff isn’t as good.

“Last year, when we had Webster for 9 straight games, we were freezing the linebackers in the inside game with the tailback draw. That play hasn’t been a bread-and-butter one for us this season.

“As a result, people are running back underneath (wide receiver) Erik Affholter and taking him away on the short side of the field. Last year, we had four or five guys we felt confident with at receiver. This year we have three. The depth is not there.

“Rodney hasn’t thrown as many touchdown passes as he did last year, but we’re scoring more on running plays now. I think Rodney is as versatile as ever and is running better.

“As for the kicking game, it has been inconsistent. That’s the way I look at the whole thing. We’re at the crossroads, and it’s not a negative type thing.”

USC has conference games remaining with Oregon State, California and Arizona State before what will most likely be a Rose Bowl showdown game Nov. 19 with UCLA.

But Smith, adhering to coaching tradition, has blinders on, looking ahead only to Oregon State, which last beat USC, 3-0, in Corvallis in 1967.

The Trojans were 8-0 at the time with a No. 1 national ranking and a Heisman Trophy candidate in O.J. Simpson. The circumstances are similar this year, with Peete the Heisman candidate, but Smith isn’t concerned with any historical parallels--just the improvement factor for his team in the final weeks of the season.

Emanuel and Green, who are inactive with severely sprained ankles, haven’t even been able to jog in practice.

“I was led to believe that they would be able to jog on the field by the Oregon State game and be ready to play against Cal (Nov. 5),” Smith said. “Right now, they’re still not jogging on the field and neither is Webster (who has a hip injury). I’m not holding out any hope for either Green, or Emanuel the rest of the year.”

Emanuel, Green and Webster will not make the trip to Oregon. Lockwood is listed as the starting tailback and Ervins, who has been bothered by a hamstring injury, is expected to play.

Oregon State Coach Dave Kragthorpe, whose team lost to UCLA, 38-21, Oct. 8, was asked to compared the Trojans and Bruins.

“I don’t see any difference between the two teams,” he said. “They’re on the same level and, if they were to play tomorrow, I wouldn’t know who to pick if I was forced to make a pick.”

Then, he hedged, adding, “Defensively, USC is awesome, though. I would give (USC) the nod if I were making a comparison with UCLA because of USC’s size and strength.”

Trojan Notes

Even though the Trojans didn’t play last Saturday, they lost second-team offensive tackle Steve Mills. He had surgery for a separated shoulder. . . . Washington quarterback Cary Conklin burned USC with 3 touchdown passes in the second half of the Oct. 15 game. Now the Trojans will confront Oregon State quarterback Erik Wilhelm, who is on pace to surpass Stanford’s John Elway as the Pac-10’s career passing and total offense leader. “When we got ahead by 2 touchdowns, we did not put that much pressure on (Conklin),” Coach Larry Smith said. “It was a mistake in hindsight.”

USC cornerback Chris Hale was beaten on Conklin’s scoring passes to wide receiver Brian Slater. Smith said he was concerned about the matchup of the 5-foot 8-inch Hale with the 6-4 Slater, adding, though, that Hale, with 4 interceptions, was playing better than anyone else in the secondary at the time. He also said that Hale wasn’t getting much help from his teammates in the defensive backfield. Smith said it’s imperative to get more defensive pressure on Wilhelm.

USC still leads the Pac-10 in total and rushing defense, allowing an average of 253.2 and 91.5 yards, respectively. The Trojans rank seventh nationally in both categories. . . . Trivia Department: USC has a 22-7-1 record in games played after byes since 1955, including a 23-7 win over Oklahoma earlier this season. . . . Oregon State is a veteran team with 11 seniors, 10 juniors and a sophomore in the starting lineup.