Practice Pays Off for Trojans’ Perry : USC: Former quarterback figures out Oregon State’s option after running it during the week.

Reggie Perry ran the Oregon State offense during the week, then played a prominent part in stopping it Saturday.

Perry, USC’s starting quarterback in 1991, had his most playing time since converting to defense in the spring and helped the Trojans slow down the Beavers’ wishbone offense on the way to a 34-9 victory at the Coliseum.

Perry did not enter the game until the Beavers had already run for almost 100 yards and Sedrick Thomas had scored a touchdown to tie the score early in the second quarter.

From the time Perry moved in at free safety, the Beaver offense, which produced more than 1,000 yards in two consecutive victories, wasn’t much.

The Beavers finished with only 223 yards rushing, far below the 667 last week against Pacific. Perry had seven tackles and helped prevent the Beavers from breaking loose for big gains.

“It certainly was a thrill for me,” he said with a big smile. “This is the most I’ve played. I got lucky with a couple of early hits and I really enjoyed myself. I really think making a big hit and hearing the crowd react is about as good as scoring a touchdown.

“I knew that with (quarterbacks) Rob (Johnson) and Kyle (Wachholtz) I wouldn’t play much, and I wanted to play somewhere in my last season. It was sort of a mutual thing. Coach (John Robinson) and I both thought defense was the place.

“Before today I had already played more than I would have at quarterback, but today really made it all worthwhile.”

Robinson asked Perry to run the Oregon State wishbone during practice and Perry stepped right in.

“I think it helped me to run it,” said Perry, a fifth-year senior from Denison, Tex. “I seemed to have a pretty good idea of what the quarterback would do.

“The option offense teaches discipline. If the defensive players don’t do their jobs, the other team will break the big plays. That’s what they did the previous two weeks.”

Robinson explained the reason why Perry was brought in after the Beaver touchdown. “Sammy (Knight, the freshman safety making his first start) became a little confused out there.”

Defensive coordinator Don Lindsey said the Trojans’ success was a team effort.

“Everybody has an assignment,” he said. “If just one guy doesn’t beat his blocker, the other team will break a big play. After the touchdown, everybody started doing their job and Perry was one of them.”

Dennis Thurman, who coaches cornerbacks, was more effusive.

“We knew what Reggie could do all along,” he said. “We were just waiting for the right spot. He really did a great job out there.”

Perry said the Trojans figured that Oregon State wouldn’t even try to pass except in desperation.

“That enabled us to go all out to stop the option. It really gave us a chance to do some hitting. That’s the fun part.”