Script Right for Troy Story With Coaches as Subplot

Win one for the fat man?

Win one for the Holtzer?

Could anyone have dreamed, even a month ago, that the 1996 college football season would come down to this?

To a USC team turned upside-down by three consecutive defeats and speculation that its coach is about to be turned loose?

To a Notre Dame team whose coach is walking away, virtually without explanation, from the sport’s best job?

Yet that’s exactly how the script reads when Notre Dame (8-2) plays USC (5-6) tonight at a sold-out Coliseum.

John Robinson, 11 months after taking his Trojans to a Rose Bowl championship, was reduced this week to citing reasons why he should not be fired for his team’s epic collapse.

Lou Holtz, 11 years--and 100 wins--after arriving at Notre Dame, coaches his regular-season finale today.

And on the subject of improbable windups, how about this possibility?

--Matt Koffler, a career-long USC backup quarterback who has thrown 38 passes in five years, leads the lowly Trojans to a victory, their first over Notre Dame since 1982?

Or:

--Quincy Woods, a sprint-out quarterback from suburban Chicago who spurned Notre Dame two years ago, runs the Irish dizzy, saves Robinson’s job, and becomes a Heisman candidate for ‘97?

OK, OK, so that’s pretty farfetched.

Point is, if USC picks today to end its 13-year winless streak against the Irish, something wacky will have to happen.

Brad Otton, the 6-foot-6 senior quarterback, has been hour to hour all week, nursing a bruised breastbone and ribs, wounds from the UCLA game.

Fitted with a flak jacket, he threw Thursday and Friday and indicated he probably would be able to play today, providing no one tackles him. Robinson, who said Tuesday that Otton must be pain-free to play, is now saying no decision will be made until game time.

And is Robinson’s job really on the line today?

No, say sources close to both USC President Steven B. Sample and Athletic Director Mike Garrett, unless the Trojans perform poorly.

Some point out that even if USC wins, Robinson and Garrett could still be headed for a clash over firing some assistant coaches, which Garrett insists must happen. Robinson isn’t talking.

Some at USC were saying this week that it is Garrett, not Robinson, who is on thin ice. This, after three years of turmoil in the men’s and women’s basketball programs, ongoing beefs with Heritage Hall staff members and now, for maintaining a sphinxlike silence while the football coach was left to dangle the week of the Notre Dame-USC game.

Friday, both Garrett and Sample passed on opportunities to issue a “John is our coach for as long as he wants” statement, before 1,500--including Robinson and Holtz--at the downtown Notre Dame-USC scholarship luncheon. Both spoke but neither referred to Robinson’s status.

Holtz spoke in Robinson’s behalf, however.

“If John Robinson gets fired, then every school on USC’s schedule should throw victory parties,” he said. “There isn’t a better coach in America.”

Robinson added, “Lou just invited me to visit him at the Hula Bowl next month, to be his guest, and I told him, ‘Let me get back to you on that, in about a week. I’ll either be recruiting or I’ll be your chauffeur.’ ”

Robinson’s status has been a distraction all week, with some players threatening to leave if their coach is fired, others asking reporters--and vice versa--about Robinson’s status.

One Notre Dame player USC won’t have to worry about today is fullback Marc Edwards, who scored twice and ran for 82 yards in the 38-10 Irish victory last season at South Bend. He is out because of a knee injury.

One player USC will have to worry about is quarterback Ron Powlus, who broke Rick Mirer’s school record for touchdown passes with his 42nd last week against Rutgers.

Powlus is a senior but may petition the NCAA for a fifth year of eligibility. He missed his freshman season because of a broken collarbone. He has said he will not decide on seeking another year until after the season.

Notre Dame has stumbled twice this season, losing to Ohio State and Air Force. USC has done nothing but stumble since early October, when the Trojans lost to California, then lost four of their next six, including consecutive defeats against Washington, Stanford and UCLA.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NOTRE DAME vs. USC

* SITE: Coliseum

* TIME: 5.

* RECORDS:

Notre Dame (8-2)

USC (5-6)

* THE SERIES:

Notre Dame is 12-0-1 over the last 13 seasons. Outgoing Irish Coach Lou Holtz is 9-0-1 against the Trojans during his tenure.