September 7, 1987 - #18 USC @ #8 Michigan State

college football the top collegiate running back lorenzo white will lead the michigan state spartan against the university of southern california trojan led by their versatile quarterback rodney peter it's a game featuring outstanding defensive players on both sides including usc's all-america linebacker marcus cotton a matchup of the big ten and pac-10 to start the 1987 college football season on abc [Music] even though classes have not started at michigan state university all 76 000 seats at spartan stadium have been sold for tonight's game the opener of the season between usc and michigan state in the michigan capital city area it's been labeled the great american football celebration with a salute to labor on this holiday weekend and fittingly so the weather is a bit threatening as you can see on the horizon it's a bit gloomy looking but we may make it through the night without any appreciable rain here come the visitors the southern california trojan in the spartan stadium with a new coaching staff at the helm head man is larry smith moved over from the university of arizona his third head coaching job his first having been at tulane and as you would expect at usc preseason optimism is high it's always high now the home folks are walking their way down the tunnel and the roar will start to build as the michigan state spartans are about to come bolting out of the tunnel [Applause] remember there are no students here this is alumni in the main and people from all around this region who have doubled up the tickets to come see this intersectional match tonight these teams have not played all that many times over the years but george perlis thinks this team this year could be the best team he has had and this is george's fifth season at michigan state and in fact he left pro football to come home and here he comes now with his team for 1987. [Applause] [Music] as part of the holiday football celebration here in lansing and east lansing there has been this afternoon and evening what was called the great state tailgate originality a prime part of the judging for the best prize and the top prize was eight round-trip air tickets to london surely that helped inspire an unprecedented amount of fried chicken and ribs some folks came in high cotton long cars and bubbly and fresh flowers and a load of enthusiasm all right well all of that and what promises to be a very good intersectional football game brought all these folks here and we think they're going to have a good time tonight hello again everybody i'm keith jackson and welcome to 1987 college football on abc this game tonight matching usc and michigan state is a game of posture the national polls and just simply the fact that whoever wins this game tonight will almost surely come away with an improved ranking it is a pleasure to introduce as my partner and analyst for this 87th season a college football hall of famer from purdue 14 seasons quarterback of the miami dolphins mr bob griese it's a pleasure bob to have you with us chicken and ribs and bubbly huh yeah you've been up here a few times you still got that helmet they did it the last time you came i get bad memories every time i come up here i was here when george webster and bubba were here we never beat him here that was a tough crowd larry smith now larry has moved over from arizona into what is generally considered one of the hot seats in college football in southern california he's got to come in here and play a very good michigan state team to start the season without one of the traditional usc weapons and that's a dominant tailback that's true keith the offense that we'll see tonight is not your typical trojan offense gone are all the heisman trophy winner running backs and the trojans have had four of them in the past you'll see a quarterback dominated offense for the trojans tonight led by rodney pete and what an outstanding player he is he's excitement but his uh his success this year may hinge on how well they develop that tailback position because they're gonna they're gonna get after rodney all right now on the other side george perlis of michigan state's got one great one and one he thinks is going to be great and lorenzo wyatt and blake uzor well the problem with the offense for michigan state is a little different they have their heisman trophy candidate in lorenzo white they have eight starters returning on offense the problem is their quarterback dave urimah who started for the last three years is gone i think what they need to do is develop bobby mcallister who's going to be playing quarterback and take some pressure off of lorenzo white because you can be sure that they're going to stack the defenses to stop him both these coaches however build their football teams on defense and i think there's going to be some thunderous defense played in the trenches tonight the other member of our announcing team our colleague on the field is a young man who came here with the northwestern wildcats one time and walked away with a victory mike adamly keith you mentioned that this game is a game of posturing it's also a game of tradition in the most agonizing hours a football player must spend and endure the ones just before kickoff lonely hours of introspection spent focusing in on the task at hand and here in east lansing there's been a long stay in standing michigan state tradition that the spartan football team walked to the game together from the kellogg center to spartan stadium in virtual silence a nine-minute trek symbolic of team unity and school pride clad and coat and tie these young men seem to be making the statement whatever we accomplish tonight win or lose we will accomplish it together as a team it is a philosophy that has stood the test of time the spartan walk was done in the days of the legendary duffy doherty and it is done today tonight michigan state coach george perlis believes in that rich tradition and so do his football players keith so everybody settles down in their seats as the trojans and the spartans square off and get ready to start 87. first craig johnson number 28 number 26 blake eazor deep to receive the kickoff of eric atholter eric is a junior out of agura california the southern california trojans won the toss but deferred electing to take the second half kickoff half holter kind of an interesting story he is the number two split in behind ken henry but he will do all the kicking for the trojans outside the 30-yard line glenn rodriguez will do the kicking inside the 30. match-up number six between usc and michigan state is on it is craig johnson a junior from messalon ohio giving michigan state good field position as he plummets out to the 35-yard line ab holzer the kicker going down up front manderich is lining up for michigan state he's the biggest man up front 290. across the front you see the lineup sherman is a grad student the first ever to play for michigan state the back field quarterback is bobby mcallister key man of course is lorenzo white joe pugh is opening at fullback instead of james moore moore is coming off a broken bone in his finger and bobby mcallister comes out on the first play of the ball game from his 35 a little dump off cut to the sidelines to andre ricin and it's good for about five yards three down lineman for usc ryan gibson owens all young saw two sophomores and gibson the freshman big fellas don't know how good they are yet stokes and cotton outside inside it's more in davis defensive secondary is a worry for larry smith and his staff cowett the most experienced man back there though they are very high on carrier mcallister gives the ball to lorenzo white a little misdirected and lorenzo boats over the right side for the first down up around the 48-yard line before bill stokes brings him down it's a sprint draw will step one way to his left one of the things that white does so very well is cut back he has great vision as most good running backs do and good footwork to get through the hose he's got a pretty good foundation underneath him too what was it 12 and a half size 12 and a half shoes good foundation all right this in andre rising wide take willie boyer out go to a double tied in alignment and give it to lorenzo white going to the field side pursued his own number eight got there first for usc that's cleveland coulter number nine dwayne garner was coming with him garner is the quarterback in effect that plays the field side and that was pretty good pursuit for the trojans excellent pursuit and as you mentioned this defense is structured [Applause] they they defense the field keith in other words they don't defense the formation their all-american linebacker marcus cotton 58 will always go to the wide side as will number nine garner he is their best cover uh corner so they go he goes to the wide side and cotton right there will also go to the wide side figuring that most offenses are going to run that way something of a loss maybe a half yard on the play second down call it 10 and a half mcallister back throws underneath the coverage and right there to make the tackle is greg cowette cowette is 6-3 2-10 he picked up the fullback coming out of the backfield and coet who used to be a linebacker will always play the boundary side he plays the short side corner and i predict somewhere along tonight that george perlis and his offense are going to try to get one of those speedy receivers on him one on one and get deep he's a tough player but he's almost a linebacker playing corner there's george who came home he left the pittsburgh steelers to momentarily be with the usfl and then came to his alma mater three wide outs now and in motion ball is given on that misdirection again to lorenzo white breaks it big he may be gone he had one man to beat greg cowett brought him down it's first down michigan state at the trojan 16. watch the linebackers now as 35 more you see miss right there gibson misses 92 a huge hoe as the linebackers overrun and this is just pure talent and speed getting past the linebackers as cowet 46 makes the saving touchdown pickup up 31 yards on the play and michigan state now is cooking at the trojan 16 with a double tight end alignment they got a rise and way wide out of your picture mcallister to white cuts it back off tackle gets to the 15. that'll do it one yard don gibson the freshman red shirt freshman noseguard made the stop take a look at cotton number 58 at the top left of your screen as you see 74 hula blocking on him did a nice job that time of course he had containment [Applause] he might have had a handful of shirts too [Applause] 15-yard line second down and nine michigan state [Applause] mcallister rolls it right looks to throw throws underneath passport andre ryzen inside the 10 in front of dwayne garner they mark him just inside the 10. so the game is pretty short on that particular play and a dangerous pass to throw callister just getting some safe easy passes under his under his wing a little bit before he goes downfield verizon has all kinds of speed garner was a half step off that one no question about it keith [Applause] third down they have to go to the six for their first down ball at the 10 need four white's got it gets a big hole seal blocking beautiful blocking by michigan state touchdown spartans the key block was thrown by andre risin on dwayne garner and the rest of it was left to lorenzo and he did it with style the extra point drive john langlow redshirt freshman from sterling heights michigan out of the hold of the putter greg montgomery who averaged almost 48 yards per kick last year langlow's kick is good so lorenzo scores the touchdown had a big play in the drive of 31 yards no surprises on this drive give the ball to lorenzo as you see the guard tata 61 pulls he goes outside as you see the what's this move right here there's a good block there and then the move back inside of 19 carrier gets him into the end zone and so at 11 11 to go in the first quarter michigan state opens his first possession and cash is in a touchdown well there's concern on the southern california side because what has just happened was the big thing they were worried about keeping the big play away from keeping lorenzo white out of the big play white came into this ball game with 3 315 career yards and he was the prime factor in that drive for the touchdown drive of 65 yards that was a good run too by the return man to get him out and get him in good field position which probably gave them a whole different perspective on how to start the offense chris allen the defensive coordinator for the trojan said one thing he wanted to do was try and contain white he knew he wasn't going to stop him but uh langlow kicks it into the end zone no return cleveland colter caught it back there so that freshman really belted it deep into the end zone and the trojans will take it first down at the 20. we line up with categoric catnip parkinson sager the big guys along the front randy tanner swift flanker split in is henry tail back will be ryan knight fullback will be holt tight end paul green and the quarterback the man around whom the offenses built rodney pete trojans go double wide top of the screen first snap of the ball game bring a man tanner back in motion in front of the eye and give it to the tailback night nothing middle linebacker percy snow a sophomore from canton ohio hit him right on the numbers here's the defense three down for michigan snake snow in the middle more and larson on each side of him bergen nichols davis and buddy that's uh the younger buddy brad his older brother was an all-american at southern california daddy ed is here i can imagine with most of the family john jackson is in the ball game now he's a wide receiver one of the real speedsters and rodney pete rolls it out whips it down the middle pass is intended for henry goes sailing right through his hands and is incomplete lanier payton got a piece of it but the ball was thrown very hard and a little bit behind ken henry keith the trojan offense matches up pretty well against the michigan state defense the state defense was number one in the big ten last year against the run the trojan offense is not built around the run this year it's about built around the pass with rodney pete so they stack up pretty well offensively and state worries a lot about the scrambling ability of pete because he can turn a broken play into a big game he's still got it and he whips the pass underneath pass his caught by number 17 paul green to tie it in but he is well sort of a first down and that'll bring in the kicking team for the trojans and the michigan state defensive unit sky high as they come off the field the putter for the trojans chris sperle averaged just over 39 last year on 49 punts but he's improved his hang time considerably and that is a point that larry smith and his staff stretches todd from defensive back safety man is back to receive the kick for michigan state they should come out of this pretty good field position if he handles the ball he comes all the way up to the 38 to accept it fumbles it all bouncing around and michigan state will cover it oh it is still loose and usc's got the ball if he handles it they had one man back only one man back and you see the considered risk right there that goes with having one man deep tracy butts is the man who covers it there just slips through his hands and then the ball is knocked loose george perlis the head coach of the spartans was concerned about the special teams but he was he's concerned about blocking and protecting for his punter he didn't expect he'd have a problem receiving the punt so a big break for the trojans michigan state 21-yard line they picked up 17 additional yards out of them up the front traveled only 34. and the handoff can knight the tailback and he knifes through to the 15. picks up about six yards at least five they'll mark him at the 16 so give him five [Applause] well i'll let the air out of your balloon real quick to make that kind of a mistake but again i remind you that michigan state uses only a single deal in point receiving you know the other thing keith this is the first night game ever played at michigan state there may have been some problem getting used to that ball coming down in these lights second down and five for the trojans state fifth 16-yard line again the tailback knight cuts over the right side and he is close to a first down as his momentum will carry a very strong running back not the swiftest of the swift but he's going to have a first down for usc just outside the michigan state 10. mark nichols made the tackle for the spartans larry smith right there as you see with the headset on and without the hat said he was a little bit surprised when he moved from arizona to southern cal at the lack of speed he thought when he played him that they had a little bit more speed than when he got there he said that wasn't the case they've gone to a double tight in alignment now it is first and ten the ball is outside the tent give it to the tailback knight and he's running right in behind brad leggett 265 dave cadogan 280 and the tight end on that side paul greene 230. there's big dave cadogan right there 6'5 280 dedicating this game and hit this season to his mom he lost her not long ago market on the seventh pickup just over three yard second down you got john jackson now coming wide and time called by the officials they're looking at the clock the referee is out of the pac-10 gordon reese frank strocha the umpire big ten charles stewart the headlinesman pac-10 i'll give you the rest of the moment pete rolls it left throws it in the corner incomplete no chance for john jackson he was on his tummy and lanier peyton had a shot at intercepting it but couldn't scoop it one of the concerns coming in was that peyton number 24 is a red shirt freshman whether or not he would be able to hold up over there he's 6-3 they were concerned a little bit about his footwork this time he has his man covered as jackson slipped down before he made his break almost coming up with the interception third down from the seventh randy tanner the wide man pete comes left again cuts it back in the middle and he is cut down by percy snow the middle linebacker [Applause] it is fourth down and the kicking team is on the field it'll be quinn rodriguez bringing the tn for southern california snow is the middle linebacker keith and this is a stunning style of defense for defensive lineman perlis said yesterday that the middle linebacker should be the leading tackler in this defense the holder is quarterback kevin mcclain rodriguez kick from 23 yards is good so southern california he covers the fumble pick up the first down have it first down just outside the 10. have to settle for the field goal 704 to go first quarter 7-3 you can see that rodney pete had a big season last year at quarterback for southern california and he's got to have another one if the trojans are going to have much success this year because the schedule is rough the first southern cal trojan ever named offensive player of the year i think that tells you a little bit about it and also you think back to all of the teams and all the successes the southern cal trojans have had you can't remember many quarterbacks it's always been that tailback that gets all the credit and the offensive lineman a lot of good offensive lineman come out of there ab holter will be kicking off or usc with craig johnson and blakey's or the deep people good high hanging kick taken by izor very quick tailback great oh speed michigan state again gets very very good field position off the kick return up near the 45 before jeff marie finally brought him down one of the big stories coming into this game and talking with both coaches yesterday the concern about the special teams larry smith says they spend one third of our practice time on it not necessarily the last third perlis was so concerned about it he says some of the things they do on their special teams we have copied and you know that imitation is the highest form of flattery and two well-coached special teams here tonight bobby mcallister sets him out of the eye formation fakes to white keeps it whips it to the sidelines andre rison yet it is good you only need one foot remember in college football and he pulled it in in time and it's down near the southern california 42. ryzen working to the wide side on gorner just runs a simple out pattern garner giving him some room respecting that tremendous speed verizon was the receiver opposite mark ingram who was the number one draft choice this past year of the new york giants verizon was the first team uh all big ten receiver ingram was second they think pretty highly of this man right here mcallister four for four 31 yards first down michigan state trojan 42 rolls it right pursuit is on big nose guard after him dumps it off underneath for the full back he heard the hoof beats of vic dan owens and dumped it off incomplete you notice that michigan state will set it up once in a while in the unbalanced line not always but much of the time go on balance it's the belief of the coaching staff that you can if not confused maybe even negate the blitz by using the unbalanced front mcallister again rolls to the open side throws underneath the pass to the full back and pulling it in is joe pugh a sophomore from grand rapids and he's lasso down around the 32 looks like he might be just a bit short of his first down and here's our first penalty flag of the ball game holding michigan state otto pools is the line judge and today's his birthday colin mcdermott is the field judge danny freund is the side judge and harold mitchell who is the factory next saturday afternoon going into our regular saturday afternoon time slot 3 o'clock eastern time we'll have another great one for you notre dame lou holt second year coming into ann arbor against boschem beckler's michigan wolverine and bo has not yet named his quarterback but the the posters around the country think highly enough of the wolverines that they've got him in the top ten again he'll have a good quarterback there's no question about that it all comes back to the michigan state 49 where it is second down this is lorenzo white and grabbing him is dan od boyd's the sophomore out of lake havasu arizona 6-4 255. those two youngsters up front on the usc defense gibson is 6-3 250 a red shirt freshman and tim ryan is 6'5 250 a sophomore out of san jose they're eat-heartedly and they're still going ryan 99 was voted by the football news as the best freshman offensive defensive lineman in the country the style that sc uses is very aggressive and that could work against him with a slashing style of runner as the lorenzo white on third down and 19 mcallister straight back he's got some open field pulls it down got a great block still going dives you've got it first down at the 30-yard line of usc he got a heck of a block from the fullback joe q on cleveland coastal poacher will have him in his sights and hughes gonna knock him out no question one of the things they worked on that if the receiver was covered to run watch q38 if you can see right there hugh is in the lineup because of a broken hand cast on the right hand of james moore the regular fullback few has caught a few passes already and throw it through a key block right there so mcallister comes up with a big play and it's first down michigan state the chosen 30. white look how quickly he stopped change directions but this time the trojans get him garner and coulter combining [Applause] the strength of this sc defense keith is their linebacker and core they have four seniors in the linebackers they have a young defensive front as you mentioned and a young secondary three of the four starters are new but their linebackers have been called maybe one of the best sets of linebackers in the country yet i've only called the name of one linebacker so far in the ball game and that was stokes and he made a play six yards beyond the line of scrimmage second down at about 13 as mcallister sets to throw gets some heat dumps it off white's got it and white is hit first by garner twists ahead his body length and picks up additional yardage to about the 28-yard line you know the couple of times that i saw bob mcallister in a ball game he was a little wild but tonight george had said they'd worked very hard at teaching him cool and he looks pretty good so far tonight he kept his cool certainly on that scramble play five out of six to 38 yards it's third town and about seven now for michigan state he looks verizon goes underneath to white and white is brought down around the 26-yard line and that is short of the first down it brings up a fourth greg cowette playing the boundary side of the field was the first man to get the fight now at number 46. john langlow who kicked the ball off a few minutes ago and kicked it deep into the end zone sets up now for a 43-yard field goal drive a 7-3 ball game michigan state here trying to make it 10-3 it's going to be wide right isn't it yes it is against the penalty flag on the field i'll be running into the holder i believe keith cleveland poger was the trojan who made the contact again this is a mixed crew half pac-10 half big ten personal foul roughing the kicker defense automatic first down michigan a little bit of high snap colder is at the bottom of your screen now let's see he did rough the uh kicker i thought it was the holder because the holder stood up but you take him down like that you're going to get a flag every time he was trying to make a positive play those things are going to happen i don't think that larry smith is going to be too upset with him because he was doing something in a positive manner smith at arizona keith had a reputation of having some of the best special teams in the country they blocked 28 kicks while he was there an average of like four four punts a season so they say they have good special teams well as gordy ruiz said automatic first down goes with that penalty the ball is down on the trojan 13-yard line michigan state now bidding for a big lead early on in the ball game as you give it to lorenzo white white cannot turn the corner the initial contact was made by number 31 bill stokes an interesting story bill wanted to be a baseball player he's gonna sign he thought with toronto his arm went bad he went to pasadena city college couldn't get his arm back started playing football again trojans went and got him he came over and now he's starting in his senior year at outside backer one of his friends says hey the team the football team needs a linebacker you're big enough come on out the unfortunate thing this year he may not get a lot of publicity because he's playing the opposite linebacker from marcus cotton it is second down and 10. from the 13 they give it a white white finds some daylight votes for the eight maybe the seventh looks like they'll mark him close to the seven this time the inside linebackers of ufc rex moore 35 and keith davis 60 made the tackle [Music] warren davis the two inside linebackers led this trojan defense in tackles last year they are the uh the uh the real rock i guess that to build that defense around marcus cotton makes the big plays but they they defense them from the inside out and you start with those two big linebackers inside as you look at cotton right there marcus has been controlled so far in the ball game and a timeout is called at two minutes and 38 seconds to play in the first quarter seven to three spartans and they're trying for more overhead tonight for us i'll tell you more about it in a moment michigan state shuffling their cards not wanting an opportunity to waste away called a timeout and they come back now with three tight ends on the field it is third down about four and a half a little more than four they send white in motion mcallister penalty flag mcallister's knocked out of bounds at about the 10-yard line penalty flag looked like it came from the side judge maybe the umpire they're both in that tight direction over there [Applause] here's the man that jumped off sides right here the tight end has jumped already and you hate to do that when you're in down in scoring position well they had three of them on the field they did and that's not unusual but the one the one on the right side jumped off sides usc declines the penalty they did not want to give michigan state another play and by doing so they take away the touchdown threat and would bring in the field goal unit langlo will set the p down on the 17-yard line for a 27-yard try at schermer the regular center does not do the snapping that's david martin the kick is up and the kick is good and michigan state will settle for three so the offside penalty proved to be particularly damaging to them but they still come away with some points and lead by seven with 2 30 to go in the first quarter the big fellas in the trenches are getting around to business now they're already pairing up the equipment i mean there's some real helmet painting going on down along the line of scrimmage pat morris was the offensive line coach you saw right there that was talking to his offensive lineman interesting story he came over this year from southern cal he was there last year but when larry smith brought all of his coaches from arizona george perlis hired him as a head as the uh the head offensive line coach and was really a big help in preparing for this game langlo kicks it it's a sailing kick goes down to the two-yard line where it is taken by number eight cleveland coulter and coulter gets some running room and brings it back up to about the 35 yard line so the trojans get a little decent field position to start here coming up next monday the premiere of abc's nfl monday night football the york giants and chicago bears those of course the last two teams from the national conference to play in the super bowl 8 30 eastern time 8 30 next monday night from the 35 the trojans will go to work now they've got three wideops on the field the usc rodney beat the quarterback they break the eye pete through quick pop to the sidelines pass this caulk for ken henry henry a great leaper at 6-3 200 a red shirt see fifth year senior i guess you'd call him from los angeles keith you're probably gonna see a lot of passing by pete look at the two nose tackles right here one's going to come this way one's going to go around this is why it's so difficult to run anything inside there it messes up your blocking assignments the front four don't make many tackles but they cause confusion and the linebackers especially snow the middle linebacker scrapes off and makes all the tackles half holder in there now as a wide out double wide left little puck comes to tanner tanner is brought down after he makes the catch up near the 47 yard line john miller uh junior from farmington hills michigan lassoed him but he picks up a first down for usc and they're going to mark him close to in fact on the 48th yard line well the one principle of that stunt 4-3 is the penetration obviously but there's always a trailer somebody behind that first man everybody's uh you can't the offensive lineman can't get past the stunning defensive line to get to the linebacker on first down pete gives it tonight ryan knight finds a hole in the middle got a big block on the right side of center that time catnick and leggett opening the door and i'm sure cadigan was involved too and todd crum has to make the tackle but it's another usc first down category on the right side and leggett number 63 doing a nice job nice big hole the linebacker just missed the tackle in the ho did you see a nice game before that play usc had only run 16 yards on the ground it is first down at the michigan state 38th for the trojans john jackson is on the field yep he said he used to coach at usc and was a good one good guy here's randy tanner tanner trying to shake loose can't do it hanging on john miller again number 44. and there's a pickup on the play of about eight yards what was it that george perlis said to us yesterday about his stunning defense he says we're a pain in the tail to try and run against this is the same defense when when pearlesce was the defensive line coach at the steelers joe green was the tackle pointed in he was very tough to run against then and still is second down two and a half play goes into the middle mark nichols grabs ryan knight and bangs into the ground at the 30. and they need now on third down two yards but when you stack your front seven to stop the run as much as the spartan defense does it opens up some things on the outside and the things that pete has been hitting so far has been the short outside routes michigan state's defensive secondary is zone relatively conservative back there and both corners are first time starters third down trojans over two and third down conversions obviously pete checked off gives it to his tailback a matter of muscle against muscle as knight goes into the middle and it looks like the mark from the lion judge is going to be good enough for a first down quarter's about gone it is gone so we played 15 here at spartan stadium in east lansing michigan michigan state 10 southern california three america out of houston texas up in michigan this week pilot is captain larry chambers larry of course spring texas we've got a what they call a gyrocam 360 up in the flip i'll tell you it's a great piece of equipment because it really gives you the most stable picture anybody's ever been able to achieve from that kind of a platform not only stable but you can get right down there on top of the players and a lot of the coaches around the country would like to be able to look straight down on top to get the alignments of these players especially offense of the defensive line coaches the trojans got their first down at the 27 of michigan state ryan knight is caught behind the line of scrimmage never had a chance as number 87 john buddy comes flying in for the tackle [Applause] so look at the first quarter stats pretty much even except for the total yardage michigan state dominating there and the one turnover was by michigan state on the fumbled punt by crum that time southern cal spreading out going to three wide receivers trying to force the spartans to loosen up a little bit that time buddy was not fooled second down and 14 for southern california pete back to throw it comes into the sidelines diving catch at the chalk good and it's inside the 20. and close to a first down i can't tell from this angle if he's got it eric halfholder [Applause] pete with a little play action helps to hold the linebackers take a look that's a catch that's a nice catch it's marked at the 19. they've got to go inside the 18 for their first down it is third then and about two beat tonight goes right up the pipe behind parkinson catnip atlantic leggett and it appears that he has this first down he's got it so the trojans grinding it out now as we start the second quarter of play with michigan state leading 10 to three first down from the 17. pete got a man on the sidelines inside the 10 pass is good to randy tander a senior out of belinda california and tanner will have what appears to be another first down take a look at the top up here the receiver is right here he's going to run down and break to the outside watch all the room he has out there pete taking the ball rolling that way it's just one on one there's nothing to read the corner is off into the end zone almost and when you get down that close keith you got to play him a little bit tighter beat six out of eight 52 yards and the trojans are first down and goal from inside the seventh [Applause] tailback night to the five and it was a hard two yards he picked up [Applause] steven webster who had won the job in the spring injured his good ankle playing basketball in the summertime and he's still gimpy skipping around on two sore ankles larry smith wasn't too happy about it either because he won the job in the spring and smith said don't go play basketball this summer he did and screened his other ankle he's the speedster they need knights a tough strong running back pass in the end zone incomplete off the hands of randy turner tanner had it on his hands but he had defensive coverage cod crumb there and crum may have put a hand up in his face or even gotten a piece of the ball no containment on pete gets outside you can see very well a nice play by crum right there just tipping the ball away just one finger looked like you know crumb is not a corner he's his free safety last year he played corner was playing corner at that on that play third down and gold from outside the six fumbled by rodney peter the snap he covers the ball it brings up fourth down for southern california oh the trojans with their second opportunity to get a touchdown can't punch it in the kicking team [Applause] i think he was surprised at the snap sometimes the center snaps it and starts blocking before the ball is back there that time i know but that time i'm not blaming the quarter i'm not blaming the center that time it was a quarterback i've done that many times myself the ball's there and rodney didn't move he was looking at those linebackers and he was surprised rodriguez for the field goal try 25 yarder is good so he's hit from 23 and hit from 25 so the freshman out of mesa arizona put up six points for the trojans 12 33 to go in the first half of play michigan state leading 10 to six and f holter will kick off for southern california to craig johnson and blake izor of michigan state alpolter the long-range kicker for usc ezor on the last return brought it out 38 yards in fact on both kickoff michigan state has come up with very good field position this will be johnson and this time they stop him just short of the 20. one of my favorite people is back home again in east lansing urban johnson with mike adamle keith you've got that right you mentioned the attention attendance was over 77 000 tonight there was no big more bigger spartan router than irvin johnson class of 1979 when you led the spartans to a national championship how do you enjoy the game so far well i'm loving it so far we got off to a good start uh they're making a strong comeback but the spartans will end up winning the game tommy lor sorta once said that he bleeds dodger blue and white do you bleed spartan green and white you got it all the way uh you know i love michigan state and all the people that i come in contact with being here as a college student and i'm also enjoying coming back to the games now as a alumni it is it is nice to be home isn't it it is it's the love that people give you and that you receive here it's always nice coming back and just seeing everybody and also seeing the changes that have uh come about since you were a student and to now i know dr jerry buss is out here he's a usc used to be a collegiate professor there do you have a friendly wager on this game oh yeah a few dollars i won't mention how many but uh he's pulling for sc and i'm pulling from michigan state okay good to see you keith all right mike thanks very much second down and one off that scramble by bob mcallister and the trojans this time as the penalty flag flies into the pile we'll stop the michigan state man lorenzo white hit this time by tim ryan looks like adam lee was standing in a hole down there interviewing magic i bet you it's holding against michigan state i'll bet you that uh magic is awful happy to come home and get away from all the hype of the big city after his last season 58 is cotton marcus cotton let's take a look and see what happens with blocking going against tahul 74. who does a nice job blowing him off the line of scrimmage as you see coulter number eight and looks like marcus looks at him and says hey holding what is this and that was probably who the holding was on well they've been putting mandarin and cool the big tackles have been sort of tracking marcus cotton so far and he has only now uh one assist in the tackle department so he's been pretty quiet that was a wristband of mcallister and on it is written poise and confidence and there are a few plays on there also second down 11 michigan state the ball back in near the 20-yard line is lorenzo a whirling dervish and he is finally hauled down by rex moore the senior inside linebacker there isn't no defense there isn't any defense for this fan right here you can have him defense then he can cut back one way or the other you've got to stay in your lanes if you're a defensive man you cannot pursue too quickly because he's got tremendous cut back ability the poise and confidence we saw on mcallister's wristband it reminds me of my days at purdue as a quarterback when i first started those were the two words the last words i looked off on my little cheat sheet on the sideline had poise and that's for confidence third down and seven mcallister deep patents after him unloads the pass just before cotton gets there the pass is caught complete and will be short of the first down lorenzo white making the catch mcallister got the first taste of marcus cotton in that time take a good look at the pocket this is just a little screen pass mcallister gets knocked away gibson 92 gets a part of it and then the rest of it uh catches up so it's fourth down and montgomery is in the punt greg montgomery averaged almost 48 yards per pot and here's another howitzer back goes randy tanner from his 22 comes back to the 29-28 and that'll do it montgomery 54 yards on his first punt in 1987. he was one pot short last year of qualifying to win the title coach didn't know it and literally just forgot to give him a chance update 10 usc 6 and tonight's abc sports exclusive brought to you by the two automobile divisions of american honda who invite you to see the new exciting lines of honda and acura automobiles today and by the new longer lasting energizer batteries [Applause] the football is just short of the 29 of southern california trojans have it first down and ryan knight remains the tailback the roy holt is the fullback but defeat the quarterback tanner and jackson wide out along with henry [Applause] comes one henry with great leaping ability goes up high to haul it down and first down usc at their own 44. pick up close to 15 yards you mentioned a little earlier that larry smith the head coach was a little surprised at the lack of speed receivers have pretty good speed henry moore of a possession receiver that's not to say he doesn't have good speed but not as much as the receivers for uh michigan state have risen tremendous speed as you see just a little curl to the inside nice reception from the 44 knight the tailback seemingly lost his ballot as he tried to get his feet from on under him and uh generate some leverage going into the stack he'll pick up on the play just over a yard american league scores detroit which has had some trouble down in texas bouncing back so far tonight against baltimore the tigers big story around this part of the country knocked out of first place in the american league east last night california illusion today and minnesota a winner today in the american league west while uh seattle beat cleveland second down and nine from the 45th pete looks at tanner throws at him and it's incomplete randy had gone out and made a turn we're standing rodney may have been a bit late effecting the play but i'll tell you this if he pumped one time and tanner turned it up field it's six there was nobody back there national league as you can see game's in progress right now san francisco trying to hammerlock the national west while saint louis was a loser today cincinnati beat los angeles in the west and the tail enders there atlanta and san diego third down and nine sideline got a man jackson hauls it in first down southern california inside the michigan state 30. [Applause] excellent throw rodney pete right on the money he plays for the sc baseball team has a great arm as a shortstop he's going to throw to the top of your screen top left as you see right there throwing over payton 24. watch him lay this ball right on the money in front of the safety who was deep nice shot nice play pete now eight for 12 and 93 yards and the ball is just over the 30. pete hands the ball off inside this time getting his first carry of the ball game leroy holt a 215 pound sophomore from carson california here's larry chambers doing his thing in the night sky here in east lansing over spartan stadium we had a little bad weather about an hour and a half two hours before the ball game and uh i don't think i would have gone a bit up there with him at that point in fact i know i didn't want to be up there second down call it eight ball resting precisely on the 28-yard hash mark getting heat drops the football trojans recover it at their own 38. so rodney pete getting tremendous pressure from the penetrating michigan state defense dropped the ball but leroy holt trying to drop back and be the protector of the quarterback saw the loose ball and recovered it thanks to the back to stunning defense 40 45 is uh bergen coming around the defensive end he tried to change hands i think he was going to try and duck up inside of him but costly fumble there third down and long joe bergen playing that defensive end position number 45 and coach curler says he's he's just an over achiever he doesn't know when to quit so he's only six feet one [Applause] deep pass down the middle is incomplete john jackson running a post route and it is overthrown so the trojans will fight from this point on the field squirrel is in his first kick tonight was 34. this is where you want the hang time this is where you want to kill that ball deep distance doesn't matter exactly you want to keep kick it out of bounds inside the tin or hang it high so your coverage people can get downfield man for michigan state he's got it high hit a knuckle ball could be a very good kick trojans are back there to cover it and they're going to kill it deep at the six yard line so they putter chris pearl does his job as the trojans killed the ball back at the michigan state six with 706 to play in the first half michigan state leads by four all right the michigan state offense to the field now from their own six and there's some degree of pressure here on the usc defensive people because the attitude of larry smith and his staff was to go from a read and react defensive posture to one of aggressive well i'm not sure that's the best style of defense against a slashing style of runner as lorenzo white and you gotta figure white gets the ball here he's in the neck of the eye formation and has the ball and trojans had him inside the five but he got loose and [Applause] dan owens had him inside the five-yard line number 90 and couldn't hold him just straight blocking up front he just got to give the ball to lorenzo let him pick a hoe he sees nothing inside 63 there is uh cooler gets stuffed on his line to the side of the line of scrimmage so he just bounces it outside mark carrier knocked him out of bounds right now 11 carries 58 yards and blake eazor is now in at failback replacing lorenzo white and they go to the fullback and joe pugh moves it up across the 10 close to the 13. so here's izor who's uh 185 pound cycle out of las vegas but he's another slashing runner and very quick lots of speed and you really as a defense cannot let down if you see lorenzo white go out of the ball game because this man here can really move him but white comes right back in after a brief breather now and izor comes out it is third down and short three mcallister keeping it has the first down by mark carrier but not until he is in the neighborhood of the 25-yard line [Applause] mobility is so important in a quarterback whether you're playing in this level or the level uh below this in high school or in the pros if you can move around you can put more pressure on the defense and mcallister certainly has that ability he's seven out of eight in passing for 42 yards he's run four times for 40. and i'd say so far his debut has been a success yes sir it's first down spartans near the 26th mcallister keeps it after the fake to white delivers toward horizon pass was thrown too low and andre couldn't come up with it it's a poor pass there horizon was wide open and mcallister knows it and he said dog gone and i had him well there's one thing you got to do we noticed it last week in the kickoff classic when francis of tennessee was throwing the ball almost every time he missed the pass the ball was to the outside in this instance the ball was inside it was low but it was inside and that's dangerous when your receiver is going to the outside well it's still better than being high and inside because if it's high inside it's going the other way that's right who is out now and kevin robbins is in a tackle for michigan state mcallister pumps one down the middle and it is incomplete the pass intended for andre ricin he unloaded it before i think he wanted to but i don't think he had a whole lot of choice it was either that or uh head for the cemetery yeah he didn't eat people he didn't have a lot of choice as ryan the uh the south moore defensive end but take a look right here at uh the defensive lineman rising i mean uh ryan as he comes inside there's a play action fake and into the inside he's got a lot of time here well i was looking at the wrong one i guess because he had plenty of time he just slipped down on his own third down michigan state four out of seven this is third down at 10. and mccallister running out of time throws a dangerous pass kind of threw it up for grabs actually cowette was over there defending pass looked like he was intended for yasevich and it goes incomplete so montgomery comes onto the field greg's first punt tonight was 54 yards first part of the season [Applause] just sent one man back they got 10 people up on the line and going after him again trying to put some pressure on him one man's got to be uncovered up there so the man on the high left side of your picture uncovered but montgomery stepped the other way and got it away and here's a penalty flag in the air as the kick sails all the way down to the 19 to randy tanner and randa tanner was cut down at about the 24. was that a penalty flag i saw yes it's all the way back at the 25-yard line was it coward offside well if uh offside of course is is a five yarder they were looking at fourth and tent [Music] if it was in fact an offside let's see what the call is the illegal procedure call seems to be going against michigan state which would mean undoubtedly that one of the interior linemen picked up his hand moved some the plan was for montgomery to take a step either right or left to take one step away from the uncovered trojan illegal procedure offense still fourth down and so they're gonna make him kick it again well the plan was to have him step away from the man that wasn't blocked he knows the blocking scheme and uh as you said they can't block them all but this is a this is a situation that gave perlis a lot of concern as the punt rocky it cost montgomery a fifth to six yard punt see what it can do here that snap was high pressure was on and it's not as good it's higher and tanner takes it after 38 6-1 and comes back to about the 43. so that's a gain of 19 yards for southern california as this time the putt goes 42 and his return is four and cowet was the man that got the pressure on the putter got a timeout 5 35 to go to ruby down and ann arbor john cannon's big old house and what's boshem beckler and lou holtz match wits next saturday it's been 10 years since i've done a football game here at spartan stadium 77 for michigan michigan state game first down and 10 from the 43 for southern california [Music] three yards as he gets to the 46. jeff snow leading michigan state now in individual tackles snow has four letts has advertised the middle linebacker snow not uh not real big only six three and 211 pounds but playing behind that stunning front four there aren't going to be many big offensive linemen getting on him you got a michigan state player hurt on the play it is mark nichols their their their prime defensive tackle uh vic senior 260 pounder from bloomfield hills so we've got a timeout taken in mark's behalf with 5 22 to play in the first half chris sunderland will go in a tackle replacing mark nichols mark walked off the field a bit wobbly but seemingly uh recovery it is second down and seven for southern california rodney pete rolls it out rolls it out throws it to the sidelines and it's good caught on the sidelines but caught just short of the marker by john jackson john is a sophomore from diamond bar he normally wears number one he's wearing 82 tonight because his jersey was one of one stolen one of two stolen two one of two stolen from the block of now whoever was in there took two and not one and a helmet they took a helmet one to make a clock the trojans to this point have only rushed for 26 yards in 16 carries so the rushing is not doing too well and as advertised as you take a look right there 105 yards through the air third and a half yard of southern california marcus hopkins a freshman in the ball game carries and dives for the first down marcus hopkins is one of three top freshman tailbacks six footer 185 pound freshman from san diego california he is out of the same high school that could use marcus allen his first carry he gets first down got the right first name for it yes sir so usc first down at the michigan state 44 with four minutes and 55 seconds to play in the first half and state leading 10 to six [Applause] jackson just beyond the fingertips and a penalty flag might have a little personal foul back up the field i think there was a bit of a scuffle going on up around the 40-yard line and it's one of those that might go either way it's again the trojans i think gordy rhys i've got an ineligible man downfield i didn't see the second flag he was thrown back up here behind the quarterback after the play was done and the other flag was dropped on the 40. i think it was dave cadigan way down the field you know what he's doing downfield they say he runs like a linebacker though so maybe he's trying to show off some of his speed so it is still first intent from the 44. beach pass is thrown underneath and it is incomplete to john jackson got to fight for the ball michigan state man tim moore the outside linebacker for the spartans thinking that perhaps he had fought the ball and then fumbled it was having quite a bit of a scuffle with john right here tim moore is 42. one of the outstanding linebackers for uh penn state paul is on the ground uh moore thinks it's a fumble they got high hopes for moore he's replacing uh two former all-american linebackers carl banks and um anthony bell playing the position you mentioned a little earlier keith he's an orphan and george perrla says he is me on the football field second down and ten for usc pass thrown to the outside a randy tanner has it and randy is wrestled out just inside the 43 by derrick reed who came to michigan state to start at left cornerback from smu he's a junior coming up at halftime we'll have a visit with al trotwick and jim hill they'll be your co-hosts for our college football scoreboard show this year so we'll have a visit with al and jim and we'll have a special feature coming from the field here at spartan stadium in our salute to labor and little star lee greenwood third down and four for usc now 29. the play in the first half pete on third down throws batted up in the air at the line of scrimmage and incomplete forward pass and it is fourth down i think it was joe bergen that got up there and got a hand on it well if he did he had to jump up because he like i said he's only 6'1 and 220. he is really undersized take a look right here as you see the rush not much penetration yep you're right the problem there is category did not keep pressure or contact with the bergen and allowed bergen to jump up uh without having any pressure or being pushed chris sperle in for his third part of the night first two have been 34-32 but the 32 is a little misleading it was very effective because they killed the ball back on the six yard line and he's got this one up the silo again check the bounce and the trojans mark it inside the five down here the four if it didn't hit a usc man up the field i thought it might hit one of the trojans on the back of the leg a little farther up field and it did that's where the first bean bag is thrown down so it's up around the 10-yard line well next monday night you've got your season premiere matching the new york giants and chicago bears on abc's nfl monday night football the pregame show will start at 8 30 eastern time here on abc next monday dan dierdo joining the monday night guys that'll be an outstanding game keith there will be some feelings here there'll be some bruises in it too a little proven i think on both sides there blake eazor is the failback now for michigan state number 26. he's the las vegas sophomore got a big hole over the left side he's a burner and he's off to the 35-yard line mark carrier brought him down now they're going to mark him short of 35. they say he hit the sidelines back near the 25. that's the line blocking up front mandaridge 63 is cooler coming out big hole nice block downfield on garner number nine he hit the sidelines and stepped out of bounds at the 25-yard line [Applause] from the blimp ore again and this time number 90 dan owen grabs a hold of him and wrestles him down after a yard pickup block easing along now as we go to 355 to play in the first half michigan state game started with a burst spartans took it right down and scored big play being a 31-yard run by lorenzo white but things have calmed down since that time the place called upstairs and then wig whacked in from the sidelines to mcallister michigan state quarterback [Applause] oh that was some move he put on mark carrier and just stepped right over him and picked up the first down carrier had him dead to rights back around the 31 yard line and he just stepped right past him this is an experienced offensive line that ezor is running behind as you see davis number 60 has trouble getting over carrier 19 falls key offensive line and really the spartans are confined uh situa's position at the offensive the back with white and izor michigan state has won for yards so for tonight southern california 29 and this time the trojans control ezor as he goes to the open field and he picks up one yard with tim ryan getting the tackle jim moore started but joe pugh came in quickly as bob said moore has a big pad on his right hand because of a broken bone and as long as joe few continues to do this kind of work they'll probably let more no question about that pew has done very well both catching and running the ball and blocking uh white is back in now at tailback and ezor after having his moment comes out and mcallister sets it up for a rule and he is chased out of bounds by marcus cotton so we call marcus patton's name now as he rides mcallister into the usc crowd and the ball is marked just short of the 40. we were talking about the offensive front a while ago this man marcus cotton is being tracked literally by either tony manderich or david hull now cool bench presses 525 and manderick around 500. so that's a pretty good uh not a bad idea to have one of those guys in front of marcus cotton it's some gristle i'll tell you that mcallister back good protection pass interstruck right into the hands of keith davis and heather didn't know what to do with it it was right on the numbers and he dropped it well he should have picked it off it was a poor throw by mcallister his man was open he just under through it a little bit this is one davis is going to mumble about going home because it was right in his hand top of your screen if he would have thrown the ball to the left or inside of davis rising would have come kept coming but the young quarterback will learn that in time hannah is deep montgomery to punt oh i didn't get all of that one either but he didn't have a whole lot of pressure on him it dropped short of the return man is now going to roll around and tanner's going to leave it alone it's a hot rock with all that crowd of michigan state people back there if you went over and picked it up you know that junk is boom so 51-yard punt with the roll but not a montgomery kick it wasn't up to his weight he's human too he watches those film he know they have knows they have a good rush against the punt he can also throw the ball and pass it out of punt formation but he was trying to rush it a little bit that time they were not trying to block it paul is just inside the southern california 10. [Applause] lion minute the tailback hulk the fullback knight has it and we'll get a yard or so as percy snow belts him down that's going to be i think six tackles for snow 1967. look at this o.j simpson steve garvey number 24 defensive back for michigan state getting o.j in his sights i don't know if he got him or not and steve garvey the baseball player it's kind of strange to see steve in a football uniform but i'm sure the story goes that from steve anyway that he tackled him for a three yard loss this is a knight sliding through trying to pick up the pass from uh pete the quarterback but rodney running for his life did not have a chance to get the ball to him because that is a design play and when knight got through there clean and clear but the pressure from the back side had forced rodney pete to run for his life well the pressure is is right on that man right there as we said rodney pete there's no running game for the trojans whatsoever and if they're going to make any yardage it's going to have to come through the pass and that means he's going to have to and they produce get the first down as knight carriage ball had to come out to the 20. and they have clearly marked it back near the 18 as michigan state calls time to kill the clock with 59 seconds to play in the first half larry smith and his people on the sidelines george perlis looking to put some pressure on chris sperle the punter and hopefully come up with field position smith said earlier that one of the things he was surprised with when he got to southern cal or pleasantly surprised was the fact that there was the class of the players of the athletes and the whole system at southern cal was uh was really first class he was very impressed with the players the the athletic department the administration from top to bottom he was maybe a little disappointed with the speed on the team but certainly not their character in class [Applause] well there is an old truth in football as you well know big fast people will normally beat little fast people and uh he's got the size but right now lex is on his feet todd crump goes back to stand near his 40 to accept the fight now from usc's chris [Applause] pearl spartans going after him but he gets it out pretty good kick under that kind of pressure and a fair catch is called back at the 44 of michigan state 38-yard punt good hang time on it and todd crum wasn't gonna mess with it and make a mistake because he had a fumble early on if you remember the ball game and so he secures the catch and they place it just short of the 45 with 53 seconds to play in the first half plus kd had 10 men rush in the punter and almost blocked it so he had no help downfield whatsoever well walter camp once said the tricks of just that tricks the only trick that really works is work let's see if they've got their trick played nope not at that time there's a loss back inside the 40. [Applause] it was tim ryan number 99 who came blowing in from his defensive tackle position to put him down and now state going without a huddle as mcallister drops back from his 36 throws to ryzen on the sidelines and andre is pushed out of bounds by cleveland coulter with 28 seconds to play in the first half now they've got a chance to talk about it and try to set up a long play and give their place kicker langlow a shot at it impressed with not only mcallister his first team quarterback but also enos his second team quarterback and uh feels like both of them could lead the spartans to victory but mcallister has earned the right to play as we see a timeout taken by mcallister not his fault he just didn't get the right play you kept calling and calling and calling for the play jeff jacobs uh the other former smu player goes into the game as a wide receiver and mcallister did not understand the play or did not have the play and that's the problem of sending the plays down from upstairs through the coach on the sidelines and then out to the quarterback here's mike adamly for a moment we talked we talked to irvin johnson a little bit earlier now carl banks there keith jackson has matched you about four or five times tonight up in the booth what's it like being back here in east lansing and i know the fans still love you as a spartan it's always great to be back home and michigan state i love the score i love the school and it's a lot of excitement here and it feels so good to be out here on the field i got butterflies at the kickoff just like i was playing all over again next monday night in chicago you're going to have a little butterflies yourself the game the game everybody's been waiting for against the chicago bears that's going to be a tough win and it won't be an easy one for either team chicago's great offense and great defense and we're going to have to prepare well was it was it tough the last couple of preseason games playing the teams you're going against and still with the bears in the back of your mind no well those teams wouldn't let us think of the bears as you know saturday the game against pittsburgh was very tough in the fourth the second half fourth quarter was really tough for us it was no longer a preseason game weren't you supposed to be at practice today we had practice early i caught a flight out okay that's where to do it all right all right good to see you carl good luck on monday all right carl banks part of the great linebacking core of the new york giants [Applause] now we go back down on the field from our position here the handoff goes to lorenzo white white bounces outside and he is hammered down by cowet greg cowett who plays that boundary side from that that cornerback position coming up and laid a solid tackle on him so it is now fourth down and at least six time running down they've got time for one more play but they're not going to get it off i don't think either i don't think either team wants to take a timeout southern california the only one with any remaining and they didn't want it because they knew they had michigan state in the hole on timeouts so time expires so after the first half of play ragged in spots exciting in sparts the score at halftime michigan state 10 usc 6. advantage took the first drive right down lorenzo white doing a lot of it and scored they scored on their second possession with a field goal and that's been it it's been defense ever since what do you think now is usc in a posture without an effective running game to turn it around or is well i think they have to start running at the corners they talked yesterday about gap blocking blocking down and everything and trying to run outside of all that stunning inside i think that's what they have to do continue to try and get rodney pete outside and let him throw don't throw up the game plan is was solid don't throw it away let's just go out and execute it and so far george perlis's game plan has been pretty good because his defensive folks have done just exactly what he's been training him to do they lead by four at halftime esports exclusive being brought to you by the heartbeat of america today's chevrolet and by coors light the silver bullet there's no slowing down with a silver bullet we're ready to go with the second half of play usc won the toss remember deferred to the second half so they get the ball johnny langlow will kick it off for michigan state cleveland coulter gary wellman a pair of flyers will be back to receive it for southern california weldment number 83 [Applause] 10-6 spartans lead langlow's kick is very high and taken by colder at the five got a hole last man got him well not really the last man but the last man to keep him from breaking it on the sidelines you got him at the 26. statistics for the first half the rushing yardage heavy for michigan state passing for sc and not a surprise there the big play the turnover the fumbled punt by crum from michigan state set up the only field goal one of the first field game for southern cal [Applause] mark nichols starts defensively he was injured in the first half remember for michigan state defensive tackle randy tanner goes in motion rod defeat gives it to ryan knight ryan knight in the first half at 37 yards for the rest of the trojan runners minus one and ryan moves it from the 26 out to about the 31. derek reed made the tackle for michigan state the possessions in the first half you can see michigan state uh well that's usc there yeah they punted four of six times but their field position was really not that poor uh they got the ball to 43 and in michigan state 21-yard line the second possession rodney pete loses the football michigan states got the ball after southern california 25. so the trojans fumble it and the spartans cover it this was a sweep to the right and in one of the guards parkinson was pulling i don't know whether or not the guard knocked the ball out of his hand but sometimes this can happen take a look yep that's exactly what sure did parkinson 71 knocked the ball out of his hands and i think that's pete's fault keith he needs to get away from the center a little bit quicker he was hanging around a little bit too long john buddy covered the loose ball for michigan state the spartans go to work with joe pugh and lorenzo white and white has the ball he's around the corner and he's down to the 11. bill smokes finally who brought him down him ryan was after him and couldn't catch him on michigan state's first drive of the game white gained 49 yards and went in for a touchdown this is the first drive of the second half and it seems as though he's going to make it a touchdown himself or he's going to he's going to take him down and get it in so the spartans have it first down at the usc 11 6. white again cuts it back dives maybe the nines give him two brought down by dan owen michigan state opening up with ryzen wideout tied in mike sargent sherman coola mandaridge on the offensive front no who's not out there it's kevin robin jr out of washington d.c 6-6 285 [Applause] second down eight from the nine macalester keeping it bobby mcallister has two blockers touchdown um [Applause] [Music] number 35 for southern california that is rex moore their inside linebacker being helped from the field he's dragging his left leg in fact dragging both legs right there loss of more a big loss for the trojan defensive unit john langlow in for the extra point [Applause] looking for his fifth point of the night good southern california turns it over and michigan state catches it in this was a run all the way keith as a two he comes out very flat if he was a pass what's the block here on marcus cotton the all-american linebacker right there is knocked off his feet that's pew 38 outstanding play great blocking run all the way and michigan state opens it up to a 17-6 [Music] lead [Music] the advanced new chevy half ton is all new ford isn't and the advantages stack up chevy gives you new two-tier loading ford doesn't more two-sided galvanized steel a bigger heavier frame and on top of it all more standard power with vortech v6 decade next week on the season premiere of abc's monday night football [Music] let's go back and take another look here's pew the fullback now watch the block that he throws on the all-american linebacker marcus cotton the spring mcallister into the end zone for the touchdown outstanding block and another one by boyer 17 to get him into the end zone good execution michigan state's plan to have their big tackles crack cotton tonight very effective he has only two tackles in the ball game all right 1306 to go third quarter 17 to six spartans and they will kick it off now with coulter and wellman deep that's long and high and it's back to the three for coder again gets a crack trying to cut back to it and there's penalty flags all over the field [Applause] almost depend on it being a clip [Applause] holding by the receiving team during the run i think you could have had your druthers there bob they called it holding all right the football will come back now the trojans were starting to hold from their own 14 first down trailing by 11 points oh and night lineup behind pete [Applause] tonight out to about the 16 and here's mike adam well keith you know there's a lot of proud parents in the audience tonight but none prouder than lorenzo white's mom gloria gloria i saw that you arrived at the game a little bit late you didn't miss lorenzo's touchdown run did you oh i stood up while he ran it in i just stood back there i didn't want to try to get into the crowd now you made the trip all the way from florida get that thing out of here upstaged by a balloon yeah i came in just to see the game and to um see what kind of condition when he was going to be in for the first game and i was well pleased during the summer months when he was practicing but i said i want to see him out on the field against the competitive team so therefore i've seen that first touchdown now all ready for the rest of the season so a little home cooking and a little tender loving care has made lorenzo a complete player this year he's he's happy and healthy again right he's health he's healthier he's more happier and we got more spirit this year than we had before because this this is his year i agree keith all right mike thanks very much proud mama trojans have picked up the first down on a pass to john jackson and now they have a little better breathing territory outside as they give it inside the whole penalty flag gonna nullify a good run by leroy holt he carried the ball for about 10 yards but you got a pretty quick flag and i won't be surprised if you don't get a holding call here so the trojans hurting themselves they've been doing it all night well larry smith i told him yesterday that he was pulling offense sort of in the same position as the old greek tutor you know it's a two-edged sword first you got to unlearn and then you got to learn and you can't always do it when you're in this business it helps to have a good memory but it also helps to forget very quickly you have to learn new things and then forget them u.s open tennis brad gilbert knocked off boris becker and one of the major upsets in fact the only upset so far of any consequence in the u.s open so becker goes down to gilbert first down and 20 now and they'll take it off the ground with ryan knight and pick up a couple of yards there just hasn't been much room in the middle for southern california's running game let's go inside and see why they're not running here are the two defensive tackles this one is davis and nicholls they are going to cross and really foul up the things going on inside the center tries to block black davis 75 crosses you've got a lot of angles going in there it's just tough to run inside perlis says we defense from the inside out second down pete rolls it gets it away complete to henry henry is thrown out of bounds at the 32-yard line wrestled out as travis davis was putting the pressure on the quarterback rodney pete keith if the trojans are going to do anything in the second half they have to work outside the offensive tackles there's too much crisscrossing and stunning inside both running outside and scrambling and throwing outside just as pete did then all right ryan knight leaves marcus hopkins makes his second appearance he carried the ball one time the freshman out of san diego and he picked up the first down he has great ability but he's still a baby throws a pretty good block giving pete time and pete i think looking for jackson to come back inside threw it that way and they missed connections and it brings up fourth down and they'll have to put it away yeah he just overthrew it the receivers were not open and i think he just threw it away [Applause] smart s'more choice he was standing in the middle of a storm but there was no real pressure on him actually no one was within five yards of him chris earl now for his fifth punt of the night his best one has been 38 yards todd crum the lone receiver for michigan state they've got 10 spartans to put the pressure on squirrel spins it out can't get it to turn over krum accepts it he loses one and then goes down as who is that marcus cotton nope number 56 downfield jack brian tullio the freshman linebacker making the tackle and michigan state will start from their own 35 yards on the king first down michigan state then coached under him duffy has been ill quite ill in the hospital the world loves duffy doherty and those who have played for him and coached under him and know him well their feelings i think expressed beautifully yesterday by george perlis when you think of duffy you think of a great football coach you think if someone treats you like a father but you think of humor you think of the good things in life laughing having fun the football building here bears duffy door at his name and it should he's a rare kind of a human being the world loves it i love him duff you get well and you bring that 14 handicap on pentax steal some more from me we had some good games up here against duffel he's an outstanding man great man first down from the 35 for michigan state river andre rison trojans struck it pretty well and he loses his footing cutting back at the 36 and there is a penalty flag and when you get that many people strung out on a wide field reverse like that penalties come easy cliff is against michigan state and here are some baseball scores of games earlier today on this labor day holiday and games going on at the present time in the american league detroit jumping all over baltimore and new york jumping on boston with texas oakland just in the fourth inning now national league philadelphia beating the mets 4-2 and san francisco houston even in the sixth inning the penalty moves the football back to the 21-yard line so they're looking at first down and [Applause] that little twenty-four with lorenzo white and he moves it up to about the 25 for a gain of four yards and it looks like the southern california defensive people have come out determined to play a little wilder game here in the second half american league those are all final scores in the american california losing to kansas city but minnesota winning in the american league west not the trojan defense as we take a look at some more finals in the national league that really needs to get untracked keith it's their offense and needs to get some points on the board that's right trying to make something happen mcallister play action you lose one but can't elude two number 92 dodd gibson locked him down and tim ryan finished him off and the loss is back to the 17-yard line gibson's an interesting story his brother played for larry smith arizona and when smith came over to usc and knew that don gibson was there he says there's good stock in that gibson family [Applause] third down and 28 now as they've got to go just over the 45 to get their first down rising and jacobs for the white people mcallister's got some room outside caught from behind fumbled the ball southern california covers it [Applause] so the spartans turn it over on their end of the field about the 32-yard line marcus cotton is the man covering the football i think greg cowett number 46 knocks the ball loose let's take a look here as mcallister begins to lose his balance and he's going to get hit just before he goes down it's it's close but i think it i don't know that was pretty close call first down ball market just inside the 33 close to the 32 and short pass thrown underneath the number 86. that's scott galbraith into the ball game sophomore out of sacramento he pulls the catch in about the 26th but let's look at the penalty flag right here and see what we've got [Applause] was a head slap against michigan state it was a spear i think he's spirit nonetheless it's a major penalty against michigan state and we look forward to saturday afternoon on a defense automatic first down so it goes with an automatic first down and it's a break for southern california on an overly enthusiastic mistake by michigan state notre dame's fighting irish in the michigan wolverines we begin it at three o'clock saturday afternoon here on abc sports the opening game for both teams that's a tough opening for both teams too marcus hopkins is the tailback for southern california the freshman he's got the ball he's in traffic and he loses the football and michigan state's recovered it that's the cloud that goes with playing such a young player mark nichols the veteran defensive tackle comes out of the stack with a football so michigan state having turned it over fights back and recovers the ball it's the problem when you play a true freshman he has not been at southern cal very long he gets in a ball game a big ball game and turns it over yeah not very much that he's ever been hit quite as hard as he got hit on that play time out watch as he gets his right arm on the football and knocks it loose from marcus hopkins just magnifying the problem that southern cal is having at their tailback position tonight ryan knight has carried the ball 17 times for 46 yards all the other tailbacks that larry smith has tried has gone from minus seven two fumbles two holding penalties and a sack in this half michigan state with a ball now working from their 16. this is bobby mcallister the quarterback looking for all the world like a tailback as he wiggles his way through traffic and gets the football up near the 34-yard line before chris hale brings him down no question it's a designed roll out with mcallister using his ability to run the football it's a safe play it's like a sweep with two blocking backs ahead of him he's picked up 60 yards so far in the ball game lake ezor is now the tailback for michigan state jacobs and ryzen double wide top of the picture [Applause] he keeps those legs plowing don gibson got a hold of him but he didn't surrender easily you know it's interesting that we have a heisman trophy contender in lorenzo white here tonight and blake izor is getting so much playing time i think it's a smart move last year he had a knee and ankle injury and and uh perlis feels as though if you've got two good running backs why not spell lorenzo off now and then to keep him fresh when he's in the ball game is carried five times for 32 yards with his second down and six for michigan state from the 38 got it again on the right side and then there is a collision at the 40. bill russell used to say basketball is a contact sport football is a collision i'm reminded i'm reminded of what marcus cotton likes to say the linebacker for southern county says i like to play basketball i said basketball was my first love he says i like to slam dunk it in basketball and then he says in fact i like to slam dunk in football it says the quarterbacks don't bounce he's been slam dunked himself a couple he certainly has lorenzo white is back in there now [Applause] mcallister takes it the other way gets outside and has a man pass is complete at the southern california 48-yard line catches by jeff jacobs who came here from smu number 14. jacobs is working on hail to the outside and if he has double coverage he should hail should have been more to the outside because he had help from the inside by number 13 marie but he wasn't playing this technique properly and it's you know it's a mistake that a young defensive back is going to make well jacobs is not a gimmie he caught 52 at this he certainly did izor back in at tailback has the ball well he's he's a gritty kid at 185 pounds he's just hammering into those big guys in the middle and he moves the ball to the 45 keith davis the inside backer hit him rex moore incidentally is being taken to x-rays [Applause] ankle his problem now the tailbacks are alternating these are out and right back in second down seven running game michigan state 177 yards usc 37. mcallister pressure coming from the backside stokes he gets it away just in time razon makes the catch at the two first and go michigan state great catch rising ryzen with all kinds of speed this is the first time as he starts his little out move hail again the reserve cornerback is in there he makes a nice adjustment one foot his left foot is on the ground and a nice reception 44 yards as you see rising with his eyes on the ball all the way played quarterback in high school went to the same high school as mark ingram the number one draft choice out of michigan state now playing with the new york giants outstanding play this will go with the books as a one-yarder because it is marked right in between the one and two hash marks mcallister white touchdown take a look at the line surge for the spartans all you have to do is get a stalemate and just a little crease for a halfback to jump over and lorenzo white with plenty of distance gets it in for his second touchdown of the night and the spartans now threatening to put this one away langlow is in for the extra point and it's good white 16 carries 82 yards two touchdowns 5 16 to go third quarter 24-6 michigan state pope up in the clinton america that's floating around above the stadium with captain larry chambers carrying one of our cameras michigan state now is zeroing in on a win here with 24 to six and they have to have southern california totally frustrated at this juncture and so far southern california has been a one-legged offense in this ball game that's rodney pete pete's tried done the best he could but he's 13 of 21 with 136 yards as you see that last scoring drive 84 yards and of course the big play was the past horizon and i'm also impressed with mcallister how well he is running from the quarterback position this kid's got a heck of a leg look at that he knocked it six yards deep into the end zone forcing no return so southern california will have to start from the 20. bobby mcallister they're going to call this the south florida connection with mcallister from pompano beach and lorenzo white from fort lauderdale biggie munn and duffy started it now let's see if southern california holds together here and gets something going offensively ryan knight and leroy holt in the i formation behind rod defeat ken henry is and he caught one ball tonight this is knight the tailback and there is nothing there as the michigan state people cover it well and led by percy snow and again it's the people up front with their slanting and their angles out of that stunt 4-3 enabling the middle linebacker to get the tackle there's no surprise of this defense it's the same defense that he used all of last year that led the big ten in rushing defense as you take a look there at what knight and the other southern cal runners have done this evening pete keeps the ball drills it into a crowd and will come out of it with a reception [Applause] number 17 paul greene the tight end but the catch is made for only seven yards up to the 27 and they're looking at third down and three ken henry has caught three balls tonight totaling 31 yards so he's been pretty quiet [Applause] [Music] randy turner tanner has been pretty quiet too paul never came back on the snap pete started to pull away and he didn't have the football well i think he forgot the snap count that time i think you're right that ball hall start offense still throw down if the quarterback moves well no everybody else was well the left side was moving the right side was and evidently the left side hurt him a lot better than the right side you know rodney uh his father is an assistant coach for the green bay packers and was an assistant in arizona for a while under larry smith in fact rodney was the water boy over there for a while and said it was a tough decision a few years ago not to go to arizona when smith was the head coach on third and eighth pass is thrown to the sidelines good for the first down to john jackson and johnny is up across the 40 to the 40 close to the 44. before lanier payton wrestles him down and so pete comes up with a big play to get off the hook at 3 37 to go in the third quarter jackson working on the left side wide side of the field on peyton just goes seven yards and out that's all you needed five third down and five from the 43. full-back hope bouncing outside but he's caught by number 42 tim moore and moore takes him down he's going to lose a yard on that second down 11. [Applause] last year the trojans were beaten on the [Applause] ground knight blows it up the middle and one of the better gains of the night for ryan knight as he moves from the 42 to the 48 percy snow one more tackle if they could take it and stick it in the end zone they're still in the hunt well the key thing to do here is not to panic there's plenty of time on the scoreboard they just need to get some production and some points out of these drives third down play long five beats pass sideline henry good first down to the 44. so they're now 6 out of 13 on third down conversion to the ball game 81 beat this half is six of seven for 66 yards and they're still throwing the short stuff keith they're going down 10 12 yards and just breaking to the outside to tie it in the middle of the field just hooking they're not challenging anybody deep i think at some point time you're gonna have to stretch the secondary and make him respect a deep throw we really haven't seen a foot race all night have you no we haven't might have one here no the deep men broke off the routes now tanner trying to come back does and makes the catch andy tanner had almost given up on the play and then he saw pete curl out from behind the crowd and then he came back to the ball and picks up the big play to the 20. well tanner is up here and this time he is going to go deep he's going to go deep to the middle as the other receiver comes to the inside now tanner will do a lot of scrambling around while pete is scrambling around to the top of your screen breaks to the middle nice slows down the safety on this side crumb comes forward and tanner does a good thing in running towards the quarterback [Applause] so the trojans have it first down just short of the michigan state 20 and pete looks deep goes to the corner henry no ken henry defended by derrick reed couldn't pull it in [Applause] henry can jump as high as anybody on the team he has a 37-inch vertical leap he certainly didn't need it there he should have caught it you know when your team is struggling keith somebody needs to step forward and make a big play right here henry who is a senior on this ball club would have made a big impact on that offense by pulling that one in reed was not a factor the ball has simply hit him on the shoulder pad and bounced away it was right there he's back pressure throws it intercepted he threw it under pressure his arm was hit as he released the ball and he threw it right to kurt larson percy snow was the man in his face [Applause] larson had an opportunity to start tonight because of the injury to stradley take a look at the pressure as you see snow this time blitzing and the mistake by pete to try to make a positive play out of a negative play and the ball is intercepted how quickly things turn around southern cal should have had a touchdown henry drops the ball now the ball is going the other way hilarious miss jaws getting set harder and harder and harder [Applause] this is lorenzo white and he had those size 12 and a half splashing around and if that one man dwayne garner hadn't locked his leg he might still be running you know what's so dangerous about a running back like lorenzo white we talked about a little earlier he's such a cut back runner he's a slasher but his vision he sees so well he sees everything that's going on in front of him and and 180 degrees on either side of him he's an outstanding peripheral vision runner is the tailback now and has the ball gets a hole on the left side and coming up this folder to knocking down short of the first down they got to go just past the 34 for their first down the ball is resting at the 32. [Applause] you liking this oh buddy he's having a good time he you know that's going to be a big big thing for his or he's running in place he's shuffling in plays with a heisman trophy contender [Music] mcallister and number 53 finally gets enough of him del mar chesley the sophomore out of washington d.c in at inside linebacker replacing the injured rex moore and he shoves him out of bounds but mcallister was running for the marker top left 58 is marcus cotton as he bling fangs into sergeant he's supposed to contain he goes to the inside that's a mistake on cotton because he went to the inside and let the quarterback mcallister get outside of it bobby over there doing a little politicking as to where it was he went out of bounds because he was trying for the first down and he got it larry smith was telling us that he wanted to move cotton around he's his best defensive player his quickest defensive player different ways moving to the wide side put him into the short side but he says we're not going to do it enough that they're going to get a book on us obviously michigan state has handled him pretty well here this evening izor back in at tailback joe pugh's gone virtually the distance of pullback for michigan state fullback has it here few and not much doing joe on that one moving from the 34 out near the 36 as we run down to the end of the third quarter with michigan state leading southern california 24-6 and we'll be back with more of abc's college football after this message and the words from our local station got back from village forward we were looking at some george perlis there with a headset on lorenzo white standing next to him said in all my years of coaching he says i've never seen a man with the ability who is this humble as lorenzo white he says the only thing that exceeds his ability on the field is with his personality he says he should be on the front of a wheaties box he might be some day second down and seven from the 37 ezor the tailback he has it and gets up about to the 41. so they're looking at third and short now as we begin the fourth and final quarter of the ball game with michigan state controlling the ball game 24-6 and you're your third quarter stats the telling stat right here is the turnovers for southern cal all three of those turnovers were in the third quarter when they had an opportunity to to close the gap and the other thing it doesn't show on there is the drop touchdown pass by henry to the 45 and a first down for michigan state so michigan state now is taking control of the line of scrimmage the topics are front end [Applause] gene fruga was in at noseguard he's out of there now a freshman out of san martin california and don gibson has come back you know we mentioned a little earlier that we heard that sound right about perlis and his admiration for duffy doherty the other man that he admires a lot and credits for a lot of his success is chuck noll with the steelers here goes izor and he'll tack on one more yard on first down to give him 53 yards and 11 carries and dan owens brought him down [Applause] actually the down three of owens gibson ryan have been more effective defensively tonight than four linebackers in southern california they certainly have and coming in the strength of larry smith's defensive team was those four senior linebackers did you know michigan state's unbalanced again stokes coming from the blind side knocks the football loose from mcallister the trojans have recovered it so stokes gets his third hit of the night and he really laid one on bobby mcallister and forced the ball loose and the trojans have it at the michigan state 43. [Music] two outside linebackers get there at the same time here's cotton stokes is over here they're both going to come in let's see him cause the fumble as cotton on the left gets around stokes from the rear end chases it down one of those deals where one linebacker looks over the defense to the other says i'll meet you at the quarterback oh the trojans have an opportunity at the michigan state 43 and scott lockwood is in it tailback as pete rolls it and throws it to the sidelines and that's pulled in by randy tanner lockwood a freshman 190 pounder from longmont colorado which is out near boulder and was the colorado state high school player of the year last year a true freshman as was marcus hopkins who fumbled a little bit earlier so they're getting their true freshman into the ball game keith in search of some speed at that position calvin holmes is another one here who has not yet played now this is lockwood with the ball bounces off the stack tried to turn it back outside and ran right into john miller to strong safety and miller deck [Applause] this trojan offensive line keith outweighs the spartan defensive line for instance sager the left tackle outweighs buddy by 40 pounds but but it's the angles and the stunning that they're taking they're getting into the gaps and they're not being moved and you know i think it's just a waste of time at this point for southern county continue to try to run up the middle they ought to run on the corners or what they're doing getting pete outside and throwing the ball [Applause] he too full back transport leroy holt looks like he's got it him more on the stop for michigan state and bergen it's close enough for the change at 12 minutes and 16 seconds to play in the ball game we'll pick the outstanding player from each team at the conclusion of the ball game and each university will receive for its respective general scholarship fund thousand dollars the name of each player from chevrolet put it on the 33 call it first down southern california they need one badly and a penalty is going to stop him [Applause] dead ball full start offense still first down keep hurting themselves southern cal's philosophy with those big offensive linemen has always been to to wear down the defensive line and in the fourth quarter they're going to own it that hasn't been the case here today but what a great tradition that southern cal has had over the years in the offensive line people who think about their running backs and their heisman trophies but an outstanding uh group of offensive lineman speed on first down 15. pops one in there to paul green and green is going to be called down at about the 32 in the arms of tot crumb crumb is a the leader of that defensive secondary he's one of 29 defensive backs that were nominated for the jim thorpe award which is the top defensive back in the country played safe played corner last year this year he's moved to safety and uh is the leader in that secondary halfholder is wide at the top of the screen tanner to the bottom pete back to throw goes for apollo just off his hands it was three inches too high he had position in front of derrick reed but he just wasn't quite long enough at 6-1 to haul it in [Applause] the ball was thrown more to the inside you see aff holter has position he doesn't need the ball being thrown high he just needs to be thrown away from reed more to the inside or the left and it would have been a completion now it's third down and nine trojans like michigan state seven for 14 on third down conversion to the ball game penalty flags apply and brett parkinson moved along the offensive front i'll tell you they don't play again until september 19 against boston college i'll bet you one thing that they'll wear out some socks between now and then well five of their first seven games keith are on the road so it doesn't get any easier for larry smith [Applause] it'll be interesting to see them here on abc against boston college jack mcnell's golden eagles opening big with the win over the weekend now it is third down and long 15. [Applause] beat to the sideline tanner there randy's got it falls it in first down for southern california at the michigan state 16 in front of john miller this is a tough way to do it on third and long as tanner releases inside of peyton and so often when you release to the inside you're probably going to go back to the outside not a real disciplined route as he just kind of rounds it off but the throw is so good that the safety doesn't get there in time tanner has caught seven balls now for 83 yards of the ball game for the trojans stay alive in this possession of the time becoming the ally of michigan state's penalty flag as the fullback holds this deck right about the line of scrimmage tim moore the hitter and holt the hittie michigan state offside in the neutral zone bach is stopped now defense still first down so it's first in five now for the trojans they've had three this will be their third opportunity and a touchdown actually four counting the uh drop pass by henry so you it just magnifies the fact that they've hurt themselves as much as anything it's the first game of the year they're on the road and it's uh i'm sure that they're going to be a little bit nervous coming out of the box but they don't need to stop themselves [Applause] number 41 lockwood throws the ball in the end zone and it's picked off intercepted by crumb and hauled out of the end zone to about the seven yard line that's five penalties four turnovers in one sec in the second half for usc poor execution keith trump made a nice play the receiver is right here on this side he's going to come to the inside and break to the outside the defensive man will come up here is crumb he's going to come over and break in front of the of the receiver and make the interception all right you got him so now break to the outside getting the ball he throws it behind him and late good design poor execution and michigan state owns the ball at their seventh first down with 10 38 to play in the game that's probably the most photographed personality on campus sparty does have this personality this uh the pioneer land grant university you know back in 1855. all right from the seven michigan state will move it with lorenzo white carrying it look at that got shirt tailed by number 13 jeff marie he was just a breath away from being gone again paul is at the six yard line a loss of a yard on the play as the goodyear blimp america sails over spartan stadium flips out of houston pilot larry chambers captain is from spring texas here comes a 185 pound sophomore from las vegas again izor they really haven't given izor a chance to pop outside and do much dancing around much of his work tonight has just been right up the middle and he's taken some licks but looks like he's relishing it so he and lorenzo white now are alternating pretty much at tailback with the game in hand paul is on the ten third down and seven you never have enough uh running backs keith oh you know one play away from uh from a serious injury this is white and lorenzo has stopped at the 12 and michigan state now will have to punt it and you're going to get to see the man who had the longest average in college football last year though he was one cut short of winning second half possessions by penn state has two touchdowns and two fumbles michigan state i'm thinking of pinching michigan state montgomery with a good snap out of the end zone nails it oh my gosh look at that michael randy tanner back all the way up with a 24-yard line he has no place to run the spartans are swarmed all over him [Applause] and greg montgomery hangs one high and 65 [Music] yards senior from shrewsbury new jersey [Applause] and he can flap it he kicked in his career he kicked he has kicked nine punts over 60 yards and last year against michigan had an 86 yarder i'll tell you what as a quarterback ex quarterback and as an offensive team it's nice to have somebody that can get you out of trouble southern california now going to work from the 25-yard line rodney pete throws it it is intercepted by tim moore the linebacker and so what happens montgomery puts it 65 yards pete throws an interception and michigan state now had the football first down at the southern california 26. here's moore right here he's not going to do anything but drop back into this zone and wait for pete to roll out the ball will be right at him you see the corner at the top of the screen comes forward moore just comes right back stands at his man i think the ball was overthrown for the short man and moore was right there to intercept so with eight minutes and 36 seconds this one appears to belong to michigan state is the tailback [Applause] he's got it down to the 24 where marcus cotton gets the tackle on ezor and now let's pause five seconds to allow our local stations to identify themselves the michigan state spartans leading the football game 24-6 and in control now of southern california's game on both sides of the ball lorenzo white who's had a big night is back at fieldback for the spartans as they go unbalanced right mcallister keeps it and promptly gets hammered by tim ryan the defensive tackle and i'll re-emphasize the point that the down three of ryan gibson owens have been much more effective defensively tonight than southern california's heralded linebacking corps of course rex moore has gone to the hospital for x-rays because of an ankle injury and is out of there [Applause] southern cal's defense is young on the defensive line and young in the secondary they have some outstanding players were just a little young and the leaders were supposed to be in that linebacking core state goes ballots this time mcallister blows left with it and finds some room but coming up out of the secondary chris heyokan [Applause] oh there's not much there for bobby in that particular effort and as he's knocked out of bounds he stops the clock at 7 13. morris watts the offensive coordinator for the michigan state spartans has certainly prepared this offense very well that was a run all the way and both running backs found marcus cotton to the wide side of field and both of them blocked him of course that when you have two guys block one man there's somebody else that's gonna make the tackle but uh john langlow here with a 43-yard field goal drive and it's good that might be the ultimate nail 708 to play in the game michigan state now 27 and southern california six we'll return with more of abc's college football after this message and to work from our local station [Applause] this tells the story right here for the trojans second half possessions six possessions five turnovers as we said the one touchdown pass that was dropped is not in there so that is not the way you want to run your [Applause] offense [Applause] kicking off low line drive that is slapped down by randy by gary wellman and wellman who's got great speed but couldn't find the crack that time and he's knocked down just past the 20-yard line tonight on nightline with sam donaldson overweight and out of shape it's a terrible thing to say to me it's the tragic story though about the physical condition of america's youth very few of them seem to care sam donaldson later tonight on nightline following your late local news kevin maclean is now in at quarterback for southern california see if he can crank something up fifth year senior out of lakewood california and kevin's first pass is over the middle into the numbers of the receiver scott galbraith drops loose they call it a fumble or did they i thought the ball was never caught michigan state jumping up and down but it didn't not look to me like the ball was caught cleat second down yep was not caught [Applause] get a look from the end zone here oh i don't know about that i'm sorry that's a completion and a fumble but we had i think we had a much better view than the officials did [Music] he's got a reason to be jumping around second down and 10. [Applause] out of the shotgun pass is deflected at the line of scrimmage and with all incomplete chris sunderland got his hands on it red shirt freshman 260 pound tackle from canton ohio well it has not been a good opener for larry smith first game at southern cal well to put it bluntly and succinctly uh the trojans have been whipped but at the same time they have hurt themselves as much as anything offensive lineman from southern cal the last 23 years they've been 22 all-americans in that offensive line but not so good tonight mclean with a ton of time finally unloads it henry catches and gets a first down at the 37. well the test of the football team's character will show up over the next two weeks and the subsequent game september 19 against boston college we'll find out about a minute i think larry made a comment when he first got to sc and had his meeting with his team he says those of you who stay will be champions and right then they knew it was going to be a tough hard camp and it has been and he will turn this program around there's no question about it first down mclean out of the shotgun gets his pass away to the fullback leroy holt and he's up to the 43. i'll tell you one other thing when you and notre dame will be the next opponent for michigan state so anybody who's going to be button heads with these spartans i don't think this year is going to have uh have it easy i'm very impressed with the uh the spartans how well organized they are they seem to be prepared know what they want to do it's their opening ball game and they don't look like this is their first game of the year pass is caught by lockwood the freshman from colorado and scott will have a first down for the trojans at the michigan state 47 539 to play and there is a disappointed young man rodney [Applause] well it's not his fault he did what he could do he just needs a little bit help in the running game as receivers i don't think they ever threaten the cornerbacks deep for michigan state throwing out of the shotgun the pass is complete down to the 41-yard line to the fullback holt and that'll bring up second down and four as they pick up six on the play going without the huddle penalty flag that's going to be probably motion against southern cal could be an offside but i thought there was motion as holt makes the catch down at the 35 and it was illegal procedure by usc so once again they have hurt themselves where we have seen tonight one of the prime heisman contenders in lorenzo white he's had a big night we will see another one on saturday in tim brown of notre dame white has produced 93 yards running tonight and a couple of touchdowns jimmy brown gets his first action of the season against the wolverines of michigan on saturday here on abc if that game comes close to what it was last year we'll have an outstanding one i don't know if i'm standing [Music] they run the ball up the middle with a fullback hold and leroy is going to pick up a southern cal first down as he goes for about 10 yards they were looking at nine and he picks up the first down and there's the story of the ball game with time definitely the ally now of michigan state i remember one michigan notre dame game where bob crabble ran up the back of one of his teammates to block a michigan field goal and that pass is off the shoulder pads off percy snow the middle linebacker who had dropped into that intermediate zone and almost had himself an interception and there's a penalty flag thrown back in that neighborhood of the wide receiver could be a flag against the spartans the wide receiver was turned upside down john jackson i think we have interference that the ball was tipped though wasn't it keith yes it was it was thrown right in and once the ball is tipped percy snow can't have interference right the ball was tipped the ball was tipped okay actually the only call you could have had back there once the ball ricochets off of percy snow is the personal foul yeah but when the ball is tipped there can't be an interference in the uh it's a good call it's a good flag pickup second down [Applause] number 77 for michigan state came flying across eric mouton big freshman got caught dead ball offside defense still second down he's just trying to wind up and anticipate and get his name called and he started a tad too soon second down in five out of the shotgun formation and he's going to be a little short of his first first down it looks like leroy it'll be third in about a yard chris hawk continues to run along mclean loops one for the corner touchdown to randy tanner all 11 men were up on the line of scrimmage this time mclean reads it very well throws the ball high into the outside man-to-man coverage tanner makes a nice adjustment catches the ball and gets the touchdown that's the kind of play that southern county a little bit earlier to keep him in this ball game freddie parker was the defender on the play and even though tanner made a fine catch on it it really still was not a real foot race and it seemed obvious that uh tanner had the edge in speed the kick is good by quinn rodriguez and with 4 13 to play in the ball game it's now a 27 to 13 game with michigan state leading by 14. [Applause] 27 to 13. eric haffelter will kick it off john dibaggio the president of michigan state university just passed by the door he's got a grin a yard he certainly does mclean there could be playing for a lot of other schools chuck stobert the offensive coordinator feels like he's got a lot of ability and would be playing in like 90 percent of the other schools around the country but he's a senior backing up rodney pete i don't know how much time he's going to see this year but certainly did that drive very well four of eight 64 yards and one touchdown nobody really deep for michigan state because i think they smell onside receivers and backs are up front trojans moving around coming over to overload the one side they bounce it over that way the ball's loose penalty flag flying around trojans [Applause] but let's see about the flag that may mess up everything i think greg cowette was the man who got down there and got the ball out got it but they were offsides it comes back as you see the frustration on larry smith's face [Applause] let's take a look and see if we can see anybody going across the 35-yard line before the ball is kicked a little off the left side kick it over here run that back again can we run that back again maybe maybe a very at the very bottom encroachment on the kicking team five yard penalty re-kick i didn't see anything maybe maybe bottom that ball bounces off todd krum look at the far bottom of the screen bottom right i don't know maybe lined up off-site i think he lined up offside how can you line up offsides careless there was there was an official right there in front of him the line judge was right there maybe he thought he was not going to see him seven penalties five turnovers by southern california in this half 409 to play they had the ball gus uh cowette got the ball down around the 41-yard line of michigan state they pop one in there real quick and we've got a ball game don't we yeah but it didn't work that way so the ball goes on the t at the 30. and the backs and receivers stay in there as the receivers for michigan state they're anticipating another try and an onside kick [Music] this time they kick it away izor will field it on a bounce bobble it fall down with it at the 25-yard line well it would seem to me if you're going to kick it away you kick it as far as you can and then try to outrun somebody you know the only thing he may have been trying to do is pop that ball straight up he had a high tee sometimes they can pop it up and then their coverage can get down there and get it but if they were kicking it deep though i don't see why they didn't kick it into the end zone so michigan state has the ball they'll put it at the 26th first down now let's see if the spartans can grind it out with lorenzo white back in at tailback and james moore now back in at fullback he had the opening series and then left the game [Music] looks like the trojans have hurt themselves again nope it's going to go the other way it's going to go the other way i yep that's what i i thought the call would be right there because there was a helmet in the back of white out of bounds but it's a holding call against michigan state mark carrier incidentally was the other fellow who lost his jersey stolen in the equipment room so he's wearing 19 tonight when you see him next time he'll be in number 17 offense still first down look to the right side of the screen ryan 99 in white i think he might be the one being held i'm not sure but uh i'm a little surprised that white is still in the ball game at this point keith and he's got the ball yeah maybe george wants him to have 100 yards so he pops it up over the 20 to about the 21. american league baseball scores detroit a winner tonight inc is winning their game minnesota won their game california lost oakland is winning and toronto a winner toronto will stay a half game up in the american league east the national league phillies beat the mets and houston beat the giants while cincinnati won and montreal beat st louis blakey's or the pail back now and no chance he was just running a slant outside and somebody forgot to put a shoulder pad on big dan owens and he shot through and got him at the 17-yard line so it'll be third down for michigan state paul is on the 17. they need 19 yards southern cal needs a turnover keith if they could knock the ball loose and get the ball in the end zone we'd have a seven point game and then anything could happen martin's coming straight at you ezra carries the ball very conservative and now they'll point it away but i guess you can do that when you got a guy like montgomery the last one was 65 yards he's he's funded four times tonight 54-42-5165 it's a tremendous asset for a team especially your defense your defense can always start probably with the other team's offense backed up within their 30-yard line elise big asset to have a good punter we've got a timeout with two minutes and 36 seconds to play in the game well here's the man greg montgomery for his uh fifth punt of the night randy tanner is the deep man for southern california [Applause] and [Applause] 54-yard yards and a 9-yard return and the mvps for this ball game tonight each university receiving a thousand dollars in the name of these players for their general scholarship fund from chevrolet and they are lorenzo white for michigan state rodney pete for southern california kevin maclean throwing out of a shotgun gets one off complete to scott lockwood and lockwood doesn't get a lot out of that one but it is complete he got out of bounds to stop the clock picked up four yards second down six 222 to play in the game [Applause] mclean again to lockwood steps out of bounds about a yard short of the first down he had the chance there to go ahead and stretch himself out and pick up the first down but he just stepped on him out tanner tonight's had a pretty good ball game randy has caught eight passes for 109 yards and the trojans only touchdown [Applause] lockwood shakespec and picks up a first down for southern california at the michigan state 39. he looks like a tough kid that lockwood looks uh the best of all of the tailbacks uh the freshman tailbacks that smith has tried here this evening you know that's something that can come out of a defeat like this late in the ball game you can find some players lockwood gets in when there's no pressure on him and just has been doing very well ball is slow snap mclean picks it up dumps it incomplete he threw it out there in front of lockwood so that'll go as an incomplete forward pass and mclean took a lick certainly did that defense from michigan state is still coming you know when george perlis first came to michigan state he wanted to bring this this pittsburgh steeler type of defense with him the stunt uh 4-3 as we take another look at the hit eric got caught offside a while ago this time he got his lick scott lockwood makes the catch and he's tumbled out of bounds no he didn't go out about [Applause] fox going to run 35. when he brought this defense with him he needed one of the ex-steelers to come and show the defensive lineman how to run it and coach the other coaches and he brought steve fernes one of the long time steeler defensive lineman over here with him mclean throws and misses ricky urban or another freshman who is in the ball game they list ricky at 5 10. i don't think he's that tall he's more like 5 8 but he's a stocky blocky 190 pound freshman from al fadina california it is now fourth down and six for southern california fourth and sixth [Music] mclean going for it now throws it got a man jackson incomplete in the end zone should have gone for his first down [Applause] well he had him open keith that was a good play i mean he wasn't thinking he was thinking first down but then when he saw jackson so wide if he threw it more to the left there's plenty of room to the left jackson has to wait for it the defensive man gets there further to the left you had a touchdown john miller stretching as far as he could reach got just enough of it to mess it up and so the ball goes over to michigan state with a minute and 29 seconds and lorenzo white is in the ball game lorenzo has 98 yards on 20 carries and i think the primary motivation here is simply to get lorenzo a chance to get 100 yards in his opening game of 1987 his senior seasons got it he's got his hundred yards and then some [Applause] as he got a great block on the right side a great seal block from the right tackle uh robbins and the inn knocked the corner out of there and lorenzo runners for first down at the 47-yard line so that gives him 111 yards you know as dominant as michigan state has looked the second half southern cal had an opportunity to make some plays that last pass if that was a touchdown the pass that was thrown to henry or at the other end that he dropped for a touchdown well i think michigan state has played well as you said it does not look like an opener for them they've been very well organized all night and played and made actually very few mistakes they've had a couple of turnovers southern california has uh to a large degree self-destructive they've made some mental mistakes and a lot of physical mistakes now uh i'm sure that larry smith can deal with the physical mistakes but the mental mistakes he'd like to get out of i mean these are young kids they're going to underthrow receivers at times you just want to go back and be able to execute when you have the opportunity 50 seconds and lorenzo white still at tailback but mcallister will handle it [Applause] and there's a penalty plane i think southern california's plan is to leave the ballpark go get on the airplane and go home well i don't think they're going to hang around play again tomorrow that's not the way to put some home about one o'clock in the morning yeah well it's gonna be a long trip they've had a tough trip to the second half two five turnovers seven penalties flipping offense still second down 39 seconds to play in the ball game you never stop coaching you just especially early on in the season you never stop you go to the very last second you just keep on teaching keep on teaching well you know we're fans we're we're up here we're saying well the ball game's probably over for him it's not he's putting uh he may have found himself a tailback for the next ball game in this lockwood because of the opportunity that he got in and played very well when he get given a chance timeout with 34 seconds remaining southern california calling it they have one left when the sun goes down well we dodged the thunderstorms had a little crackler come across here about two hours before the ball game but nothing serious from that the game played in very comfortable conditions temperature in the 60s and it's a win for the home team michigan state leading 27-13 on the ball second down 34 seconds southern california can stop the clock only one more time give the ball to blake izor is now in the tailback lorenzo white is out of there white finishes the night with 111 yards and gets off to a pretty good start for his uh senior season and the trojans have just spent their last timeout tonight's abc sports exclusive has been brought to you by the heartbeat of america today's chevrolet and by ups for overnight delivery from coast to coast ups runs the tightest ship in the shipping business remember coming up saturday abc's college football notre dame at michigan it was a one-pointer a year ago at south bend trojans have four tailbacks with uh big trophies lorenzo white trying to get one at michigan state bob mcallister drops back knowing full well the usc has no more timeouts remaining and now it's simply a matter of time running out and remember too on monday september 14th the season premiere of abc's nfl monday night football the new york giants and the chicago bears pregame show begins live at 8 30 eastern september 14 here on abc sports stay tuned for nightline following your late local news aerial facilities provided by the goodyear tire and rubber company this has been a presentation of abc sports recognized around the world as the leader in sports television your final score the michigan state spark 27 the southern california trojans [Applause] 13.

Channel: Football Fury

Views: 907

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: 1987, college football, usc, trojans, michigan state, spartans, rodney peete

Id: pM0fmk1choQ

Length: 164min 13sec (9853 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 26 2020