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Trojans done in by late collapse

By Joseph Soqui
Assistant Sports Editor

"60-minute Fight"
It hung on the walls of the locker room as a goal that has not been reached all year.
On this day, however, USC appeared to have finally put two halves of football together in an important game.
"I thought there was no way UCLA was going to come back and score 17 points," Koffler said. "Maybe I shouldn't have thought that."
The UCLA fans were on their way out as the fourth quarter began. Even though there was an entire quarter left to play, they didn't want to watch the beating their team was receiving.
Only three plays into the fourth period, USC quarterback Brad Otton was knocked into the ground by nose guard Weldon Forde.
The UCLA fans who were headed up the stairs in frustration, expecting the heckling that was soon to come for the next year, turned when they heard the reaction and saw Otton limping off the field.
With Otton out and backup Matt Koffler in, the Bruins still had a chance.
The next 14:50 of football proved to be one of the biggest collapses in USC football history and the birth of the fear that the Trojans simply have forgotten how to beat their rivals--either UCLA or Notre Dame, which they play next Saturday at the Coliseum.
Koffler was just expected to hold onto the ball, keep the Bruin offense on the sidelines, and complete USC's first win over its cross-town rival in six years.
But Koffler did more than that. Only two plays into his first drive, he seemingly put the game out of reach when he connected on a 78-yard touchdown pass to put USC up by 17 points with just over 11 minutes left in the game.
"We were running the ball and holding the clock," Koffler said. "I thought everything was going good. I thought we were on a roll."
Though it appeared Koffler was right at the time, UCLA was the only team that would roll in the final period.
The Bruins had difficulty moving the ball on their next drive, spending over five minutes on a series that was capped by a 47-yard field goal.
The Trojans led by 14 points with 6:12 left on the clock. After they had played nearly 55 minutes without falling apart, the dreaded collapse, which has engulfed the team over the last several weeks, would present itself again.
Only this time, it had only 6:12 to destroy USC's hopes.
The Trojans couldn't get anything going on their next drive, resulting in a punt.
The Bruins took over at USC's 42-yard line with only 4:26 remaining.
The Trojans needed one more big play before they could begin the celebration. Two plays later, it looked as though USC got that chance when flanker Jim McElroy fumbled after making a reception, but he promptly fell on the ball for an 11-yard gain to the 18-yard line.
After a pair of passes to running back Skip Hicks, Keith Brown got into the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown run that brought the Bruins within seven with 2:49 left in the game.
All the Trojan offense needed was a couple of first downs--and a lot of rushing plays to run out the clock.
On the first play, Koffler completed a seven-yarder to Soward. On the next, Rodney Sermons went up the middle for a first down with less than two minutes to play.
Sermons took the handoff on the next play but gained no yards when Bruin defensive end Travis Kirschke wrapped him up.
UCLA called its second time out with 1:37 left on the clock.
The Bruins had only one time out remaining and with the Trojans only on second down, it appeared as though their plight would end prematurely.
"Every time I'd get up there, I'd let all of the time go down on the play clock," Koffler said. "Even if we had to punt, they would have to go the length of the field to score."
Koffler handed off to LaVale Woods at the 42-yard line, and for whatever reason, the ball squirted out, and Bruin cornerback Kusanti Abdul-Salaam fell on it.
"I put two hands around it," Woods said. "I just don't know what the hell happened."
What was once a 17-point lead now was cut to seven and the Bruins needed to travel only 56 yards for the tie.
At the UCLA 44-yard line, the 1:27 left on the clock was no longer a factor.
"I was just hoping our defense would hold them," Woods said. "But if we lost this game, it's not hard to find out why."
The Bruins started their drive with a 17-yard completion to McElroy. After a 5-yard catch by Keith Brown and a McNown spike to stop the clock, the Bruins faced third-and-five at the USC 34-yard line.
McNown found flanker Rodney Lee for a 23-yard reception on the sideline with only 39 seconds to go.
The Bruins sent Hicks up the middle again for the final 11 yards to give the Bruins the tie.
Even though momentum was on the side of the Bruins, USC had one last chance to pull out the win.
After a 39-yard juggling reception by Chris Miller and a near touchdown to Mike Bastianelli, Adam Abrams had a 41-yard field goal attempt to end the nightmare for USC.
However, as has been the case with six of his other kicks this year, Abrams wasn't able to get the ball over the defensive line, and the Bruins would go on to a win in overtime.
"We had chance to pull out the win in the end, but we didn't," Koffler said. "I'm a fifth-year senior and this sucks."