A Penn Statement

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Here’s the best possible spin on it:

The USC football team had a marvelous weekend in New York. The Trojans:

--Visited the New York Stock Exchange.

--Lunched in the New York Athletic Club’s Heisman Room.

--Visited the Statue of Liberty.

Then came their trip to New Jersey.

Sophomore Curtis Enis rushed for 241 yards, the most yards ever against a USC team, to lead Penn State to a 24-7 victory over the Trojans before a record Kickoff Classic crowd of 77,716 at Giants Stadium on Sunday.

Enis had 136 yards by halftime and 225 by the first two minutes of the fourth quarter.

“We knew how good Enis was,” said USC defensive coordinator Keith Burns. “He had three 140-yard games in a row last year. A back that good . . . if you tackle him early, it can give you momentum going your way. If you don’t, they get the momentum.”

When a hard tackle by Rashard Cook took Penn State’s quarterback, Wally Richardson, out of the game in the third quarter, Enis, from Union City, Ohio, picked up the pace. On the Nittany Lions’ first drive of the last quarter, he began with an eight-yard burst up the middle, then sprinted 57 yards around the right side, to the USC 27.

Later, from the nine, he shook off another tackler and dived into the end zone. That gave Penn State a 17-0 lead and it gave Enis 234 yards, breaking the five-year-old opponent rushing record against USC, 229 yards, by California’s Russell White.

It was a disheartening season’s start for John Robinson and his players, who’d harbored outside hopes of a national championship. Now, there are clearly shortcomings in need of repair before USC plays at Illinois in two weeks, and certainly before the Sept. 14 Pacific 10 opener against Oregon State.

Tackling, for example.

“We lost because of Penn State’s physical prowess in the running game,” Robinson said. “The fact their tailback dominated the game with his running was obviously the deciding factor. We haven’t seen a runner like that, we couldn’t tackle him and that was the deciding factor.”

Then there’s USC’s running game.

And passing game.

The suspensions that sidelined tailback Delon Washington and running mate Shawn Walters proved critical. Back-ups LaVale Woods and Rodney Sermons rushed for 85 and 61 yards, respectively, but USC’s longest running play was a 19-yarder by Woods. Enis averaged 8.9 yards.

And Brad Otton, who had a brilliant game in the Trojans’ victory over Northwestern in the Rose Bowl, completed 11 of 28 passes for 144 yards. More importantly, he was only two for 10 for 31 yards with an interception in the second half.

Robinson’s young offensive line didn’t protect the quarterback consistently enough for Otton to get the football to his talented receivers. Otton was sacked once, but pressured often.

Remember Billy Miller, supposedly Keyshawn Johnson’s heir apparent? Didn’t catch a pass. Tight end John Allred caught one.

Chris Miller caught four, one a 60-yard play that set up USC at the Penn State 21 midway through the second quarter with the Nittany Lions up, 3-0.

Woods got it to the three on three carries, but an Otton pass to Allred bounced off the goal post on third down. Then Adam Abrams missed a 17-yard field-goal attempt.

That was the closest the Trojan offense came to the end zone. With 29 seconds left, against Penn State’s reserves, USC linebacker Chris Claiborne recovered a fumble in the end zone.

“We never got to the point where anything was really working for us,” USC offensive coordinator Mike Riley said. “We’d have a couple of good run plays, then get a no-gainer.

“Same with the passing game. Brad was effective early, but later we couldn’t keep their people off him. Then he couldn’t find people open, and at that point he started to get frustrated, I think.

“I’d say nothing was terrible in our offense, but nothing was consistent, either.”

Penn State netted 462 yards to USC’s 282, 313 on the ground.

Penn State Coach Joe Paterno’s game plan showed great respect for sophomore cornerback Daylon McCutcheon. Richardson and backup Mike McQueary threw once to his area, instead picking on right corner Ken Haslip, a sophomore starting his first game.

USC defensive end Darrell Russell put it best: “I can honestly say I had [Enis] wrapped [up] more than once . . . but he kept his legs pumping and he never quit. He had a great will to get to the end zone.”

* A BAD DAY: USC quarterback Brad Otton simply couldn’t pick up where he left off in last season’s Rose Bowl victory over Northwestern. C6

* GAME REPORT: C6

* RUNAWAY TRAIN: Sophomore Curtis Enis followed in the tradition of great Penn State running backs and had USC tacklers talking to themselves. C7