Over 30 years ago, USC and Washington tied but the Trojans benefited

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USC football played Washington 31 years ago. The scoreboard said the Trojans and Huskies tied, but it sure felt like a win for USC. One month later, it was very much a triumph for the Men of Troy.

In 1968, Harvard trailed rival Yale 29-13 late in the game. The Crimson improbably scored two touchdowns and two 2-point conversions to create a 29-29 tie. The Harvard student newspaper produced a memorable headline in its next-day coverage of the game: "Harvard beats Yale, 29-29." The official result was a tie, but it certainly felt like a win for Harvard and a loss for Yale.

So it was that in late October of 1995, when USC went to Husky Stadium in Seattle and forged a 21-21 tie with Washington, it sure seemed that the Trojans had won and the Huskies had lost. "USC beats Washington, 21-21," would have been an appropriate headine.

John Blanchette of the Spokesman-Review in Spokane wrote:

"USC and Washington staged some high drama Saturday afternoon, the Trojans spotting UW a 21-0 lead before roaring back with three fourth-quarter touchdowns – the last with just 33 seconds remaining. Then freshman placekicker Adam Rendon trotted onto the field – and 74,421 fans trudged out of Husky Stadium, wondering what all the fuss was about. The game of the year in the Pacific10 Conference will go down as a 21-21 tie – leaving both teams still undefeated in the league. But if you can come up on the short end of a tie, the Huskies did.

“'We don’t consider this a loss,' said tailback Leon Neal, 'but it feels like one.'

"For one thing, the 17th-ranked Huskies must now depend on Stanford, Oregon State or UCLA to knock off USC and not stumble themselves if they’re to return to the Rose Bowl in the year 1 A.P. – After Probation. If UW and the No. 13 Trojans are still tied at season’s end, USC will go by virtue of a better non-conference record. If that’s the case, the Huskies will have deep regret for their similar fourth-quarter swoon against Notre Dame a week ago.

“'I guess that was worse,' said UW cornerback Scott Greenlaw. 'A loss is a loss and a tie is a tie, but it comes down to the same thing – have a good team on the ropes and letting them off.'

"Then again, you couldn’t be sure the Trojans hadn’t resorted to the rope-a-dope. The team that was humbled 38-10 by Notre Dame a week ago looked similarly comatose for the better part of three quarters Saturday – beaten at the line of scrimmage, committing suicide with turnovers and penalties. But late in the third quarter, USC quarterback Brad Otton – allowed to finish a game for the first time this season – found a formula. And it didn’t directly involve Keyshawn Johnson, the Trojans’ Heisman hopeful receiver, who caught only one of his eight passes in the fourth period. Those two did connect on a key third-down pass against a blitz which set up Rodney Sermons’ 1-yard scoring run on the first play of the final quarter. But fullback Terry Barnum was the prime receiver on the drive which pulled USC within a TD. Finally, starting on his own 21 with 2:18 to play, Otton mixed things up to four different targets – none of them Johnson – and in the end connected with tight end Johnny McWilliams for the first time all day, a 2-yard flip. Those were the last of his 251 yards passing – 137 in the fourth quarter.

“'We had been so out of rhythm for a game and a half,' said Trojans coach John Robinson, who has alternated Kyle Wachholtz with Otton all season, 'that we just felt that Brad had gotten his feet on the ground and understood what was happening.'”

Robinson kicked the late PAT for the tie instead of going for the win. He didn't want to give Washington a possible win and a head-to-head tiebreaker. The approach was smart. USC did indeed win the Pac-10 title that season, earning a Rose Bowl berth and then beating Northwestern behind a huge day from Keshawn Johnson. It was Robinson's fourth Rose Bowl win at USC after three in his first go-round as the Trojans' head coach in the 1970s. Few USC-Washington games have been more memorable or consequential.

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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Over 30 years ago, USC and Washington tied but the Trojans benefited

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