BRUISED, NOT BEATEN (YET); TROJANS STRUGGLE TO STAY POSITIVE AFTER LOSS OF PALMER.Byline: Scott Wolf Scott Richard Wolf (born June 4, 1968) is an American actor. Born in Boston, Massachusetts to Steven Wolf and Susan Enowitch, Wolf was raised in West Orange, New Jersey. He graduated in 1986 from West Orange High School. Staff Writer In the span of about four hours last Saturday night, USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. lost its franchise player and a triple-overtime thriller to Oregon. Could things get any worse for the Trojans? Probably. The morbid thought following the lost weekend in Eugene was whether the Trojans' season is already over three games into the schedule. It's a vicious question, but there's little doubt USC is reeling after star quarterback Carson Palmer Carson Palmer (born December 27, 1979 in Fresno, California), is an American football quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League. He attended the University of Southern California, where he won the Heisman Trophy Award in 2002 in his senior season. broke his collarbone col·lar·bone n. See clavicle. and the Trojans dropped their Pacific-10 Conference The Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) is a college athletic conference which operates in the western United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I. Membership Full members opener. The loss of Palmer is the single most devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. injury USC could have suffered, and has produced some numb feelings. ``This is really tough, to tell you the truth,'' wide receiver R. Jay Soward Rodney (R.) Jay Soward (born January 16, 1978 in Rialto, California) is a football player who most recently played for the CFL's Toronto Argonauts as a wide receiver. College career He burst onto the college football scene with a 4-TD game vs. said. ``Nobody talked about Carson getting hurt. Nobody talked about that happening before the season.'' Suddenly, expectations for the Trojans have diminished. No one was thinking about anything but whether USC could challenge for the Pac-10 title a couple of weeks ago. Today, there are questions about everything from quarterback to tailback to the offensive line to the secondary. ``We're wounded, I know that,'' USC coach Paul Hackett said. ``This is the toughest loss we've had to come back from. And the loss of Carson. We've been blasted.'' Oh, did we mention the schedule is about to hit its supposed rough patch? ``The next three weeks are brutal,'' Hackett added. Actually, the entire month of October is going to determine the Trojans' fate. After Saturday's game with undefeated Oregon State at the Coliseum, USC travels to Arizona and Notre Dame Notre Dame IPA: [nɔtʁ dam] is French for Our Lady, referring to the Virgin Mary. In the United States of America, Notre Dame , returns home to face conference leader Stanford and then finishes up at California. ``We might be looking at 6-6,'' a player said in half-jest this week. The Trojans (2-1) aren't exactly giving up on the season, but they realize they are a long way from the optimism that flowed after their 62-7 season-opening victory over Hawaii. ``It's a long season. We can't let this take too much of a toll,'' cornerback Kris Richard Kris Richard (born October 28, 1978 in Carson, California) is an NFL cornerback playing for the Oakland Raiders. Professional career He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the 3rd round (85th overall) in the 2002 NFL Draft. He played for the Seahawks for three seasons. said. ``We have to move on. We're planning on bouncing back. We don't want to develop that losing mentality.'' Hackett believes a free fall can be prevented by remembering last year's team, which followed every regular-season loss with a victory. That includes coming back from demoralizing de·mor·al·ize tr.v. de·mor·al·ized, de·mor·al·iz·ing, de·mor·al·iz·es 1. To undermine the confidence or morale of; dishearten: an inconsistent policy that demoralized the staff. losses to Cal, Oregon and UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX . The Trojans' energy in practice this week led Hackett to believe this year's team will also be able to recover quickly. ``The signs are there. This team has great resilience,'' Hackett said. ``We're a good football team. We know that.'' They will have to be resilient, considering backup quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst is likely to play the rest of the season, barring a miraculous recovery from Palmer. Palmer's injury could effectively undermine the offense's confidence, but tailback Chad Morton said that as Van Raaphorst engineered the fourth-quarter comeback against Oregon, he noticed a different feeling in the huddle. ``I think we've got it solved,'' Morton said. ``I know a lot of guys were scared with Carson going down. But toward the middle of the fourth quarter, Mike came back and a lot of guys had faith in him. He has a lot of confidence.'' There's also a theory that Van Raaphorst might play better this season because he no longer has to worry about Palmer waiting in the wings to replace him. Van Raaphorst said he doesn't feel any burden to prevent the Trojans from regressing offensively, or worry he might become a scapegoat if USC starts losing games. He even discounts the proposition that Palmer's presence affected his performance last year. ``I don't see any of that as extra weight. I don't feel extra pressure,'' Van Raaphorst said. ``I've been up and down too much to worry about that. A friend told me, `You're like a cat with nine lives.' He told me, `You're pretty invincible.' '' His teammates hope so. Some worried privately about his chronic nausea and vomiting Nausea and Vomiting Definition Nausea is the sensation of being about to vomit. Vomiting, or emesis, is the expelling of undigested food through the mouth. that affected him before or during three games last season, and wondered if game-day jitters jitters 'Butterflies' Psychology An episode of nervousness or anxiety that often precedes a public event; jitters is a type of performance anxiety which may affect actors in a stage production–stage fright or soloist musicians; it may respond to anxiolytics were the culprit. But Van Raaphorst said he discovered last summer while visiting his family doctor in San Diego that the anti-cramping pills passed out before games were the culprit. As much as the quarterback position becomes the focal point focal point n. See focus. for USC's remaining nine games, Hackett places more significance on the rest of the Trojans' reaction to Van Raaphorst. ``It's not the quarterback,'' he said. ``It's how the team responds to change at quarterback.'' In other words Adv. 1. in other words - otherwise stated; "in other words, we are broke" put differently , the inconsistent offensive line will have to do a better job, considering Van Raaphorst is less mobile than Palmer. ``It means the offensive line's got to keep Mike clean,'' Soward said. For every doubter who figures USC will fold under all of this adversity, there are those who remain unaffected by the recent misfortune. ``I don't have any doubts. My goal is the same, the Rose Bowl,'' linebacker Zeke Moreno said. ``If anything, all of this has made us mad to kick some butt.'' OCTOBERFEST? USC's toughest portion of the schedule might be in October, when three of its five games are on the road. Date Opponent Rec Saturday Oregon State 3-0 Oct. 9 Arizona 3-2 Oct. 16 Notre Dame 1-3 Oct. 23 Stanford 3-1 Oct. 30 California 2-1 CAPTION(S): 2 Photos, Box Photo: (1--Color) USC was dealt a tough blow when Carson Palmer went down with a broken collarbone. Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer (2) Quarterback Mike Van Raaphorst, who will start in place of the injured Carson Palmer, has the confidence of his teammates. Kirby Lee/Special to the Daily News Box: OCTOBERFEST? (See text) |
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