WASHINGTON FINALLY THE TROJANS' HORSE.

Byline: Eric Noland Daily News Staff Writer

USC tailback Delon Washington was conscious of No. 28 on the opposite sideline Saturday night at the Coliseum. How could he not be?

Inside that visiting jersey, wearing the slime-green pants of Oregon, was Saladin McCullough, the fellow USC would have preferred to be entrusted with their tailback responsibilities during this era.

The Trojans wanted McCullough. He wanted them. But a suspicious score on the Scholastic Assessment Test and the scandal that engulfed it prevented the two parties from getting together, which sent McCullough to Oregon to become one of the premier backs in the Pac-10 . . . and forced USC to settle on Delon Washington.

``I've been hearing about him and everything,'' Washington said late Saturday night, after USC had weathered a scare and claimed a 24-22 victory over the Ducks at the Coliseum. ``He's a good back, but I wasn't thinking about that.''

Washington insists that the presence of McCullough on his turf did not provide any extra inspiration in this game.

The way he played, it just looked like it.

Washington produced his finest game in two years, rushing for 130 yards on 25 carries - an average of 5.2 per rush. USC welcomed every step of it, since the modicum of ball control it represented, particularly in the first half, kept the ball away from an Oregon offense that proved increasingly more dangerous as the game wore on.

It was Washington's first 100-plus game since the 1995 season, when he amassed 152 yards against UCLA.

``A long while,'' he said with a sigh.

With a lot of missteps along the way, including his suspension last year for lying to Pac-10 investigators.

This season was brimming with promise for him: his senior year, last hurrah, a chance to live down last year's troubles. But 1997 instead has been marked by indignity and a fall well short of expectations.

Early in the season, Washington got the worst of the offensive line's erratic play

.

A@nd he was so ineffective that coach John Robinson not only replaced him with sometime-fullback LaVale Woods but also with true freshman Malaefou MacKenzie.

This was the kind of game Washington needed to ease the sting of the drastic reduction in his playing time.

``The only thing, I've been having a little knee problem,'' Washington said, preferring to think the use of Woods and MacKenzie was owed more to his gimpiness than any personal slump. ``I just want to finish out the year healthy.''

And if he does, maybe USC's vital signs will continue to pick up, too.

``Offensively, we just can't seem to keep consistent,'' said coach John Robinson, uttering words that are becoming almost a mantra for him. ``. . We played so well in the first half. It was almost perfect.''

Washington was on the front edge of that, gaining 52 yards on nine carries.

The tailback cited the continuing improvement of the offensive line, which had a strong game last week against Notre Dame then feasted on the Pac-10's worst-ranked defense in this outing. Oregon alternately had a true freshman, a redshirt freshman and a sophomore on its defensive line.

USC's veteran blockers, averaging 307 pounds per man, regularly perforated Oregon's front seven, and Washington knew what to do from there.

``When you create up front,'' he said, ``that's all I need. All you have to do is get me to the linebackers and the safeties.''

And, while you're at it, get McCullough on the first plane back to Eugene. Washington seemed to serve notice that he can squirt through holes with the best of them . . . when the holes exist.