Droughns Suffers Another Injury

EUGENE, Ore. — Oregon tailback Reuben Droughns didn’t get to play against USC last season because of a severe ankle injury.

Saturday night, the Ducks’ onetime standout didn’t make it through the first half, leaving the game because of an injury in the rib area after rushing for only 23 yards and losing a fumble that led to a USC touchdown.

Droughns, who is from Anaheim, had been eager to play against USC, but instead he was taken to the hospital for further examination.

His job fell to another Southern California player, sophomore tailback Herman Ho-Ching from Long Beach Poly.

Ho-Ching missed Oregon’s second game for violating team rules after being cited for marijuana possession but had regained Coach Mike Bellotti’s good graces.

Ho-Ching recovered a fumble by quarterback A.J. Feeley at the USC one-yard line, shortly before Oregon kicked a field goal for a 13-10 lead in the third quarter.

“Herman is a gifted athlete that lost some direction last year,” Bellotti said the week before the game. “He’d never been hurt in his life really, and when he hurt his knee and then his back, I think he lost some focus.

“He’s struggled with that all spring, even into the summer, and recently he’s had some things that have woken him up. He played last week with great resolve to change some people’s minds about him and his performance.”

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Lee Hamilton, who does the play-by-play for USC broadcasts on XTRA (690) probably heard part of the game on a car radio.

Hamilton, also the play-by-play man for Seattle Seahawk broadcasts, was given approval by USC officials to leave after the first half to catch a 9:40 p.m. flight, the first leg of a long overnight trip to Pittsburgh for today’s Seahawks-Steelers game.

He was scheduled to arrive around 11 a.m. for a 1 p.m. kickoff.

Sideline reporter Tim Ryan called the rest of the USC game, with Paul McDonald continuing to handle the color analysis.

Hamilton’s travel schedule is often hairy--he flew 9,300 miles in three days several weeks ago as he traveled to Indianapolis for a Seattle exhibition and to Hawaii for USC’s game--but missing part of a game was extreme.

“I did 34 games last year, 13 USC games and 21 Seahawk games,” he said, calculating he’ll do at least another 33 this season. “Sixty-seven games, and I miss a half, so . . . “

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USC freshman Steve Stevenson started at Windrell Hayes’ receiver spot instead of freshman Kareem Kelly, who was slated to start but was limited in practice by back stiffness. Kelly played as expected, but lost the official start because of missed practice time. Stevenson became the first freshman to start at receiver for USC since Johnnie Morton in 1990. (R. Jay Soward scored seven touchdowns and played in all 12 games as freshman, but never started at receiver.) . . . USC backup tailback Sultan McCullough’s brother Saladin holds Oregon’s single-season rushing record with 1,343 yards, a mark he set as a senior in 1997. . . . The crowd of 45,660 was the 13th largest in Autzen Stadium history.