USC Gets Going in Tough Way in This Opener : College football: Washington presents test today as Trojans’ Johnson and Huskies’ Kaufman begin their Heisman bids.

Continuing a 71-year-old college football rivalry in a 71-year-old stadium that has just undergone a face lift, two 21-year-olds will come together today, both looking for a victory that could propel one of them toward the Heisman Trophy.

USC quarterback Rob Johnson and Washington tailback Napoleon Kaufman are the headliners in the 12:30 p.m. Pacific 10 season-opening game at the Coliseum, a contest fraught with risk as well as opportunity.

Johnson and Kaufman, both seniors, lead teams coming off good but not great seasons in 1993. The two players compiled All-American numbers, but their teams came up short in season-breaking games.

Both should set additional school career records well before the end of this season.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Johnson is 11 touchdown passes away from the USC record held by Rodney Peete. Johnson is already the career accuracy leader at 63.6%. And if he has anything close to his 3,630-yard season of ‘93, he’ll also pass Peete’s career total of 8,225 yards.

Kaufman is a 5-9, 185-pound rocket, one of the fastest and certainly the most explosive player in the Pac-10. He might also be, pound for pound, the strongest, bench pressing 420 pounds.

A California high school sprint champion at Lompoc in 1990, Kaufman broke for 63 yards on his first carry as a Husky in 1991, and for 70 on his next carry.

His 1,299 rushing yards last year set a Washington season record, and he should become the school’s career rushing leader before October. He is also a threat catching passes and returning kicks.

Second-year Coach Jim Lambright said: “We’re going to try to get the ball in Napoleon’s hands 30 to 35 times a game.”

Obviously, USC’s defensive challenge today is to prevent Kaufman from making game-breaking plays, but to do so in a way that doesn’t leave them unprotected elsewhere.

It’s expected that Lambright will employ his All-American tight end, Mark Bruener, as a counterweight to the pressure Kaufman will attract. Bruener caught 30 passes last season and will become the Huskies’ career tight-end receiving leader with his 21st catch this season.

The Trojans more or less contained Kaufman in their 22-17 victory at Seattle last year--but not before their defensive coordinator, Don Lindsey, had experienced 60 minutes of agony. Kaufman gained 118 yards in 18 carries and nearly broke the game open half a dozen times.

Lindsey slumped in a chair and rolled his eyes recently, recalling USC’s close call. “We got him by his shoe, by a piece of his shirt. . . . It was a miracle,” he said. “We didn’t dominate Washington defensively by a long shot, we sort of clawed and scraped our way through it.”

USC Coach John Robinson, beginning the second season of his second Trojan tenure, was asked about opening the season against another conference power.

“I think there’s a little bit in all of us (coaches) where we’d rather play Ralph’s Pizza Parlor and win, 48-0,” he said.

“But that’s not fun. Playing outstanding teams, that’s fun.”

The last time USC opened its season against a conference opponent, in 1967, John McKay’s Trojans beat Washington State, 49-0, and went on to win the national championship.

Washington has opened its last three seasons against conference foes and won all three times.

Expectations are high in both Seattle and University Park.

Washington, which remains on conference probation and is not eligible for a bowl game, has 11 starters--five on offense and six on defense--returning from last season’s team, which went 7-4 overall and 5-3 in the Pac-10.

USC (8-5, 6-2) has six offensive and four defensive starters back, complimenting what is described as one of the Trojans’ best recruiting classes in years.

The Trojans expect to have an improved ground game, led by 225-pound tailback returnee Shawn Walters. He’s being pressed by three incoming tailbacks--Leonard Green, Delon Washington and Rodney Sermons. However, it was announced Friday that Green, a junior college transfer, would not play against the Huskies because of a hamstring pull.

The new fullback is sophomore David Dotson, who started briefly at tailback a year ago and showed prowess as a blocker. Robinson expects the new emphasis on running to help Johnson become an even more effective quarterback.

Washington’s quarterback is junior Damon Huard, who had a stellar opener against Stanford a year ago, then tailed off markedly. He threw two interceptions in his first four games but finished the season with equal totals of interceptions and touchdowns, 10.

Both Robinson and Lambright have little depth at quarterback. Johnson’s backup, Brad Otton, has never thrown a pass for USC. Huard’s backup, Ted Stark, has thrown one for the Huskies.

Washington has lost one starter for today’s game, linebacker Donovan Schmidt, who has a sprained ankle.

USC will be missing linebacker Gerald Caruthers, who injured his knee, in addition to Green, but new wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, hobbled this week by a thigh bruise, is expected to play.

Rob Johnson, it should be noted, will have more than the usual home-field advantage. He helped rebuild the place.

Johnson and teammates Phalen Pounds, Tony Boselli, Kris Pollack, Ed Hervey and Brian Williams were part of the force that worked three shifts a day to finish the Coliseum’s $60-million repair job after the Jan. 17 earthquake.

“I was a common laborer,” Johnson said. “I swept up, picked up wood and trash. It wasn’t much fun. But I love the Coliseum, and I’m happy I contributed in a small way.

“It’s a great stadium and it gives us a huge home-field advantage. Teams are intimidated when they go in there to play us.”

Trojan Notes

Two Trojan substitutes had knee surgery this week--freshman wide receiver/cornerback Ken Haslip and sophomore safety Brent Lesjak. . . . The Coliseum staff will unveil the country’s largest stadium video screen today, the new 62-ton, 44-foot-wide Diamond Vision.

USC TROJANS

TODAY’S GAME

* Opponent: Washington.

* Site: Coliseum.

* Time: 12:30 p.m.

* Records (1993): USC 8-5, 6-2 Pac-10; Washington 7-4, 5-3.

* Radio: KNX (1070).

* TV: Channel 7.