LOS ANGELES — Max Shortell got a little nervous, he said, as he walked into the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, about to start his college football career. So imagine how four-alarm panicked he must have felt as he jogged into his first huddle, the Gophers' quarterback having gone down and the team relying on him to lead a comeback.
Wait a second. He was ... laughing?
"The first thing we did was, we joked with him. We had Max laughing in the huddle," said tailback Duane Bennett. "Just to let him know that we're behind him, and everything's going to be the same. Nothing's going to change, regardless of who's at quarterback."
Admirable sentiment, and maybe there's something to it. After all, Shortell and starter MarQueis Gray, who played the first three quarters before cramps in his throwing arm and legs sent him to the locker room for an IV, had nearly identical stats. Shortell completed seven of 13 passes for 98 yards, Gray seven of 12 for 94. But it was the 19-year-old freshman who was in at the end.
"Max did an outstanding job," Gray said. "I know this offense and this team has confidence in Max to put us in great position to win games. And he showed it today."
He did on a nine-play, 83-yard scoring drive that brought the Gophers within two points of the 25th-ranked Trojans. But his last-chance two-minute drive ended in disappointment, with Shortell's pass to Da'Jon McKnight picked off by USC cornerback Torin Harris.
"The kid made a great play," Shortell said. "I threw it back-shoulder to Da'Jon, and the kid just made a great play jumping in front of it."
The freshman from Mission, Kan., was pretty good, too, considering he didn't really expect to play. But cramps in Gray's legs grew more bothersome as the game went on in the 80-degree sunshine, and after running for a 3-yard gain to end the third quarter, Gray fell to the turf in pain. It was the pain in his hand that worried his coach.
