No More Kicking and Screaming?

Kicker Ryan Killeen could not have picked a better time to be perfect.

Last week against previously unbeaten California, USC's strong-legged senior touched the ball with his right foot 11 times.

Killeen boomed six kickoffs into or through the end zone for touchbacks, denying Cal good field position.

He made two extra points.

And with the usually potent Trojan offense sputtering inside the 20-yard line, he converted all three of his field-goal attempts.

His performance helped ensure a 23-17 victory that kept the unbeaten Trojans atop the rankings and on track for a possible second consecutive national title.

"For a kicker, I guess it can't get any better than that," Killeen said this week.

Fortunately for USC -- and for Killeen -- his field-goal kicking got better before it got worse.

He began the season as a candidate for the Lou Groza Award, presented annually to the nation's top college kicker. But he went into the Cal game having made only two of six field-goal attempts for a team that had come from behind twice to win.

In the two weeks leading up to the Cal game, Coach Pete Carroll said he was not fretting over Killeen's percentage.

"I was trying to operate like that anyway," Carroll said. "It's easier, knowing he's back on and he really has his rhythm."

USC is hoping Killeen maintains his groove Saturday when the Trojans play unbeaten, 15th-ranked Arizona State in a Pac-10 game at the Coliseum. With an already thin receiving corps depleted because of flanker Steve Smith's broken leg, USC's offense could struggle against a Sun Devil defense that is giving up only 12.8 points a game.

Dennis Slutak, a graduate assistant in his second season of coaching Trojan kickers and punters, said Killeen showed he could handle pressure by the way he worked through his struggles and performed against Cal.

"He's not what many would stereotypically call a head case for a kicker," Slutak said. "He's a strong kid."

Killeen's powerful legs served him well as a youth soccer player. His prowess in playground kickball games caught the eye of a junior high teacher who doubled as the freshman football coach at Norco High.

"When I got to high school, he said, 'You can play any position you want as long as you kick,' " Killeen said.

Killeen was not overjoyed at the prospect.

"He came home complaining, 'Kickers are weird,' " recalled his father, Jim.