Robinson Sick About Flu Bug

With a flu bug going through the team, Coach John Robinson said he was somewhat concerned about players getting ill Friday night or today, adding that he was so sick last Sunday he couldn’t have coached.

“I’d only missed one practice in 30-something years. Now it’s two,” he said.

Offensive coordinator Hue Jackson missed the walk-through because he was ill Friday, but Robinson expects him to be OK today.

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Once the odds-on favorite to be USC’s starter this season, third-string quarterback Quincy Woods still isn’t in the picture even though John Fox has been unseated by Mike Van Raaphorst.

“I’m just dealing with it,” said Woods, whose options of transferring are slim since he has already used his redshirt season, meaning he’d have to sit out a year to play a final year at another school.

“I feel like the [quarterback position] is still open. When I do get my chance, I’m going to make the most of it,” he said.

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Tailback Malaefou MacKenzie won’t play today against Stanford, but he said an encouraging MRI exam on his injured shoulder showed no reason for arthroscopic surgery, meaning he could still return to the field.

“I’m just hoping to be ready for the UCLA game [Nov. 22],” he said.

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Receiver R. Jay Soward said he has a sore left ankle and a hyperextended right knee that have bothered him this week, but he said he is about 95% sound. . . . Stanford has won at the Coliseum only three times since 1959--in 1971, 1975 and 1991. The Trojans lead the series overall, 51-21-3. . . . A crowd of about 50,000 is expected.

* NEXT FOR USC

WHO: Stanford

WHERE: Coliseum

TIME: Today, 12:30 p.m.

TV: Channel 7

RADIO: KLSX-FM (97.1)