COLLEGE FOOTBALL DAILY REPORT : USC : Oregon Quarterback O’Neil to Sit Out

Oregon quarterback Danny O’Neil will not play against USC Saturday at the Coliseum.

O’Neil, a senior from Newport Beach, underwent surgery on the ring finger of his passing hand Monday night for removal of an abscess. Doctors diagnosed the ailment as “a very rare staph infection,” Oregon Coach Rich Brooks said.

“Danny has no idea how he got it,” said Brooks of his four-year starter.

“He said he first noticed it last Thursday night playing cards, that the finger was sore and had a small bump on it. The finger began to swell Friday night, and he had a bad time with it in our game Saturday (Oregon beat Iowa, 40-18).”

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Baylor defensive end Scotty Lewis talked a good game last week. Before going up against USC All-American offensive tackle Tony Boselli, in an interview with the Daily Trojan, Lewis said of Boselli:

“I’ve been watching Boselli on film and he’s not as good a run blocker as he is a pass blocker.”

Boselli, 6 feet 8 and 320 pounds, saw the quote and reacted accordingly.

Said Coach John Robinson: “Tony had as dominant a game as any offensive lineman I ever saw.”

But even a game-long pounding didn’t silence Lewis, 6-3 and 265.

The Daily Trojan also interviewed him afterward, and he said of Boselli, “He’s a dirty player. . . . He was cheap-shotting me the whole game, and tripping me too.”

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At one point in Saturday’s game, the Trojans had an all-freshman defensive line: Darrell Russell of San Diego, George Perry of San Bernardino and Cedric Jefferson of Ft. Worth, Tex. . . . When Baylor’s Ben Bronson returned a kickoff 98 yards against USC, it was the first return for a score against the Trojans since Stanford’s Bruce Davis returned a kickoff 99 yards in 1991. . . . Ken Grace’s nine receptions Saturday were his career high. He has caught a pass in 12 consecutive games.