His Favorite Year

MARCUS ALLEN, THE USC TAILBACK, IS RELAXING AT home, an island of calm in the tumultuous sea of adulation and attention in which he has found himself since Sept. 12, when he began rattling off 200-yard games and unnerving the opposition in the race for the Heisman Trophy. Allen is laughing and telling stories, as winners always do, and he remembers a hot day last summer when he told USC offensive coordinator John Jackson, "Hey, I want to get 2,000 yards this year."

Then what happened?

"Then we settled down and made some realistic goals." That was a good idea because no collegian had ever rushed for 2,000 yards in a season. Pitt's Tony Dorsett had come as close as anyone figured was possible when in 1976 he got 1,948 yards on 338 carries, the NCAA 11-game season record.

Ahhhh, but the unrealistic goal of 2,000 yards turned out to be gloriously realistic on Nov. 14, 1981, in Seattle when Allen sprinted, spun and slashed for 155 against Washington to bring his season total to 2,123. "All Marcus is doing," says USC coach John Robinson, "are things that have never been done before in college football." And Allen, who now holds eight NCAA records and is tied for another, does the impossible because he has always understood that two shortcomings of ordinary humans are that they fail to dream big enough and they think of dreams only as something you wake up from. Marcus lives his big dreams.

Although Washington whipped USC 13-3 on a 100% miserable day--rain poured, wind blasted, power failed, bridges closed, ark-building began-- Allen delivered another dreamlike performance, especially given the conditions.

Needing only 32 yards to reach the magic 2,000, he did it early in the first quarter, on his fourth carry, when he cruised around end on the oh-so-familiar Student Body Right. He eluded several tacklers and slogged on for 13 yards. That run brought Allen to 2,000 yards exactly. Three plays later he cracked over center for four more to move past 2,000--and earn a prolonged ovation from Washington fans.

Predictably, however, Allen was depressed. "What I did doesn't mean all that much right now," he said softly afterward. "All I'm thinking about is that we didn't win the game." The loss all but killed the Trojans' Rose Bowl hopes.

Despite the defeat, Robinson remains upbeat about Allen's performance this season. "The hell with 2,000 yards," he says. "Let's go for 3,000." Why not? There's one game left, against UCLA on Nov. 21, and Allen needs but 877 yards. His offensive line, big and mobile in the USC tradition, might just be up to it. And so might Allen himself, who may be the best athlete ever to line up at tailback for USC. Sorry, Charles, A.D., Clarence, Ricky, Mike. Oh, and yes, sorry, O.J.

Nonetheless, Allen won't get to match the career yardage figures of Charles White (5,598), much less Dorsett's record total of 6,082. Dorsett got that total in four years of running, while Allen spent part of his career as a blocking back, knocking defenders out of White's way.

The person most thrilled with this unbelievable year is Allen himself. When he goes out in public, he's an instant mob scene. And when he stays in, there he is, great big smile on his face, sprawled over a couch in the living room of the small house he lives in behind his aunt's Inglewood home. Hanging above him is a map of the world (which will be his to purchase after the numbers are filled in next year on his NFL contract), an NBC Sports banner, three days' worth of clothes and a basketball hoop. A basketball hoop?