Rebuilding seasons just aren’t what they used to be. At
least not for Pete Carroll.
To say USC came into this season with question marks would be a
gross understatement. There’s no team in recent memory that
has had to replace so much of its core, especially on offense, and
still has been able to compete for a national championship.
Gone into the NFL were back-to-back Heisman Trophy winners Matt
Leinart and Reggie Bush. LenDale White, who is the career touchdown
leader at USC, also went into the NFL. Gone were 11 starters from
the title teams that went over three seasons without losing a
Pac-10 game.
No matter ““ the No. 3 Trojans (10-1, 7-1 Pac-10) have
already won their fifth-straight conference title and are wins
against No. 6 Notre Dame and UCLA away from their third-straight
BCS Championship appearance.
So while the Trojans came within a fourth-down stand against
Texas at the Rose Bowl in January from completing the three-peat,
the 2006 season might go down as the year that clearly defines the
USC dynasty.
It’s common knowledge that an elite program never truly
rebuilds, it simply reloads with one great recruiting class after
the next. And to some extent that’s the case.
But there was an understanding that Carroll was going to have to
play inexperienced underclassmen at key positions on both sides of
the ball this year. And he has.
There are 19 freshmen who have taken the field for the Trojans
during the year. Even for a program like Carroll’s that has a
reputation for playing freshmen if they are good enough to play,
that is a ridiculous number.
Given the Trojans were breaking in a new quarterback and a
completely different rushing attack, it makes sense that they are a
much more dangerous team than they were when they beat No. 5
Arkansas 50-14 on the road in the season opener.
Over the course of the season, John David Booty has emerged as a
bona fide star while C.J. Gable quickly became the most explosive
freshman in the Pac-10 … since Reggie Bush.
But for some inexplicable reason, the Trojans are viewed as
far-less talented than they were in the previous three seasons.
That’s preposterous.
If anything, they were getting by early-season opponents on
sheer talent. The first half of the season proved that Carroll is
the best recruiter in the country, but his team’s progression
since its loss to Oregon State has proved he is an equally talented
coach.
This is why Carroll is doing his best coaching this year, and
why USC has elevated itself to a completely different level than
any other program in the country.
(By the way, USC’s loss to Oregon State wasn’t this
awful blemish some people think it is. The Trojans lost to a
veteran Beavers team on the road, in poor weather conditions, and
they came within a two-point conversion of sending the game into
overtime. The Beavers will likely end up in the Sun Bowl against
No. 15 Rutgers. That’s hardly a terrible team.)
Now USC still has to beat Notre Dame and UCLA in order to
leapfrog No. 2 Michigan in the computer rankings to make the title
game as the BCS No. 2.
That’s hardly an automatic berth, especially if USC
doesn’t convincingly handle Notre Dame, which was thrashed
47-21 by Michigan in South Bend, Ind., earlier in the year.
But if the Trojans finish the year with those wins, they will
likely be playing No. 1 Ohio State for the title. It doesn’t
matter whether or not you think Michigan is the second-best team in
the country or whether there should be a rematch of last
Saturday’s game.
The truth is the Buckeyes will probably coast to a championship
(their 42-39 win over Michigan in Columbus last week made the game
look closer than it really was).
The real story is USC will be playing for a national
championship in a rebuilding year.
If UCLA doesn’t beat its crosstown rival this year and end
the streak at seven, it might reach 15.