Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

No title at stake, but Trojans whoop it up in bowl win
By Michael Middlehurst-Schwartz
Daily Trojan, USC
January 02, 2009

PASADENA, Calif. -- Another Rose Bowl, another rout.

It was a game like any other for USC. Well, maybe not the sudden aerial outbreak on offense. And the late lapses were uncharacteristic of the nation’s best defense.

But on New Year’s Day, it was all about the old -- mostly the familiar formula of the Trojans throttling a Big Ten team to close the season, though Joe Paterno certainly warrants a claim to this category as well.

Although a horde of USC fans turned out for the annual runaway game, many elected to sell their tickets or not attend. There’s only so much fun to be had in Pasadena, after all.

No crystal ball was on the line between Penn State and USC. And in a season that started with so much promise, it’s hard for fans not to feel that the year should have ended a week later and in Miami.

But USC’s players celebrated the win in grand fashion as the confetti rained down on the field. And not only was their excitement sincere, it was also justified.

While another Rose Bowl trophy may not be enough to satisfy the masses, the win on Jan. 1 helped seal USC’s reputation as a powerhouse capable of being an annual player in the national title chase, even when it falls short of the final game.

“This is what we had in front of us,” said USC coach Pete Carroll following his team’s 38-24 win. “We were going to do everything we could to make it as fun and deeply passionate in an effort as we could possibly muster.”

It’s a long fall from the top, so in the college football world consistency is everything. And getting back to the perch can be a task too large for most schools and coaches.

Just ask LSU. While the Tigers have plenty of hardware to keep them company, they’ve still suffered their share of disappointment. A 7-5 finish gave fans in the Bayou the worst finish of any defending national championship team in the BCS era.

The only way USC fans would tolerate a season like that would be if a black hole engulfed the Coliseum, removing college football for good in Southern California. Even then boosters would probably demand a BCS bowl.

Miami is an even better example. Since winning a national championship, falling short of another one in heartbreaking fashion and staying just on the periphery of the title picture (hey, this sounds familiar), things haven’t been the same in Coral Gables, Florida. An aura of underachievement brought change to the once supposedly invincible program, and now the Hurricanes find themselves on the losing end of the Emerald Bowl.

National championship? Most schools would just consider themselves lucky to be in the running.

That’s not to say that most USC players have shaken the fact that they fell short of next week’s shot at this year’s championship. The loss to Oregon State that bumped the Trojans from the top spot still sticks to some like a leech.

“Our fate was basically based off of one game,” defensive tackle Fili Moala said. “I wish we could play it out, but we all know that’s not happening.”

Though the Trojans have been stunning in their robot-like ability to handle most opponents, they have also been consistent with their inconsistency. For three years, fans have been cursed by trip-ups to less talented but more motivated teams. It’s the formula for any upset.

So given this tendency to stub their toes once in a while, the Trojans should be lauded for averting a disappointment to end the season.

Even though they didn’t play the part the whole game, the Nittany Lions are a talented team who could have tested the Trojans had USC not been prepared. But Carroll kept his crew focused by letting them have fun.

Before the second half, Carroll said officials informed him that they had received a call – he didn’t know who from – instructing them to start giving out 15-yard penalties if the Trojans didn’t settle down on the sidelines.

“That’s the most awesome thing I ever heard,” Carroll said with a grin. “We’re having so much fun they want a 15-yard penalty.”

Such reckless abandon for a team that is already prone to penalties may seem a bit much, but it’s how Carroll keeps churning out top-five finishes. Even when they fall short, the Trojans can carry a lot into the next season after riding high on a bowl win.

Will top recruits prefer to go play for the button-down, just-win school or for the team whose players are bouncing and dancing on the sidelines?

“I think kids all over the country will watch this game together,” Carroll said. “I hope they saw something they wanted to be a part of.”

USC might not have swayed voters or fans with its New Year’s performance. But if it was enough to pique the interest of a hotshot recruit or two, Carroll will have reason to sport his wry smile another day.

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