Casual as usual in his hooded Southern California sweatshirt and khakis, Pete Carroll sat for a radio spot in the Heritage Hall lobby Tuesday, flanked by jerseys of past Heisman Trophy winners Charles White and O.J. Simpson.
The uniforms coincidentally formed the answer to a very relevant question: What has changed since 2005 and the Trojans’ last visit to Notre Dame?
“Well, the biggest thing was the passing of two Heisman Trophy winners,” Carroll said, referencing quarterback Matt Leinart and tailback Reggie Bush. “We had the two best players in America for two years in a row.”
It was the micro-version of a realistically broader reply: So much of significance has changed as the Trojans prepare for a return Saturday to South Bend, Ind., from coaches to talent to mystique.
It is no backslide into obscurity. But sheer, concentrated dominance? For USC, that’s currently MIA.
“We have a lot of good, solid football players,” said the Trojans’ Fred Davis, who leads all tight ends nationally in yards receiving per game at 83.
“When we work together, the magic happens, we make a lot of great plays. But when we make mental errors or don’t do what we’re supposed to do, a lot of the times we can’t come back and make enough amazing plays.”
As exhilarating as that 34-31 triumph at Notre Dame Stadium was in 2005 — and it was arguably one of the greatest college football games ever — it was merely one of 12 regular-season victories against no defeats.
Then Vince Young owned the Rose Bowl. Then the likes of Leinart and Bush vacated the premises. Then last year there were two regular-season losses and ample close calls.
Now there is a team with a preseason Heisman Trophy candidate that swiftly faded out of the conversation before breaking a finger. Now there is an injury-addled team relying on youth that suffered the biggest upset in college football history, based on the oddsmakers’ perspective, when it lost to Stanford at home on Oct. 6.
Now, there are questions.
“The concerns are warranted,” Carroll said. “They’re very much so warranted. Where are we right now? We’re just trying to win a football game. We’re going to stay in that mode with the guys who are out there.”
So exceptional was the talent of Bush, Leinart, LenDale White and Co., it is almost no insult to suggest these Trojans just aren’t that good.
The 2005 team outscored teams by an average of 26.2 points. The difference was 13.2 in 2006. Though three straight blowouts opened 2007, the Trojans are 5-1 against opponents with a combined record of 13-27.
It has been a somewhat overlooked trend from untouchable to susceptible. Other-worldly talent is not on hand to erase mistakes. It simply isn’t as easy — with no better example than that galling, turnover-stuffed 24-23 loss to Stanford.
“Everybody knew we had to come with a different kind of focus [after Stanford],” cornerback Cary Harris said. “We knew that if we didn’t do things right, we could lose games like that. In years past, if we maybe lost the turnover battle, stuff like that, we’d still find a way to win the game.”
Carroll, too, has had to adjust, losing offensive mastermind Norm Chow and recruiting whiz Ed Orgeron to the NFL and Mississippi, respectively, after the 2004 season. Leinart and Bush helped compensate in 2005. And the Trojans’ recruiting hasn’t swan-dived. But the importance of good, quality depth need not apply only to a playing roster.
Though that, too, is being tested, what with the Trojans’ cavalcade of injuries.
“My approach is that we’re going to get stronger from this point forward,” Carroll said. “We’ll just keep calling on guys to step up and play at a front-line level, whether they’ve been playing or not.”
So, much like Notre Dame, the Trojans rely on some embryonic talent — such as freshman Joe McKnight, who broke out Saturday with a 45-yard punt return and 59-yard run against Arizona.
“There are superstars,” linebacker Thomas Williams said. “It might not show now, but there are guys who two years from now are going to be the guys on all the magazines and in all the interviews and everybody you see on “SportsCenter.” The leaders have to bring the younger guys up to speed and just acclimate them faster than those two years.”
During preseason camp, perhaps sensing his team didn’t grasp its own mortality, Carroll showed the Trojans selected scoreboard snapshots from their Pac-10 games in ’06. All of the images showed close scores in tightly contested games.
The point? Ten victories isn’t a birthright. Victories are a byproduct of battle and fight and scrap.
“Unfortunately,” Carroll said, grinning and kicking some grass Tuesday evening, “it’s coming true.”
Extra points
Quarterback John David Booty (fractured finger) threw during practice and surprised even Carroll with how good he felt. Said Booty: “[The pain] didn’t seem to be anything I couldn’t take.”
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bchamilton@tribune.com
AROUND THE BEND
Read reporter Brian Hamilton’s blog about Notre Dame at chicagotribune.com/notredame
