Right: USC quarterback Mark Sanchez looks for a receiver to throw to against Virginia.
AP Photo

Like Jim Tressel, USC head coach Pete Carroll was also hired after the school’s athletic department decided to go in a different direction at the conclusion of the 2000 season.

For Ohio State, it came down to Tressel and Minnesota head coach, Glen Mason. At USC, Carroll wasn’t even in the top three.

The Trojans top three choices all had Oregon backgrounds. At the top of the list was then-Oregon State head coach Dennis Erickson, now at the helm of Arizona State. At the time he was being pursued by USC, Erickson opted to sign a contract extension with the Beavers.

Next in line was current Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti, who similarly signed an extension and has been leading the Ducks since 1995.

The third choice was then-San Diego Chargers head coach Mike Riley, who coincidently, not only preceded Erickson, but succeeded him as well at Oregon State. Riley, who had been an assistant at USC, was still the head coach for the Chargers during the selection process, and he could not give an answer until the NFL season was over in January

So on December 15, 2001, USC hired Carroll to replace Paul Hackett, who spent most of his career as an NFL assistant, just like Carroll, and Hackett managed to spend just three seasons guiding the Trojans to a record of 19-18. Many SC fans viewed Carroll as a carbon copy to Hackett, thus making him unpopular choice.

Those fans were right, for about seven games into Carroll’s first season, when the Trojans posted a 2-5 record. But since, Carroll has led Southern Cal to a 67-7 record and finished the 2001 season with a record of 6-6.

From 2002 through 2007, Carroll has won or shared the Pacific-10 title six times, won a BCS national championship in 2002, and technically shared another in 2003 but did not play in the BCS title game. Carroll’s USC teams have finished no worse than fourth in all of the major polls during those six seasons while going 71-8. Overall, Carroll is 78-14 at USC.

Meanwhile, Tressel has gone 77-16 in seven seasons, guiding the Buckeyes to one national championship and three BCS title games.

One key ingredient in all of Carroll’s teams at USC has been the exceptional play at quarterback which includes Heisman Trophy-winners Carson “Douchebag” Palmer and Matt Leinart. During the 2006 and ’07 seasons, USC’s signal caller was John David Booty, now with the Minnesota Vikings.

Taking over for Booty is 6-foot-3, 225-pound junior quarterback Mark Sanchez, who was 26-of-35 passing for 338 yards and three touchdowns with one interception against Virginia in USC’s only game, a 52-7 win by the Trojans.

Sanchez’ favorite target seems to be 6-foot-1, 190-pound sophomore split end Damian Williams, who hauled in seven passes for 91 yards against the Cavaliers. But Sanchez will spread the wealth to several capable receivers: 6-foot-5, 220-pound senior Patrick Turner (2 rec., 62 yards, TD), 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior Vidal Hazelton (5 rec., 33 yards), and 6-foot-1, 185-pound junior Ronald Johnson (3 rec., 78 yards, TD).

There’s plenty of depth at running back, too. Three of USC’s top ball carriers had nine or more touches against Virginia. First on the depth chart is 6-foot, 200-pound sophomore Joe McKnight (6 att., 60 yards) and next is 6-foot, 200-pound sophomore C.J. Gable (9 att., 73 yards, TD). More powerful but not as fast include 5-foot-11, 225-pound junior Allen Bradford (9 att., 41 yards, TD) and 5-foot-11, 215-pound Stafon Johnson (9 att., 28 yards, TD).

On the offensive line, three sophomores start out of five who are rather small, with the average weight at 296 pounds. The lone senior is 6-foot-4, 285-pound left guard Jeff Byers.

Defensively, much is talked about USC’s senior linebackers with MLB Rey Maualuga (6-2, 260), Brian Cushing (6-3, 255), and WLB Kaluka Maiava (6-0, 230), who are not only big but fast, too.

The secondary is big as well, especially with 6-foot-3, 230-pound junior free safety Taylor Mays and 6-foot-1, 230-pound senior strong safety Kevin Ellison. Senior Cary Harris (6-0, 180) and junior Shareece Wright (6-0, 180) are the cornerbacks in Carroll’s 4-3 base defense.

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: USC head coach Pete Carroll (left) at his press conference/pool party.
BeatSC.com Photo

Unlike past weeks where we really haven’t gone over what the opposing coaches have had to say in the days prior to there game against Ohio State, I felt it was important to include what USC head coach Pete Carroll had to say before the heavily anticipated matchup between the Buckeyes and the Trojans on Saturday.

Just like Jim Tressel, Carroll held his weekly press conference/pool party at the Reggie Bush’s house yesterday. Here’s what he had to say about Ohio State in his opening statement:

It’s an incredible team. They’ve got everybody that played for them last year playing again. They’ve got a great history. They’ve got great leadership. They’ve got impact, extraordinary players in all phases of their team. It makes for an unbelievable opportunity for us and a challenge for us to see if we can get a win here at the Coliseum.”

Later, Coach Carroll was asked if he sees any similarities between the two teams:

Well, there are some similarities defensively. We do a lot of things that are similar. Offensively we’re much different. But we both strive to find balance in our attack, you know. We both believe in the running game. We both believe in having an offense that’s going to complement your defense and work together.

They’ve been really, really good on defense for a long time. That fits together with playing good football I think from his perspective and mine. We both see that the same.

I think it’s just good ball sense, you know. Does things really like he should, you know. I hope we do, too. We make good decisions and handle our challenges well. In the game situations, we handle similarly, hopefully that we do the right thing. I think you can count on Ohio State certainly. They’ve proven they know how to do that.”

Coach Carroll was then asked of Ohio State’s close call against Mid-American Conference member Ohio changed his opinion on Ohio State:

No. I don’t think that has anything to do with anything. These guys have won a ton of games together. They know how to do it. They’ve played in all settings. They’ve won year in and year out. This particular team of guys, they have rarely not won games.

So they just won that game a little differently than anybody wanted them to and expected them to. They took the game in hand. Really I think from their sidelines, they felt even when they were behind, they didn’t feel out of control of that game. It just was a matter of time. That’s exactly what it looked like. Fourth quarter, they owned it, won the football game going away, and it was easy for them.”

For those of you that don’t know, Carroll was an assistant under former head coach Earle Bruce at Ohio State during the 1979 season. He was then asked what he remember from that year:

I remember a lot. It was an extraordinary experience. We had come from Iowa State with Coach Bruce. He got the job after Coach Woody Hayes took off. We went in there with really high hopes and expectations, and felt like we had kind of an insider’s view because Bruce had been there, coached with Woody for so long, played there and all that. He really conveyed to us that he had a sense for what it took to win at Ohio State. He was on it.

We had a great year. We won every game against a lot of great players that played in the NFL for years. We had good matchups in the conference. It was a really historic year. We won big, a lot. Great offensive players, defensive players. He just orchestrated it beautifully. Save the last four minutes of the last game, you know, when Charlie White goes to town and kicks butt, they win the Rose Bowl. We were all but perfect. It was really an extraordinary year.

The history of that program is obvious. The great heritage that they have that lives through those players and those famous names that we grew up watching and stuff, those guys still love their program, just like USC, they hold very dear to their heart. There’s a lot of similarities in it. The great historic matchups that you have, you know, the great stadiums and things. There’s a lot of similarities. I love being part of it, again, because I saw it for the first time at Ohio State.

One of my favorite memories is I’m sitting up in I think it’s St. John’s Arena, the old basketball place. I was looking out the window. I saw Coach Hayes walking down the sidewalk across the parking lot. I’d never seen him before, you know. So I just dropped everything and took off, ran across the parking lot and met him about halfway down. He was walking home from teaching a class, I think. And I introduced myself. We walked for about 10 minutes. And he knew who I was. I was all thrilled. You know, he even knew that I was one of the new coaches. We talked football. That was my one chance I had to visit with him.

To me that was a really special moment, you know, with a guy that was a great impact to our football college game and to everything that stands for football, all that.

But there was a lot of memories that year and a lot of cool stuff that happened. A lot of great names and people we dealt with…that was really fun.”

Coach, what about Ohio State’s defense?

Ohio State’s linebackers are really good. A little different style. They’re quick, agile, athletic, featured in their scheme. They pressure a lot. They put them in positions a lot to make big things happen, and they do it. (James) Laurinaitis can do anything. He’s an extraordinary player…really a cool opportunity for people that love football to watch these guys on both sides of the ball. It’s rare that you would get this many guys that will have big futures and upsides as you see in this game. But we have great respect for what they can do and how they play, as well.”

Hey Pete, what’s it going to be like playing against a running back that has such power and speed?

It’s been a while since you’ve seen a guy like that. He’s got Jonathan Stewart type of stuff. He’s got Marshawn Lynch type of stuff. He’s got great speed. You know, those guys were great college players. He is, as well.

The thing about him, he’s going to play. He’s played hurt throughout his career. That’s not going to keep him from playing in this game. He’s tough. He’s got the ability to really just control the game.

I know that they have other really good running backs as well. He’s a little different. He’s the biggest of their guys. So he’ll call for a team playing him. You have to tackle really well, otherwise he’ll run a regular play where a guy would make four or five yards, he’ll bust it, be out and going. He’s done it against everybody. Our battle and challenge is to not let that happen against us. We expect him to be a very big factor for them in this game.”

So Coach, what do you think of Terrelle Pryor and do you think he will play?

Yeah, Terrelle Pryor is a great athlete. This guy is a really big time player. We tried recruiting him. There’s another kid we tried to recruit. I know Coach Floyd and I gave it our best shot…couldn’t get him out of the east. This guy, he’s a great basketball prospect as well.

What they’ve done really well with this guy is they put him in, let him play. They haven’t hesitated to do that. They’ve thrown the ball with him, ran the ball with him, which he can do both. He definitely has a style that’s different than Todd Boeckman. They demonstrate that with their play calling and their style of plays that they call. So they present different situations and problems for you.

I expect to see him in. They played him in both their first two games in early…didn’t play as much last week as he did the first game. But we anticipate seeing him. We have to prepare for both. He’s a great running quarterback. As tall as Vince Young, and I don’t know if he’s as fast or not, but he sure looks it. We sure thought in recruiting that he could be that type of a player. They’re very fortunate to get him.

Again, the fact that they’re using him and playing him is really I think a strong statement about their belief in him.”

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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Right: Senator Sweater Vest speaks.
AP Photo

It’s that time of the week when I recap what transpired at the Jack Nicklaus Museum during Jim Tressel’s weekly press conference.

One note, there’s no mention of last Saturday’s game against Ohio. Generally in his opening statements, Coach Tressel talks about the previous game and the key contributors. This week, there’s not once instance where he talks about his Buckeyes and the Bobcats. He goes directly into talking about USC.

Coincidence? I think not, considering how poorly his team played last Saturday. It seems that not only did his players have the Trojans on their mind last week, Coach Tressel did, too.

Early in his opening statements….

I think it starts with the great respect for the tremendous success that USC has had over the course of the last six or seven years. If you think about the age of our players and you think back to when they really started paying close attention to college football, Southern California had to be one of the schools that they said, man, they’re good. So when they saw it on the schedule, that they had the opportunity to play Southern California and go out to the L.A. Coliseum — I’ve never been to the Coliseum, I’m sure most of them have not been there, so the opportunity to go out there and play against a great football team and — I’ve enjoyed watching them on film.”

Coach Tressel continues….

And the thing that jumps out at me about Southern California is you can tell there’s tremendous purpose and intensity in everything they do. You can see why they do what they do. There’s no question about it that everyone on the field is on the same page. I don’t care if it’s the kickoff return or if it’s a blitz and everyone’s responsibility or if it’s an offensive deployment or whatever it happens to be, you can see that every single person on that film knows their purpose, knows their role and knows that they need to do it at a tremendously high level, and it’s been great to watch them.”

Being an offensive coach, Tressel describes what he has seen on film about USC’s defense….

As I have watched their defense more than I’ve watched their offense, the thing I like about what they do on defense is the speed at which they play. They appear maybe at one moment to be one step out of position, and then their ability to retrace, get back headed in the direction they need to go, whatever it happens to be, and enclose on the football is tremendous. The other thing I’ve enjoyed watching their defense is they have fun playing the game. They enjoy playing it. They celebrate together and they get excited and there’s just an energy when you watch the film, which is a neat thing as you go.”

Then he gives his thoughts on USC’s offense…

Over on the offensive side of the ball, I happen to know Mark Sanchez a little bit because we tried like crazy to recruit him, as we tried to recruit who I think is one of the great linemen, Jeff Byars, those are two great young men, and just to watch them on film, to watch the way they compete, the way Mark came off that preseason injury and everyone said, oh, he’s going to do this or not going to do that, to see the way he came back so quickly and there was no question about it, it’s his football team and he stepped in and played at a very, very high level. He’s got great running backs as we all know, and they all compete like mad. There’s not a play in the game that one of those guys isn’t competing to get playing time and to make sure that they excel.”

Coach, what do you think about USC being ranked No. 1? Surprised?

So is it a surprise that they’re a top, top team in America? No. Good talent, good coaching, good discipline. Enjoy the game, so that makes it even more of a thrill. It’s not just a matter of we get to go to Los Angeles and play the game, we get to play against a great team and our guys are excited about that and we’re looking forward to it.”

Then Tressel opens the floor for questions by the media, and one of the first was an inquiry on the health of Beanie Wells and if he will play on Saturday.

You know, I thought Beanie ran well yesterday. In fact, I thought he ran better than I thought he might. Coaches, in some ways, we’re optimists, and in other ways, we’re pessimists, but hopefully we’re realists. I thought he ran really well yesterday. I think the big thing has been Tuesday and Wednesday work and will that create soreness. So I have a lot of confidence in our doctors and trainers and strength guys and not only was he running well, then they put him on the bike and wore him out, so they’re trying to do all the things, he’s been in the underwater treadmill and anything we can do, we’re doing and I feel good about him.”

Coach was later asked about the fact that his team seemed to regress from week 1 to week 2 and how he would motivate his players for this Saturday’s tilt.

I think every experience you have, you can take something from it and you can build on it. I’d rather build on improvement than I would build on not doing as well as we could, because the bottom line is this: The only way we can be successful on the road at Southern Cal is be at our best, I mean, there’s no way that we can do it if we’re not at our best. So I think all of us in the whole locker room recognized after the game that we weren’t at our best. And okay, what didn’t we do and all that, and the question, of course, is why. I wish I knew that answer. If I knew that answer, I wouldn’t have all those games that I didn’t love the outcome, but I think we have to build and understand that we need to be at our best and there’s no two ways about it.”

Following Saturday’s close call against Ohio, the Buckeyes are now 11-point underdogs against the Trojans, amd most of the national meat puppets aren’t giving OSU much of a chance against USC. How does that sound to you, Coach?

It doesn’t sound wonderful, but really what people think is not that important to me. Now, the guys in the locker room, what they’re thinking is what’s key, and so how did not playing as well affect how we’re thinking is more of a concern of mine than, well, people said or they said or — and that’s — as I’ve said to you many times, coaches are in kind of a cacoon. We don’t — we’re in there day and night. I didn’t even know, James Laurinaitis came in today and said, hey, did you see the game last night? I said, no, I didn’t see the game. I said, who won, thinking he’s a Vikings fan, you know. He said, well, the Packers won. He said, A. J. was great. I thought, gee, the last thing I heard A. J. was out with a torn chest muscle or something. He said, no, he had 14 tackles and I wouldn’t have known that because we were right there. So we don’t hear all of what they think and all that. What we think is what’s critical.”

Finally, a question about the Ohio game, and a question I wanted answered, why didn’t Tressel go for two when down 14-12.

Well, I think it was still in the third quarter. Our general rule of thumb is take every point you can get until you’re into the fourth quarter significantly because you never know what they’re going to do, all of a sudden they get a field goal or a touchdown, whatever it happens to be. So you get down into that eight, nine-minute mark of the fourth quarter, then I think those decisions really get a little sticky, but I think when you’ve got two something to go — now, had I known we were going to miss the extra point.”

Back to Beanie, do you think he will be as effective on Saturday as he was before the injury, if he plays?

That I don’t know. I’d like to think that. He said to Coach Bollman and I walking into the meeting room on Monday that he said, I’m ready to carry 45 times on Saturday, and he’s not going to carry 45 if he’s not effective. I think he’s like every other kid, he wants to play and he’s going to do all he can do and his effectiveness will be, in large part, based upon what the other guys do. If they block people, he can be effective. If they don’t, it will be harder.”

Coach Tressel as later asked about Terrelle Pryor, and the fact that he has seen action in the first two games, but as a freshman making his first road trip, will he play less or is there even a plan to get him into the game?

Oh, no, I think we do because I think he brings a lot to the table. In fact, when we were winning by five points or whatever it was and they were punting to us, we were going to put him in. Maybe wouldn’t put him in on our own three. You try to script for success and at least the best chance for it, but, no, I think he’s proven, with his knowledge of what we’re doing — the only thing that holds back a freshman from playing in my mind is if they don’t understand what we’re doing and, therefore, their physical abilities can’t take over, and the thing I’ve been impressed with with Terrelle is he understands what we’re doing, so he’ll have opportunities.”

One last thing, Coach, do you really feel that Beanie will indeed play on Saturday?

Yeah, uh-huh.”

Tags: Football by Matt Barker, Publisher & Editor of BuckeyeBanter.com
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