USC 49, Nebraska 31

What we think we know:

1. Some cliches are stupid.

What we heard throughout July and August was, "If you say you have eight tailbacks, what you're admitting is that you have no tailbacks."

Well . . . yes and no.

It is important to remember that, throughout his 60-6 run dating back to 2002, Carroll has always had two wide receivers of at least All-Conference caliber: first Kareem Kelly and Mike Williams, then Williams and Kerry Colbert, then (for three seasons) Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith. The young receivers may yet come untracked, but it was clear on Saturday night that Booty was out of sync with the kid wide-outs, and Carroll was left to say what he said last year against Arizona State: Screw it, let's just jam it down their throats. What helped in this endeavor was 1) a veteran, bad-ass O-line, and 2) enough tailbacks (Stafon Johnson, C.J. Gable, Stanley Havli, Chauncey Washington) to keep everyone fresh. Eight-point-two yards per carry, on the road, against the Blackshirts, was the entire story of the game.

However, if there is foreboding for the Trojans, it lies in their fallback "Screw it" reaction to Booty's passing problems. The two games USC lost last year both ended with one of Booty's passes being tipped. Oregon State was a folly of turnovers, but UCLA kept blowing USC off the line the entire game, stuffing the run, daring Booty to pass. If the Trojans have to come from behind in the second half, or if they come across a team that stacks the line and forces them to pass, there could be trouble. (Oregon, anyone?)

2. The West-Coast offense was what we thought it was! If you lack a straight-ahead banger at running back (Lavar Arrington), a quarterback who can turn the game into streetball (Aaron Rogers), or--best of all--a quarterback who doubles as a veer-option running back (COUGHvinceyoungCOUGH), the West Coast offense is the perfect plan to keep you in the game against the Trojans . . . for a half, and maybe a drive or two more. But that's it.

With SC sending six or seven on every play and the defensive backs playing behind the receivers, Sam Keller was free to dump the ball off again and again. This was the best news for USC. Regardless if a team is moving the ball against the Trojans, I always relax when its gains are in clumps of five- and six-yard out patterns. I relax, because no team (well, no college team) can play like that the entire game.

Pete Carroll is not the greatest of coaches. As an in-the-moment strategist, he is probably no better than average; even during Saturday's blowout, he couldn't help but look confused at times. In the Vince Bowl two years ago, his actions in and around the Trojans' two fourth-and-shorts were blunders of historic proportions. (In the first instance, he clearly didn't get the proper play or scheme or whatever called in, hence his sprinting to the 20-yard line and screaming at Leinart as the play clock wound down. In the second, Mack Brown smelled his Lendale-behind-left-tackle coming up the 405, and was ready for it, all while Reggie Bush stood on the sideline, hands on hips, not even employed as a decoy.)

But there are four things Carroll does well. First, he recruits like a mother, with full knowledge of how to push the program's strengths (consistent championship contention plus Southern California), while downplaying its deficiencies (a front-running fan base plus an ancient playing venue located in the ghetto). Second, because he recruits like a mother, he is able to light the proper fire under his players, who often fear losing their position if they don't perform in practice.

Third, away from the panic of the sideline and the play clock, in the relative calm of the locker room at half-time, he adjusts superbly.

Fourth, and most important, he has the best sense of any coach, non-Bill Parcells division, of how a football game lasts sixty minutes, and what that means. In 1990-91, Parcells won a Super Bowl he had no business winning, with maybe the worst quarterback, Jeff Hostetler, in Lombardi Trophy annals. (And understand, I am including Trent Dilfer.) With nothing by way of downfield passing, Parcells simply sent Ottis Anderson & Co. right, left, and center, eating up clock and assuming that the offense would score sometime, soon enough. Maybe. Meanwhile, the superb defense, LT and the rest, would keep the other team in check, force turnovers, play field position. This strategy worked--barely. With a consistent time-of-possession edge of ten minutes per game, the Giants won the NFC championship on a last-second field goal, and then the Super Bowl when the opponent's last-second field goal sailed wide right.

With Carroll, the practice is different, the principle the same: maximize the clock to your advantage. I've seen it dozens of times, no more than Saturday. Carroll's strategy has always been to as much as signal to the opposition, Go ahead, throw, throw, throw your quick outs . . . score your points . . . and wait for the third quarter, when your O-line is gasping for breath and we take over. In a lot of games, there is a point--the ten-minute mark of the third quarter--when the other team's offense hits the wall and simply flakes out. This is when sacks, fumbles, and interceptions pile up, and where Carroll earns his money.

Consider: Sam Keller threw 54 passes and was sacked twice. That's 56 pass-blocking plays. The best piece of information I ever received about offensive line play was from Mike Wilbon, who offered this revelation: O-lines love to run block, and hate to pass block. Ideally, you want to let them go out and punch somebody in the mouth. Force an O-line to protect the pocket over and over, you'll have a dispirited, exhausted bunch by halftime. That condition, time after time, is what Carroll hopes for: attrition.

The opposition is at its strongest early. What the Trojans do is adjust well and finish well. An opponent's best chance is always the first 20 minutes of the game. It's not much. But they'd better take it.

3. If your starting line-up is being introduced by Reggie Bush, and the other guys are being introduced by Larry the Cable Guy, you're in good shape. Enough said.

4. The field will quickly take shape. Take a look at the Top Ten, all undefeated. In the coming weeks, LSU will play Florida, UT will play Oklahoma, USC will play Cal, and tOSU, Wisconsin and Penn State will engage in their own little Big Ten mosh pit.

I'll be watching.