Southern California’s main concern is replacing Carson Palmer at quarterback.
After six years of uncharacteristic mediocrity, Southern California suddenly returned to national prominence last season as one of college football’s elite teams.
The Trojans appear to have the talent and depth to stay there.
But as always, there are questions, especially at quarterback, where they have to replace Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer.
And recent history says Pac-10 teams without significant experience there fall short.
“We have enough players to play the spot,” third-year coach Pete Carroll said. “At what level we will perform, I don’t know about that.”
Third-year sophomore Matt Leinart is expected to start Aug. 30 when the eighth-ranked Trojans open at No. 6 Auburn.
Leinart hasn’t thrown a pass that counts since high school, but as Carroll put it: “Matt comes in as our leader. It’s his job to lose.”
The Trojans were 11-2 last season, winning their last eight games after a 30-27 overtime loss to Washington State that cost them the Pac-10 title.
Before the winning streak, USC was 9-8 under Carroll and 40-37 since the beginning of the 1996 season – a major comedown for a school with eight national titles and 28 Rose Bowl appearances.
The Trojans demolished UCLA, Notre Dame and Iowa in the Orange Bowl in their last three games and finished fourth in the final Associated Press poll.
Like Pac-10 rivals Oregon and Oregon State the previous two years, the Trojans were clearly one of the country’s best teams at season’s end – if not the best – despite not being chosen to play in the national championship game.
Fourteen starters return including six on a defense that figures to be among the nation’s finest, and USC was a narrow pick in the conference’s media poll.
But the Pac-10 champion has had a senior quarterback for five straight years, and no team has won the title without at least a fourth-year quarterback since 1991.
“Winning the championship, a whole lot of that is luck,” said first-year Washington State coach Bill Doba, the defensive coordinator under Mike Price last year when the Cougars won the title by virtue of their victory over USC.
USC and Washington State were two of seven Pac-10 teams to play in bowl games last season.
“Since I’ve been here, this conference has been extremely difficult and evenly matched,” Carroll said. “That’s what I expect this year.”
Parity in the Pac-10 has been so widespread that seven schools have won the conference title in the last eight years.
Another reflection of that parity is the conference hasn’t had a consensus national champion since USC in 1972. The Trojans won the coaches’ poll in 1978 and Washington did the same in 1991.
Washington, ranked 17th in the preseason poll, and Arizona State, ranked 22nd, are expected to be the leading challengers to the Trojans.
Washington has 15 returning starters including quarterback Cody Pickett, who passed for a Pac-10 record 4,458 yards last year.
Arizona State returns 17 starters including quarterback Andrew Walter, who passed for 3,877 yards and 28 touchdowns.
Oregon State’s Derek Anderson, who passed for 3,313 yards last year, is the only other returning starter at quarterback in the conference who is a cinch to open this season as the first-stringer.
A capsule look at the Pac-10, based on predicted order of finish:
USC: WRs Mike Williams and Keary Colbert give the Trojans one of the best tandems in the country. Williams caught 81 passes for 1,265 yards and 14 touchdowns as a freshman last year and Colbert had 71 catches for 1,029 yards and five TDs. … USC is inexperienced at RB, but sophomore Hershel Dennis showed great promise last season. The defense, led by LBs Matt Grootegoed and Melvin Simmons, figures to be one of the nation’s best.
WASHINGTON: Pickett is one of eight starters returning from an offensive unit that averaged 429.7 yards per game last season. … Like USC, the Huskies also have a WR named Williams who’s one of the best in the country in Reggie, a junior who had 94 receptions for 1,464 yards and 11 TDs. … Improvement is needed in the running game, which averaged 2.1 yards per carry and 74.5 yards per game.
ARIZONA STATE: The Sun Devils return a conference-leading 17 starters including Walter, TB Mike Williams and FB Mike Karney. … ASU was picked to finish ninth in the Pac-10 last year but wound up third. The Sun Devils play USC at home and don’t play Washington – two factors that could work in their favor.
UCLA: The Bruins return 14 starters including TB Tyler Ebell, who rushed for 100 or more yards in six straight games after becoming a first-stringer. … One of the biggest questions is at QB, where sophomores Drew Olson and Matt Moore are competing for the starting job.
OREGON STATE: Riley returns to Oregon State, where he helped revive the Beavers in 1997-98 before leaving to become head coach of the San Diego Chargers. … Nine starters return on offense including Anderson and TB Steven Jackson, who rushed for a conference-leading 1,690 yards and 17 touchdowns last year.
WASHINGTON STATE: Fourteen starters return from last year’s championship team, but the Cougars lost QB Jason Gesser along with standout WRs Jerome Riley and Mike Bush. … WSU has gone 20-5 the last two years including 13-3 in the conference. … The schedule is much more difficult this year, with the Cougars facing Notre Dame, Colorado, USC and Washington on the road.
OREGON: The Ducks got off to a great start last season, winning their first six games. But they dropped six of their final seven. … Fifteen starters return including eight on offense. Jason Fife passed for 2,752 yards and 24 touchdowns, but will compete with Kellen Clemens for the starting job.
CALIFORNIA: The Golden Bears rebounded from a 1-10 season to go 7-5 under first-year coach Jeff Tedford last year, but a league-low nine starters return including only two on defense. … Among those lost was QB Kyle Boller, who passed for 2,815 yards and 28 touchdowns last season and was a first-round draft pick.
STANFORD: Last year was a 2-9 disaster in Buddy Teevens’ first year as coach. … Kyle Matter and Chris Lewis will compete at quarterback. Lewis played well two years ago, but a rotator cuff injury limited him to five games last season.
ARIZONA: The Wildcats went 4-8 last year, prompting coach John Mackovic to hire new offensive, defensive and special team coordinators. … Sophomore Nic Costa and redshirt freshman Ryan O’Hara will compete at quarterback.
AP-ES-08-18-03 0131EDT
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