Carroll isn't looking for normal, easy way out

By T.J. SIMERS

Nov. 29, 2006 12 AM PT

I WAS A little surprised Pete Carroll didn’t deliver a concession speech Tuesday at his weekly news conference, especially after I had taken the time to let him down easy with a detailed explanation of how the Trojans are going to lose Saturday.

Uncle Pete is the best coach in the land and one of the most dynamic, grounded personalities I have ever met in sports. And while I admire his competitive spirit -- Uncle Pete taking it as “a personal challenge,” he said, when I told him the Trojans were going to lose by a touchdown to the Bruins -- let’s face it, he’s overmatched this time.

There is no way USC beats UCLA in the Rose Bowl on Saturday.

“The history of all sports says you’re right,” said Uncle Pete when I told him the Trojans were in for a huge letdown -- thereby making them vulnerable to the upset.

But then there’s always a “but” with Uncle Pete.

“But the history of this football team says no,” he said when it comes to suffering a letdown like most every other team that has tried to remain at the top of its game four straight weeks.

He said the Trojans didn’t lose to Oregon State this season because of any letdown but because “we just dropped the ball.” They didn’t lose to Cal in triple overtime because they took the Bears lightly, and certainly didn’t fall to Texas because they were looking past the Longhorns, which suggests the Trojans are overdue for a stinker.

Carroll said his players were focused on UCLA and were giving no thought to the BCS title game, which just doesn’t make them normal young football players.

“We’re trying not to be normal,” Uncle Pete said. “We take that as a personal challenge every week. Normal is pretty easy. Now I can’t tell you how we do it, other than to say we’re just going to out there today and have a heck of a practice and make today the best possible day.”

That sounds so good, but I wonder how many USC players picked up the Daily Trojan on Tuesday, the headline below Kevin Merfeld’s column reading, “USC must improve to hang with Ohio State.”

So much for UCLA.

On ESPN -- and how many USC football players watch ESPN -- there were highlights of John David Booty throwing a touchdown pass to Dwayne Jarrett and Brent Musburger gushing, “Now it looks like the road to Glendale, Ariz., is paved with Trojans.”

So much for UCLA.

Ask just about everyone around these parts about USC and UCLA and it’s a foregone conclusion the Trojans will be playing for the national championship. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that Michigan has already booked hotel rooms for the Rose Bowl knowing they no longer have any chance of playing in Arizona.

How would you like your chances of playing in the national title game riding on Karl Dorrell’s winning a football game? The USC players have been around here long enough to know what most folks think of Dorrell and his Bruins.

If everyone else takes the Bruins lightly, why not the Trojans?

The USC football players, who also double as students on occasion, are about to face final exams. I wonder what they consider a bigger task right now, picking up UCLA’s blitzes or a No. 2 pencil?

“I didn’t address that at all two years ago,” when UCLA threw a scare into USC, Carroll said. “Things change around here at this time of year on campus, and it’s something I’m going to address more specifically this time -- maybe even more so than the impact of the game.”

The distractions are beginning to pile up, and while Carroll joked he had everything under control as long as the media didn’t get to too many of his players, how do the Trojans avoid being human and letting out a deep breath after the last three emotion-packed weeks?

“66-19,” I said, and Carroll said, “What are those numbers?”

It was the final score of last year’s USC win over UCLA, and while Uncle Pete feigned ignorance with a chuckle, I’m guessing his players remember how easy it was to beat UCLA a year ago.

“If we were a team always talking about what happened in the past, it would be an issue,” said Carroll, while remaining in denial. “We’ve already dealt with that. Besides, it’s a different football team we’re playing, and we’re a different team.”

On the radio the talk is about USC’s being almost a two-touchdown favorite, suggesting the Trojans won’t even have to work up a sweat.

“There is a resolve here to focus on everything right in front of us,” Carroll said. “It’s mastering that focus.”

He’s convincing, all right, but so many other coaches in so many other sports have tried over the years to talk themselves through the peaks and valleys of a long season, and right now USC is about to hit a major dip in the road.

He can tell the media the BCS chatter “just doesn’t fit here, and all that fits is getting ready for competitive Tuesday” on the practice field, but with UCLA sandwiched among Oregon/Cal/Notre Dame and Ohio State, it’s a trap.

And I don’t think Uncle Pete and the Trojans can avoid it.

“I like that,” Carroll said. “I like the challenge. I like it.”

I’m not surprised to hear Uncle Pete is going to go down feisty.

TODAY’S LAST word comes in e-mail from David Saul:

“I just read your column and I was excited about your bet with Uncle Fred. I am a long-time USC fan and I own a restaurant in West L.A. called Junior’s. I will personally deliver breakfast to everyone at the radio station if your Bruins win, but if they lose, I think an hour washing dishes or a donation to the American Diabetes Assn. in the name of my daughter, Brittany Saul, would suffice.”

I like my bacon crisp.

T.J. Simers can be reached at

[email protected]. To read previous columns, go to latimes.com/simers.