| | By Ed Graney
Special to ESPN.com
It doesn't take long to get there. Nine pages, is all. The snapshots
change. The pose doesn't.
It's a constant reminder of how things used to be with USC football.
This year's team media guide is more an encyclopedia of the letter T, 370 pages of cardinal and gold tradition. And the pictures of four Heisman
Trophy winners, of Allen and White and Simpson and Garrett cradling their bronzed statues like they once did a ball crossing the goal line, arrive early for
your viewing pleasure.
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The most important factor facing the Pac 10 this year is it's reputation on the field. The conference took a beating last year in high profile games (Penn St over Arizona, Texas over Stanford) and went 1-4 in bowl games. It wasn't just the losses, it was the way the teams lost. There is some truth in the perception that the Pac 10 can't handle physical play, characterized by a strong running game and a tough run defense. Over the last several years the trend in the conference has been to load up on offense and count on the quarterback to get it done.
Not surprisingly, the running game in the Pac 10 became an after thought during the last half of the decade. Why? The pressure defenses that crowded the line of scrimmage made popular by Washington in the late 80s and early 90s destroyed the incentive to run the ball. Consequently, offensive coordinators have spread the field and put the game in the hands of the quarterbacks. Last year, Pac 10 quarterbacks didn't create big plays in non-conference games and were subsequently pounded.
It will take the Pac 10 a few years to get their game back; don't expect anyone to try to prove their manhood by running the ball down the throats of non-conference foes this season. They do have a cadre of experienced quarterbacks (like Carson Palmer, Cory Paus, Joey Harrington/AJ Feeley, Ryan Kealy and Ortege Jenkins) who should be better this year; keep an eye on them September 9 and 16, the dates when the Pac 10 has it's most significant non-conference games. As the QB's go, so goes the reputation of the conference.
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"We somehow forgot about that kind of excellence," said third-year
coach Paul Hackett. "We somehow got away from doing the things that made USC
great.
"We want to get back to that mentality, to having a physical, pounding
running game with a featured tailback."
It could mean the difference between first and second place, between the
Orange and Rose and Holiday bowl games, between playing for a national
championship and sitting home on New Year's day.
The Trojans are loaded defensively and have a healthy Carson Palmer at
quarterback, none of which will matter if someone from a mix of sophomore
Sultan McCullough, junior Malaefou MacKenzie and senior Petros Papadakis
doesn't make the running game more threat than token.
How ironic, in a time when the Pac-10 is coming off its worst season in
17 years, when the league's national perception ranks lower than Darva
Conger's, the conference looks to its most storied program for guidance out of this
seemingly endless tunnel.
"I, for one, am glad we don't have to play USC," said Washington coach
Rick Neuheisel, whose team is favored to contend with the Trojans for a title.
"I don't see any weaknesses. I really don't. And I also think it's good for the
league to have a program like USC back challenging for the top spot again.
We need that as a conference."
The mediocrity of going 1-4 in bowls last season, of having your champion
(Stanford) lose to Texas 69-17 and San Jose State 44-39, of last producing a
consensus national champion (yes, it was USC) in 1972, has Pac-10 officials
searching from Los Angeles to Seattle to Eugene for any glimmer of hope.
The brightest one seems to be Hackett's side.
There are obvious holes (some much larger than others) in all 10 teams,
but USC appears most capable of disguising its into a break-out season.
Of being more like the USC of past than present.
"I've never been this excited about a season," said senior linebacker Zeke
Moreno. "I came here because of what USC stood for in college football.
Finally, I think this is the year everyone sees what that is again."
It better include a running game.
Ed Graney covers college football for the San Diego Union Tribune
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