Compared against its own legacy, this year's USC team is ordinary.
It has few stars. Statistically, it is worse than the teams that won championships in '03 and '04. So why are the Trojans in line to play for a national title for the fourth consecutive year?
They lost at the right time. That, and there are only six other one-loss teams left.
One of the (few) advantages of the BCS computers is that they judge teams in a vacuum. Right now the Trojans are judged to be seventh in the computers, No. 3 overall. This is not a fluke. Get your head out of the clay in SEC territory. USC is playing one of the more daunting schedules in the country.
• Victory over Nebraska (Big 12 North champ)
• Victory over Arkansas (leading the SEC West)
• Notre Dame (No. 5, BCS)
• Plus, at least four other bowl teams in the Pac-10.
A one-loss SEC champion shouldn't even be close if the Trojans win out against Cal, Notre Dame and UCLA.
A team that was out of it on Oct. 28 -- after a horrendous loss at Oregon State -- now controls its own destiny. Win out and it's hard to imagine any team trumping the Trojans for the No. 2 spot.
This is a team that is flawed, compared to the USC teams of 2003-05. But a lot of that is not Pete Carroll's fault. Something had to give. In those three seasons Carroll has lost 16 players who have been drafted by the NFL in the first four rounds.
This team most likely will finish the season without a single All-American. The last time that happened in a season USC won at least 10 games was 1922.
Carroll's best players are either graduated or have been injured. Receivers Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith might be the best pair in the country, but have slowed by various ailments.
No one is going to mistake quarterback John David Booty for Matt Leinart. The defense has found an identity, first in the Pac-10, 20th nationally. None of that helped when USC turned it over four times at Oregon State.
That's the biggest difference in the Trojans. In general, the defense hasn't produced big turnovers (tied for 94th) and the offense is turning it over too much (only 14 total, but four in one game).
At the time, Carroll made the lame statement that the loss could help the Trojans.
"I hate to own up to that," Carroll said. "Sometimes the hardest lessons are the strongest. We've played our best football since. It was obviously a changing point for us."
USC dropped to eighth in the BCS after the loss. Since then, four teams in front of USC have lost, allowing the Trojans to move up five spots.
Carroll's team has won eight of its nine games and has survived. Texas, Auburn, Louisville and West Virginia haven't.
As a result, USC is bidding for a fourth consecutive shot at a national championship and a third straight BCS title game.
How's that for ordinary?
Anatomy of an upset
Everything matters when you're playing the No. 4 team in the country.
That's why Ron Prince doesn't discount the existence of the new Marriott Courtyard in his native Junction City, Kan.
You see, for 17 years Bill Snyder did not require his Kansas State players to stay in a hotel the night before home games. The practice varies from program to program, but in this case it is significant. Manhattan, Kan., has a dearth of hotel rooms.
So when Prince, K-State's 37-year-old rookie coach, decided to house his team in the local Holiday Inn the night before home games, there went a whole bunch of rooms that used to go to the visiting team.
Last Saturday, then, Texas stayed 20 miles away in that Courtyard.
"There's no doubt," Prince said recounting the biggest upset of the season, "all those little things. They're all factors."
K-State's 45-42 victory changed the BCS, ended Texas' title defense and was a corner-turning game for a program that had been used to doing things the same way for the last 17 years.
All that changed on Saturday. Here's how Prince and the Wildcats did it:
K-State already had overachieved coming into the game. Coming off consecutive last-place finishes in the Big 12 North, the Wildcats were 6-4 and bowl eligible for the first time in three years.
The general philosophy was to leave nothing in the bag. Pull out the Big Bertha at every turn.
"When you play these kind of teams," Prince said, "to try to play a conventional-wisdom, methodical, grind-it-out game with them is foolhardy. Every single player they have is phenomenal."
But perhaps those players weren't focusing totally on K-State. The Horns were three-touchdown favorites and had a bye week looming in order to prepare for rival Texas A&M.
"It was cold, they just beat Oklahoma State, they have Texas A&M coming up next week, there was talk of a national championship," Prince said. "We had none of those distractions."
Meanwhile, Prince, one of the youngest I-A head coaches, has the total attention of the Wildcats. That was clear when the school issued a news release during fall drills, with a list of players who had not sufficiently completed a running drill. Prince, essentially, had publicly called out his underachievers.
Two scholarship quarterbacks left -- some might say were run off -- in August. Prince was putting his stamp on the program.
By Game 6, true freshman quarterback Josh Freeman was starting. At the time, it looked like Prince was throwing the season away to get snaps for his prodigy. The 'Cats were coming off consecutive losses during which they combined for nine points
Suddenly the program took off. Freeman ran 21 yards for the winning touchdown with 71 seconds left against Oklahoma State in that first start.
A running game started to develop with freshman Leon Patton and junior James Johnson. The offensive line was retooled. A solid win at Colorado on Nov. 4 got K-State into a bowl. Freeman was 3-2 as a starter.
"A lot of stars had to align," Prince said of Texas. "And they did."
From the beginning. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was knocked out with a stinger after the first series.
Prince noticed that Texas had seven turnovers in the previous three games. The Horns were vulnerable to putting the ball on the ground. Defensive end Ian Campbell then recovered two Texas fumbles after running backs were stripped. Campbell also had a sack tying the single-season school record (11.5).
The crowd got into it. K-State blocked a punt. During a three-minute span in the third quarter, the Wildcats scored three touchdowns to go ahead 42-21.
There were four halfback passes, five sacks. Prince's bag was empty. Big Bertha indeed.
With 54 seconds left, he called the play that validated everything he had done at K-State. On third and 6 from the Texas 38, Prince called for a rollout run/pass option for Freeman.
The young coach wasn't going against the oldest of strategies: Run the ball to drain the clock.
Prince then thought back to his former boss. Virginia's Al Groh taught him to think players first, then think plays. Prince spent five years with the Cavaliers, helping 18 all-ACC picks and six NFL draftees.
"In that situation I wasn't going to let the plays or conventional wisdom try to win the game for us," Prince said. "I was going to let our very best players win the game for us.
"People say, 'Do the safe thing, run the ball.' I didn't think that running the ball into the interior against a team that's given up less than one yard per carry (0.92 yards per K-State carry), I didn't think that was safe at all."
Freeman rolled right, saw receiver Jordy Nelson and fired a low strike. Nelson fought forward for exactly six yards. First down. Ballgame. College football was shaken to its foundations.
"I was going to let our very best players win the game for us," Prince said.
That two of the best players were an 18-year-old freshman making his sixth career start and Nelson, a former walk-on, shows how far Prince has progressed in his first year on the job.
Sportsline.com..
Article by Dennis Dodd..
It has few stars. Statistically, it is worse than the teams that won championships in '03 and '04. So why are the Trojans in line to play for a national title for the fourth consecutive year?
They lost at the right time. That, and there are only six other one-loss teams left.
One of the (few) advantages of the BCS computers is that they judge teams in a vacuum. Right now the Trojans are judged to be seventh in the computers, No. 3 overall. This is not a fluke. Get your head out of the clay in SEC territory. USC is playing one of the more daunting schedules in the country.
• Victory over Nebraska (Big 12 North champ)
• Victory over Arkansas (leading the SEC West)
• Notre Dame (No. 5, BCS)
• Plus, at least four other bowl teams in the Pac-10.
A one-loss SEC champion shouldn't even be close if the Trojans win out against Cal, Notre Dame and UCLA.
A team that was out of it on Oct. 28 -- after a horrendous loss at Oregon State -- now controls its own destiny. Win out and it's hard to imagine any team trumping the Trojans for the No. 2 spot.
This is a team that is flawed, compared to the USC teams of 2003-05. But a lot of that is not Pete Carroll's fault. Something had to give. In those three seasons Carroll has lost 16 players who have been drafted by the NFL in the first four rounds.
This team most likely will finish the season without a single All-American. The last time that happened in a season USC won at least 10 games was 1922.
Carroll's best players are either graduated or have been injured. Receivers Dwayne Jarrett and Steve Smith might be the best pair in the country, but have slowed by various ailments.
No one is going to mistake quarterback John David Booty for Matt Leinart. The defense has found an identity, first in the Pac-10, 20th nationally. None of that helped when USC turned it over four times at Oregon State.
That's the biggest difference in the Trojans. In general, the defense hasn't produced big turnovers (tied for 94th) and the offense is turning it over too much (only 14 total, but four in one game).
At the time, Carroll made the lame statement that the loss could help the Trojans.
"I hate to own up to that," Carroll said. "Sometimes the hardest lessons are the strongest. We've played our best football since. It was obviously a changing point for us."
USC dropped to eighth in the BCS after the loss. Since then, four teams in front of USC have lost, allowing the Trojans to move up five spots.
Carroll's team has won eight of its nine games and has survived. Texas, Auburn, Louisville and West Virginia haven't.
As a result, USC is bidding for a fourth consecutive shot at a national championship and a third straight BCS title game.
How's that for ordinary?
Anatomy of an upset
Everything matters when you're playing the No. 4 team in the country.
That's why Ron Prince doesn't discount the existence of the new Marriott Courtyard in his native Junction City, Kan.
You see, for 17 years Bill Snyder did not require his Kansas State players to stay in a hotel the night before home games. The practice varies from program to program, but in this case it is significant. Manhattan, Kan., has a dearth of hotel rooms.
So when Prince, K-State's 37-year-old rookie coach, decided to house his team in the local Holiday Inn the night before home games, there went a whole bunch of rooms that used to go to the visiting team.
Last Saturday, then, Texas stayed 20 miles away in that Courtyard.
"There's no doubt," Prince said recounting the biggest upset of the season, "all those little things. They're all factors."
K-State's 45-42 victory changed the BCS, ended Texas' title defense and was a corner-turning game for a program that had been used to doing things the same way for the last 17 years.
All that changed on Saturday. Here's how Prince and the Wildcats did it:
K-State already had overachieved coming into the game. Coming off consecutive last-place finishes in the Big 12 North, the Wildcats were 6-4 and bowl eligible for the first time in three years.
The general philosophy was to leave nothing in the bag. Pull out the Big Bertha at every turn.
"When you play these kind of teams," Prince said, "to try to play a conventional-wisdom, methodical, grind-it-out game with them is foolhardy. Every single player they have is phenomenal."
But perhaps those players weren't focusing totally on K-State. The Horns were three-touchdown favorites and had a bye week looming in order to prepare for rival Texas A&M.
"It was cold, they just beat Oklahoma State, they have Texas A&M coming up next week, there was talk of a national championship," Prince said. "We had none of those distractions."
Meanwhile, Prince, one of the youngest I-A head coaches, has the total attention of the Wildcats. That was clear when the school issued a news release during fall drills, with a list of players who had not sufficiently completed a running drill. Prince, essentially, had publicly called out his underachievers.
Two scholarship quarterbacks left -- some might say were run off -- in August. Prince was putting his stamp on the program.
By Game 6, true freshman quarterback Josh Freeman was starting. At the time, it looked like Prince was throwing the season away to get snaps for his prodigy. The 'Cats were coming off consecutive losses during which they combined for nine points
Suddenly the program took off. Freeman ran 21 yards for the winning touchdown with 71 seconds left against Oklahoma State in that first start.
A running game started to develop with freshman Leon Patton and junior James Johnson. The offensive line was retooled. A solid win at Colorado on Nov. 4 got K-State into a bowl. Freeman was 3-2 as a starter.
"A lot of stars had to align," Prince said of Texas. "And they did."
From the beginning. Texas quarterback Colt McCoy was knocked out with a stinger after the first series.
Prince noticed that Texas had seven turnovers in the previous three games. The Horns were vulnerable to putting the ball on the ground. Defensive end Ian Campbell then recovered two Texas fumbles after running backs were stripped. Campbell also had a sack tying the single-season school record (11.5).
The crowd got into it. K-State blocked a punt. During a three-minute span in the third quarter, the Wildcats scored three touchdowns to go ahead 42-21.
There were four halfback passes, five sacks. Prince's bag was empty. Big Bertha indeed.
With 54 seconds left, he called the play that validated everything he had done at K-State. On third and 6 from the Texas 38, Prince called for a rollout run/pass option for Freeman.
The young coach wasn't going against the oldest of strategies: Run the ball to drain the clock.
Prince then thought back to his former boss. Virginia's Al Groh taught him to think players first, then think plays. Prince spent five years with the Cavaliers, helping 18 all-ACC picks and six NFL draftees.
"In that situation I wasn't going to let the plays or conventional wisdom try to win the game for us," Prince said. "I was going to let our very best players win the game for us.
"People say, 'Do the safe thing, run the ball.' I didn't think that running the ball into the interior against a team that's given up less than one yard per carry (0.92 yards per K-State carry), I didn't think that was safe at all."
Freeman rolled right, saw receiver Jordy Nelson and fired a low strike. Nelson fought forward for exactly six yards. First down. Ballgame. College football was shaken to its foundations.
"I was going to let our very best players win the game for us," Prince said.
That two of the best players were an 18-year-old freshman making his sixth career start and Nelson, a former walk-on, shows how far Prince has progressed in his first year on the job.
Sportsline.com..
Article by Dennis Dodd..
