After the Rose bowl when juniors Reggie Bush & Lendale White declared for draft most people assumed 2006 to be a rebuilding year for the Trojans. Very few programs can absorb the loss of one Heisman winners & compete at a high level & this was two Heisman winners leaving plus White who broke USC's all time rushing touchdown record held by another Heisman winner.
Apparently Pete Carroll & his staff had other ideas. With the recruited talent, the staff & favourable schedule of playing the most difficult games at home that i am explaining below i thought that a 9-3 record was a fair record. But a lot of people were skeptical about what the Trojans could achieve & so many people I talked to laughed at the idea of Trojans winning so many games. I think the Arkansas game quited them & results to date have shut them up. Even I was wrong but it was erring on side of caution.
They had the the number 1 recruiting class for 4 of the last 5 years that translates to loads of talented players. USC has some much talent that they have a large number of freshmen who are not only playing but also are starters. The amazing things is that Carroll has not only filled up the gaps created by players going to the NFL but also replacing the injured players. For eg. Josh Pinkard went down in Arkansas game . Bu his position was quickly taken over by true freshman Taylor Mays who has played brilliantly this season & was named in Pac-10 all team recently.
2nd they took adavantage of their experienced players to change their schemes to their adavantge. They have 4 experienced linebackers. It was the deepest & best line backer group in the country. They played the 4-3 defense(4 down lineman & 3 linebacker) last year & instead of benching one linebacker out of the 4 they chaned to the 3-4 defense to play all the linebackers. the 3-4 defense (made popular by Patriots & Steelers in the NFL recently) to take adavantage of their athletic ability to make plays on defense & it has reinvogarated the defense that was below par last year shutting down high powered offenses like Cal & Notre Dame . As we know very well that "offense wins games, defense wins championships".
The biggest question was with Booty who was following in steps of two Hesiman winning quaterbacks .They had a quaterback who sat behind Leinart for 3 years learning the offense. As we have seen with Philip Rivers this season that sitting on the bench for 2 years is not such a bad thing after all. Booty was supposed to have a rocket arm which would help to squeeze passes in tight spots between defenders & deep long passes. The questions around him was that if he could keep the mistakes & inteceptions down(problem with gun slinging QB's) & manage the game as Leinart used to do. To his credit he done that very well & his statistics are better than Leinart's in his first year.
Currently if the Trojans meet the Buckyees for the championship USC are supposed to be 4 point underdog. IF Carroll can upset the Buckeyes on Jan 8 he would established a dynasty at USC (3 titles in 4 years). That "D" would cement his legacy at USC alongside Howard Jones & John McKay.
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