Forward Progress Stopped

It’s fitting that on a day when USC didn’t have all the answers, when Washington surprised, challenged and did everything but beat the Trojans, the high point of Pete Carroll’s postgame news conference was a question.

“Did Arkansas win today?” Carroll asked.

Yep. Beat No. 2 Auburn, 27-10.

“Good deal,” Carroll said.

No, great deal. USC’s season-opening victory at Arkansas looks like the best investment of the college football season. The dividends keep growing as Arkansas keeps beating ranked teams -- especially one that could have taken a Bowl Championship Series title game spot away from the Trojans.

USC, meanwhile, has gone the other direction. Somehow the Trojans have managed to look less impressive with every game since their 50-14 blowout of Arkansas.

Saturday’s 26-20 victory over Washington was, in many ways, USC’s worst game of the season. Quarterback John David Booty made more mistakes than before. The defense procured fewer three-and-outs than usual. And the Trojans’ fifth victory, which wasn’t secured until the final play didn’t happen, elicited few adjectives of praise.

“I’m sure it’s frustrating for the people watching,” Carroll said.

He was talking about the confusing finish, when, with two seconds remaining and the Huskies at the USC 15, the officials started the clock and the game ended before Washington could snap the ball.

But Carroll could have been talking about USC’s inability to put teams away.

“All we have to do is win,” defensive end Lawrence Jackson said. “If somebody knocks on your door, you’re either going to answer it or you’re going to walk away. We’re going to answer the challenge every single time. I don’t think it’s anything we need to worry about.”

Running backs Chauncey Washington and Emmanuel Moody produced 148 yards rushing between them, and that doesn’t include a 61-yard run by Washington called back by a penalty.

They are showing an ability to overcome injuries -- this time Steve Smith went down and Patrick Turner picked up the receiving duties.

But this team has no core identity. The coaching staff won’t commit to the run, attempting 41 passes to 32 rushes in a game USC led the whole time after its opening drive. In the second quarter the Trojans passed on every first down.

This team is supposed to be defense-oriented, but Saturday the defense couldn’t end drives. Washington converted eight of 16 third-down plays.

Carroll lamented the lack of sacks and turnovers for the second week in a row.

“That’s what’s changing the feel of the game,” Carroll said. “We have to get negative plays.”

The one thing the defense is doing well is keeping teams from scoring touchdowns in the red zone. Washington and Washington State reached the end zone on only four of their nine trips inside USC’s 20-yard line in the last two games.

“We just take care of our assignments and keep them out of the end zone,” linebacker Oscar Lua said. “I think if we keep on executing that way, we’ll be more than OK. We just have to give the ball back to our offense.”

But Saturday the offense couldn’t get the ball into the end zone either in the second half, despite three trips inside the Washington 15-yard line. Booty almost had a pass intercepted at the goal line in the fourth quarter, the second time a wayward pass of his should have been intercepted.

Still, Booty has been quietly effective. Some of his best plays go unappreciated, little things that turn a potential five-yard loss into a five-yard completion.

When the first BCS rankings come out Oct. 15, this USC team probably will be better off than you think as well. This could be a year when Carroll and the Trojans learn to love the logarithms. The computers won’t think of Washington as a 20-point underdog. The data will show the Huskies were 4-1 and undefeated in Pacific 10 Conference play coming into the game.

And as long as Arkansas keeps winning Southeastern Conference games the Trojans will reap the benefits. They won’t get style points from human voters who short-sell the Pac-10 or don’t realize how much Washington has improved in Coach Tyrone Willingham’s second year. The Trojans just need to keep plugging numbers into the win column.

“That’s the bottom line, we are 5-0,” Booty said. “We just want to keep winning games.”

Extra Points

* Farewell to Buck O’Neil, who died Friday. No better person ever walked the sports landscape. He’s proof that love can help you live. I’m convinced his passion for the Negro Leagues and eagerness to share their stories kept him going until age 94.

* Goodbye to the thought of the NFL at the Coliseum. It looks as if the Coliseum Commission is waking up to the fact that, no matter how much the NFL talks about coming back to L.A., it has yet to produce a team or a person willing to pay the $1.5 billion it would require.

*

J.A. Adande can be reached at j.a.adande@latimes.com. To read more by Adande go to latimes.com/adandeblog.