Give it up, Reggie

Of all the crazy aerial plays that helped define the Pete Carroll era at USC -- the bomb to Dwayne Jarrett, the one-handed catch by Mike Williams -- there is one they sadly used better than anyone, and are shamefully still using today.

Passing the buck.

Will anybody from that period ever be accountable for what happened then?

I’m still waiting for Carroll to accept blame for leading a program into a two-year bowl ban. I know, I know, selling a book entitled, “Win Forever” would be more difficult if the author admitted that he would “Cheat Occasionally.”

I’m also still waiting for Mike Garrett to acknowledge his role as the CEO of a dirty corporation. Of course, this column is filled with “nothing but a lot of envy,” and my editors, “wish they were all Trojans.”

This lack of accountability was apparently so ingrained in USC during Carroll’s nine seasons that some of them took it straight to the NFL.

Brian Cushing, a Houston Texans linebacker and former Carroll Trojan, was suspended by the NFL for four games for steroid use, and immediately claimed he was suffering from “overtrained athlete syndrome.” The protest was denied by Commissioner Roger Goodell after two minutes of deliberation and two days of laughter.

Matt Leinart, another Carroll Trojan, was cut by the Arizona Cardinals after blaming the coaching staff for not giving him a chance. At least he didn’t announce he was suffering from “underused quarterback syndrome.”

Then there is Land-Roving running back Joe McKnight, who was protected so much by the Trojans last season that Carroll literally jumped between us when I attempted to interview him after the Emerald Bowl. Anybody else see McKnight stumble around for the New York Jets on the HBO training camp show “Hard Knocks?” He had such an air of entitlement, one of the Jets veterans even mocked him for going to USC, claiming he wasn’t playing as hard in the NFL because he had to take a pay cut.

Which brings this column to Teflon Reggie Bush and that little bronze man.

Would it be too much to ask that one former USC player involved in the recent troubles stand up and take responsibility and do the right thing?

Would it be too much to ask him to give the 2005 Heisman Trophy back?

He won it as an ineligible player, so the Heisman Trust is probably going to take it from him anyway, perhaps by the end of this month according to a Tuesday report by Yahoo Sports! Why not beat them to that punch in the gut? Why not run the most important route of his life -- the high road -- by behaving as sturdily as that trophy, covering it in bubble wrap and sending it back to New York?

If Bush is worried that admitting guilt would result in a lawsuit from USC, he doesn’t need to say anything other than he’s sorry for the pain that his alleged actions have caused the university, and he’s sorry for the embarrassment that his ineligibility brought the trophy.

Instead of being remembered as an arrogant villain stripped of the most famous award in the sport, he can be remembered as a flawed human being who had the dignity to admit he didn’t deserve it.

And, no, even if the Heisman didn’t have specific rules forbidding the awarding of the trophy to an ineligible player, Bush didn’t deserve it. It turns out that he was essentially paid for his 2,611 total yards while running against opponents who were mostly playing for free. He didn’t share their worries. He didn’t share their uncertainty. The fight wasn’t fair.

The new Trojans era is all about leveling that field, playing by the rules, owning up to your mistakes. Witness freshman running back Dillon Baxter’s admission that he was a “knucklehead” for breaking team rules that resulted in an opening-game suspension.

While Bush is currently banned from associating with the Trojans, he can nonetheless plant his flag in their future by being the only Trojan willing to sacrifice his past.

Carroll is not giving back his Seattle Seahawks job. Garrett is not going to give up his retirement benefits. But Bush can give back his Heisman.

Pat Haden, the Trojans’ new athletic director, has already returned the school’s version of the trophy, and said he hopes Bush does the same thing.

My guess is that New Orleans will freeze over before this happens. Playing in Carroll’s star system, Bush wasn’t taught to care about anyone else. Playing for an NFL team dressed in college sweatshirts, he wasn’t trained to realize he was just part of a larger and lasting academic institution that needed to be protected at all costs. College didn’t matter to him then, why should it matter now?

While it would be ideal if Bush returned the Heisman, here’s guessing he is not capable of accepting that responsibility, and will continue clutching the little bronze man with the same ferocity with which he once pushed a big Trojan man into a South Bend end zone. He didn’t do anything wrong then, either.

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bill.plaschke@latimes.com

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