After soaring at Stanford, USC tries not to let down at Boston College

Coach Steve Sarkisian and his staff reviewed Boston College’s offense, defense and special teams with USC players. And the ninth-ranked Trojans have familiarized themselves with Alumni Stadium, where Saturday’s game will be played.

But Sarkisian said he would not broach with the Trojans perhaps the biggest obstacle standing in the way of a 3-0 start:

A psychological letdown.

With a hard-fought Pac-12 Conference victory over Stanford behind them and an open date and three football-free days beckoning next week, the toughest task for USC’s players will be to avoid looking past the Eagles.

The Trojans, 20-point favorites, have weathered plenty of controversy — the fabricated explanation of Josh Shaw’s injury, Anthony Brown’s allegations of racism and Athletic Director Pat Haden’s sideline exchange with officials at Stanford — to win their first two games.

“I’ve never mentioned letdown to our team or guarding against letdown,” Sarkisian said this week, “just like I haven’t mentioned distractions and other things that way.”

However, Sarkisian acknowledged that he was monitoring the Trojans as they readied for the cross-country trip. “Ultimately,” he said. “it’s going to be how we play Saturday night.”

Boston College is 1-1 after defeating Massachusetts in its opener and losing to Pittsburgh in an Atlantic Coast Conference game last week.

These are not the Eagles of the last two seasons, who relied on running back Andre Williams, now in the NFL with the New York Giants.

Tyler Murphy, a graduate transfer from Florida, gives Boston College a threat to run or pass, but that is not expected to be enough against a USC team that routed Fresno State and gritted through a 13-10 victory at Stanford.

USC adopted different offensive approaches in its first two games.

The Trojans ran a Pac-12 Conference-record 105 plays against Fresno State as quarterback Cody Kessler spread the ball to 10 receivers.

Only four players — receivers Nelson Agholor, George Farmer and JuJu Smith and running back Justin Davis — caught passes against Stanford as tailback Javorius Allen carried the ball on 23 of the Trojans’ 59 plays.

USC’s defense gave up 317 yards against Fresno State, 413 against Stanford.

“We had an extremely tough and resilient performance,” defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox said of the Trojans’ effort against Stanford. “We didn’t play great.”

USC will face Boston College with team captain Hayes Pullard sitting in the locker room for the first half. NCAA rules required that the senior inside linebacker be suspended for the first half after he drew a targeting penalty and was ejected late in the third quarter against Stanford.

Sophomore Michael Hutchings will start in Pullard’s spot.

“So far when I’ve been in there, I feel like I’ve played well,” said Hutchings, who intercepted a pass against Fresno State and stepped in for Pullard against Stanford. “But I definitely can improve.”

Defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who played through an ankle sprain against Stanford, is expected to play against Boston College. But coaches and trainers would no doubt like to get the top NFL prospect out of the game early and allow the healing process to continue. The Trojans don’t play again until Sept. 27 against Oregon State.

“The reason I go out there and try to fight through all these games is because I want to have a great season this year as far as the team,” Williams said. “I just want to take the team as far as possible.”

USC established itself as a contender for the Pac-12 title with its victory over two-time defending conference champion Stanford.

The Trojans play their first South Division game against Arizona State on Oct. 4 and then travel to Arizona the following week.

Out in the distance looms preseason favorite UCLA on Nov. 22.

Fans and reporters have the luxury of looking ahead.

The Trojans, Sarkisian hopes, will refrain from doing the same.

Follow Gary Klein on Twitter @latimesklein