Frustrated Trojans Are Stuck in a No-Fault State

It’s not Carson Palmer’s fault.

That pass Palmer threw to Kareem Kelly with 3 minutes 47 seconds to play Saturday in Husky Stadium, the one for 58 yards and a game-tying touchdown, the one where Palmer withstood the pressure of a blitz, stood strong in the pocket and connected with Kelly in just the right spot at just the right time, that was a champion’s throw, the throw of a quarterback who deserves more than he’s gotten in his time at USC.

It is not the fault of Palmer that USC is 1-4 and 0-3 in the Pacific 10 Conference. It’s not the fault of Kelly, who doesn’t seem to get the ball thrown to him very often. It’s not the fault of running back Sultan McCullough, who had a career-high 32 carries and 132 yards of hard, tough running.

It might not even be the fault of Pete Carroll and his new coaching staff. They have been presented with a schedule featuring three nationally ranked teams (two on the road) in the first month. They are a staff of former NFL coaches, junior college coaches, high school coaches, trying to find their way in the world of the Pac-10.

Sure, USC was the only high-profile team to bring in an NFL coach. Miami, to pick another high-profile team that hired a new coach, stayed with a college guy. It makes the transition a little easier. This college game is a whole new world for the pro guys.

A new pro coach can spend 12 hours a day with his quarterback, if that’s what he needs, to make sure everybody understands the new playbook. A college coach has a few hours a week in which he can teach. So he’d better be able to make his points well and quickly.

USC lost, 27-24, to No. 11-ranked Washington Saturday at Husky Stadium. It is the second time in three weeks the Trojans have stood on the sidelines, visitors in the home of a top-20 team, and watched that team kick a game-winning field goal in the waning seconds. This time, it happened as time expired.

The Trojans played so hard. They gave the effort of champions, from start to finish. Everybody said so.

“Every guy on this team played his heart out,” Palmer said. “The effort was unbelievable. We are all so together.”

The Trojans played well. Everybody said that too. They played well from start to finish. They had an opening drive of 15 plays. It lasted 6:56. It started at the USC nine-yard line and ended at the Washington 15. It had the Huskies reeling, being pounded backward. It was the kind of statement-making drive where a visiting team can come to the sidelines feeling invincible.

And this drive, it ended without a score, with Palmer being told to run into the line on fourth and one. Palmer couldn’t get the one, but the rest of the drive had been exquisite. The Trojans didn’t get any points, though, and weren’t feeling so invincible after all.

“But we played great on that drive,” Carroll said. “We set a tone.”

So it wasn’t anybody’s fault, really, that no points were scored. What more can be expected from a team and its coaches other than that it dominate the line of scrimmage, that it hold onto the ball, that its tailback run hard, that its quarterback find receivers, that the team move 76 yards in a smooth progression, that it had accepted the challenge of its leaders, that it had found its way to make a statement.

The running game was great. The offensive line was dominating. Everybody said so.

“I challenged the offensive line to play tough,” Carroll said. “And it did.”

“The offensive line was so physical, so tough,” McCullough said. “I just followed their lead.”

By far, this game was the best of the year for the Trojans. Everybody said so.

“We got way better today,” Carroll said. “It’s just too bad we can’t rejoice in that improvement.”

“We played a lot better today,” Palmer said. “We really did. We played a lot harder and we did a lot of good things. Now if only we can find some way to turn the corner.”

And, bingo, there’s the problem.

All these good things happened Saturday and there was Palmer, pressed up against a concrete wall, looking miserable. And McCullough was pressed up against another wall, looking sad. Carroll was sitting behind a card table, looking woebegone.

Somehow Washington won even after its starting quarterback got knocked out of the game early and the replacement fumbled his first two snaps.

Somehow it was the Huskies who made all the right adjustments. Palmer had been seven for seven in the first half. Then he was 0 for six in the second half until hooking up with Kelly at the end. There will be USC fans who will place all the blame on Palmer for those six misses. But this is a kid who is just doing what he’s told.

Somehow the Trojans are wasting another season.

The schedule does get easier. USC played better this Saturday then last Saturday or the Saturday before or the one before that. A bowl game might still be possible.

“It’s not a mystery, it’s football,” Carroll said about how it is the Trojans keep losing, just barely, but still losing. “What can we do?” Palmer said. “The other guy keeps having the ball last.”

And it’s nobody’s fault. Everybody says so.

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Diane Pucin can be reached at diane.pucin@latimes.com