Fargas to Start Against Stanford

Tailback Sultan McCullough ranks fifth in the Pacific 10 Conference in rushing, but the senior is No. 2 on the Trojan depth chart after Justin Fargas’ performance against Oregon.

McCullough gained 176 yards in 39 carries on Oct. 12 against California and leads the Trojans with 562 yards. Fargas, however, rushed for 139 yards in 27 carries in his first start against the Ducks.

Coach Pete Carroll indicated Tuesday that Fargas will start Nov. 9 against Stanford.

“The guys play best when they play a lot,” Carroll said. “Sultan did well with his opportunity and Justin did well with his. We’ll go through these two weeks and see where we are, but I would think that Justin, coming off his game, he’ll have the first shot.”

McCullough, the Trojans’ leading rusher the last two seasons, said he found out Oct. 22 that he was not starting against Oregon.

“I didn’t want to get an attitude -- I’m a team player and it’s all about winning,” said McCullough, who gained 16 yards in two carries against the Ducks.

“It’s just like you have two Porsches. One’s white and one’s red. You have to choose which one you want to drive.”

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The Trojans had a field-goal attempt and extra-point attempt blocked against Oregon, so Carroll had 16 to 20 players rush the kicker during drills.... Freshman middle linebacker Oscar Lua was expected to sit out at least a week because of a sprained left ankle, but Lua worked with the first team in place of senior Mike Pollard, who has a hip-pointer.... Receiver Mike Williams limped to the sideline after getting tangled with cornerback William Buchanon during a drill. Williams also went down on his next turn against cornerback Marcell Allmond, but finished practice without further incident.... Kicker David Davis, who has a sore right foot, did not take part in drills and said he was scheduled to see a doctor after practice.... Receiver Jason Mitchell, who was expected to be a redshirt after hurting his back, said he will try to play against Stanford.