This Trip Is All Business

USC will practice this morning before departing in the afternoon for Notre Dame, and the Trojans’ itinerary once they arrive will be vastly different from 2001, the first time Coach Pete Carroll took the Trojans to South Bend, Ind.

Carroll, hoping to give his players a sense of history, accompanied them on a trip to the College Football Hall of Fame and a tour of the Notre Dame campus on the day before the 2001 game.

USC, which had won at Notre Dame Stadium only once since 1981, subsequently lost, 27-16.

Carroll does not blame the defeat on the extracurricular activities, but he has eliminated them.

“I probably tried to give the guys too many opportunities to see what’s going on,” Carroll said Wednesday. “We might have tried to do too much.”

The Trojans will practice Friday morning and do their regular walkthrough at the stadium later in the day. They will spend most of the rest of their time in meetings. “Just hold our focus on the game itself,” Carroll said. “That’s a better plan.”

*

USC is hoping that tight end Gregg Guenther will fill the void left by Dominique Byrd, who will have surgery to repair torn knee ligaments a week from today.

Guenther, 6-feet-8 and 245 pounds, has six receptions for 45 yards. Freshmen Kurt Katnik and Nick Vanderboom are the backups.

“[Guenther] is not as dynamic a runner with the ball in his hands as Dominique, but he’s a fantastic target,” Carroll said.

Katnik, 6-4, 255, played tight end at Santa Ana Foothill High but worked at guard last season. He moved to tight end during training camp.

Vanderboom, a 6-4, 220-pound walk-on, practiced at quarterback last season before moving to tight end.

*

Quarterback Matt Cassel said he informed coaches that he remained undecided about switching to tight end.

“I’m going to maintain my status as quarterback until I figure this thing out,” Cassel said.

Even if he decided to change positions, as the coaches have requested, Cassel said he would probably not do so until next week.

“If I was to make the transition [Thursday], I don’t know if I would be ready to play at Notre Dame, let alone the next week,” Cassel said.

*

Linebacker Matt Grootegoed did not practice, but he jogged while wearing a brace for the high left ankle sprain he sustained against Stanford and expects to play Saturday.... Carroll said the competition remains open to return kickoffs. Senior Marcell Allmond supplanted freshman Reggie Bush against Stanford, but he had the ball stripped from his hands and returned for a touchdown.