Trojans Like Silver Lining

The football on the trophy was silver-plated, not crystal.

But on Monday, before a celebrating campus crowd of several hundred USC fans, Coach Pete Carroll and a few of his players happily accepted a piece of national-championship hardware.

USC won a share of its ninth national title -- its first since 1978 -- by finishing atop the Associated Press media poll. Louisiana State, which defeated Oklahoma in the Sugar Bowl on Sunday, is the bowl championship series champion.

Clay Haswell, AP’s California and Nevada bureau chief -- and a USC graduate -- presented the trophy to the Trojans in a ceremony outside Heritage Hall.

“Let me just say, at the Associated Press, we take a lot of pride in getting it right,” Haswell said as the crowd erupted in cheers.

Quarterback Matt Leinart, cornerback Marcell Allmond, tight end Nick Vanderboom and defensive linemen Kenechi Udeze, Shaun Cody and Jay Bottom were on hand for the presentation. “There’s some part of me that is thinking we should have been there in the Sugar Bowl, celebrating with the crystal ball,” Leinart said. “But we did all we could.”

USC, which beat Michigan, 28-14, in the Rose Bowl game, is planning a larger celebration sometime after students return to classes next week. Allmond, a senior who had predicted a national title before the Trojans opened training camp last August, said they had fulfilled their destiny.

“I wasn’t dreaming about it,” Allmond said. “Our senior class this year really wanted this to happen.”

USC finished 12-1, its best record since 1978, when the Trojans finished first in the United Press International coaches’ poll and shared the national title with Alabama.

Mike Garrett, USC’s athletic director, was the first school official to address the crowd Monday.

“This is a long time coming,” said Garrett, who hired Carroll before the 2001 season.

Steven B. Sample, USC’s president, recalled the first football season after he’d become the school’s 10th president in March 1991.

“Our introduction to Trojan football was a season in which we finished 3-8,” Sample told the crowd. “... We’ve come a long way, baby.”

Carroll thanked the crowd, acknowledged USC players and administrators and also congratulated LSU.

Afterward, Carroll said he was proud that the Trojans had restored USC’s tradition of national-championship teams.

“This is the way it should be,” he said. “This isn’t just for a coach or an athletic director or for a quarterback or something. This is for everyone to share and to enjoy.

“The fact that there are a lot of people with us here today from all walks, it’s fitting. It’s the way it should be.”

Garrett said he was happy to share the title with LSU, which won its first national championship since 1958.

“LSU and USC are two traditional schools that have won, but haven’t won [a national title] for a long time,” Garrett said. “I think it was right for them to win [Sunday] night and it was right for us to be acknowledged today.”