USC’s Success Has Roots in Arizona

Three years do not seem long enough to measure the difference.

Three years ago, when USC played Arizona, the Trojans were a football program on the downslide, struggling to rebuild under a new coach, teetering on the edge of another losing season.

It took a defensive touchdown with less than two minutes remaining to win that game and nudge them toward a berth in the Las Vegas Bowl.

Saturday evening at the Coliseum, the same two teams faced off in a game that wasn’t nearly as close. Yet, USC’s 49-9 victory was dramatic if only as a reminder of how far the program has come in a relatively short time.

The Trojans have lost only four times in those three years. They have won an Orange Bowl, a Rose Bowl and half a national championship.

“It’s been a fun ride,” defensive lineman Shaun Cody said. “We played a lot of good football.”

This season, the win over Arizona clinched a Pacific 10 Conference championship and ensured the Trojans, at the very least, a trip to the Rose Bowl.

More important, while they were occasionally careless with the ball, the victory puts them at 10-0 and on track for a shot at the national championship in the Orange Bowl.

Watching from afar, Arizona Coach Mike Stoops said USC’s rise to No. 1 has reminded him of what happened at Oklahoma, where he was an assistant for his brother Bob.

“They have done a great job of rebuilding that program quickly, a lot like how we did,” Stoops said last week.

USC Coach Pete Carroll still points to the Arizona game in 2001 as a turning point for his team. The 2-5 Trojans parlayed cornerback Kris Richard’s 58-yard interception return, which made the final score 41-34, into a four-game winning streak.

And though they lost to Utah in Las Vegas, the next season began a run that now has them atop the national rankings.

In one respect, the tables were turned Saturday. This time, Arizona played the role of the struggling program with a bright new coach.

Stoops landed in Tucson during the off-season after helping to construct national powerhouses at not only Oklahoma but also Kansas State.

Carroll was diplomatic enough to say that Stoops is “well ahead of where we were at this time in our first year.”

But Stoops did not inherit players as talented as Carson Palmer and Troy Polamalu, who starred on Carroll’s first team. And he is smart enough to know there is a difference in rebuilding at USC, or at Oklahoma for that matter, “in terms of being able to recruit great athletes ... you can make that change rather quickly,” he said.

More to the point, the Wildcats came into the Coliseum on Saturday with a 2-7 record, no shot at clawing their way back to a winning season.

They stayed with USC early, leading, 3-0, after one quarter.

But from there, the Trojan offense woke up -- scoring on two Matt Leinart passes and three LenDale White runs -- to build a 35-9 lead by the start of the fourth quarter.

“This is a totally different program,” tight end Alex Holmes said. “We go into every game like it’s a championship. We know what we have to do and we do it.”