Trojans Really Didn’t Need the Aggravation

A thought kept coming to mind as Fresno State jumped out to a 7-0 lead on USC, took a 21-13 halftime advantage and rallied for a 42-41 fourth-quarter edge Saturday night.

Why, again, was USC doing this?

You don’t know how close this came to becoming Exhibit B in USC’s wax museum of football horrors behind that 1992 Freedom Bowl loss to Fresno State.

The No. 1 Trojans, with history-making on their mind, needed to play Fresno State like they needed to replay that last down against Notre Dame.

USC pulled it out in the end, 50-42, at the Coliseum, needing a Darnell Bing interception with 1:20 left to clinch the win as 78-year-old Penn State Coach Joe Paterno stayed up (did he?) late in the East to watch the end because, had USC lost, the Nittany Lions might have been No. 2 in Monday’s bowl championship standings.

The anatomy of this USC-Fresno schedule-making ultimately came down to a Machismo Bowl, an annual call-out by Fresno State Coach Pat Hill finally answered by bring-it-on USC Coach Pete Carroll.

It’s the kind of thing they do in pro wrestling, but not so much in college football.

In terms of the Trojans winning a third straight national title, or maintaining their position atop the bowl championship series leaders, this game made little sense -- win or lose.

Boy, though, wasn’t Reggie Bush and his 513 all-purpose yards something?

USC, of course, got away with it and won its 33rd straight game.

For the fourth time this year, the Trojans rallied from a halftime deficit to win.

After a couple of quiet weeks, Bush ran left, right wild and prevented Texas quarterback Vince Young from running away with the Heisman Trophy.

“If it does, I’m grateful and thankful for it,” Bush said. “But I’m not focused on it.”

Carroll seems to enjoy these nail-biting exercises and the thrill of the halftime adjustments, but you know it has to drive Trojan fans nuts.

USC didn’t have to do this, not this deep into November on its way to trying to become the first team to win three straight Associated Press national titles.

Here’s some advice: The next time Temple pulls out of a game, and you need a replacement to fill out your nonconference schedule, see if Weber State is available.

With Arkansas and Notre Dame already booked for 2005, USC did not need to gamble on playing Fresno State, a school with a chip on its shoulder and one that was begging for this fight like a kid on a corner.

Thirteen years after shocking USC in the Freedom Bowl, the Bulldogs and their Red Wave rumbled in a caravan of buses down Interstate 5 for the second game in the series.

USC wanted payback, more than a decade after maybe the most humiliating defeat in school history.

Fresno State was interested in a play back.

Fresno State’s Hill, to his credit, has been challenging top-ranked opponents since he took over in 1997. It’s really the only way to make any national noise when you play in a conference like the Western Athletic, a “non” BCS league that has only limited access to major bowl paydays.

Saturday was the 20th nonconference road game for Fresno State since Hill became coach.

The Bulldogs’ schedule, read out loud, sounds like that Johnny Cash-sung commercial:

Pasadena, Columbus, Knoxville, Madison, Boulder, Norman, Seattle, Manhattan (Kansas).

They’ve been everywhere, man.

USC was hoping for an easy night’s work and then two weeks off to prepare for UCLA on Dec. 3.

It didn’t quite work out that way.

This night was also about settling another score.

Last week, USC had no problem with putting a 35-10 hurt on California, the last team to defeat the Trojans before they went on a 32-game winning streak.

Many years ago, of course, Fresno State handed USC a 24-7 defeat in the 1992 Freedom Bowl.

An ugly chapter in USC lore?

The Times’ headline the day of that game was “Trojans are expected to beat Fresno State tonight at Anaheim Stadium.”

The late Mal Florence, a USC graduate and longtime Times staff writer, was asked at the time why he did not attend the Freedom Bowl.

“Somebody might see me,” Florence remarked.

Fresno State didn’t just win that night; it dominated a Trojan team that featured quarterback Rob Johnson, receiver Johnnie Morton and defensive star Willie McGinest, currently winning Super Bowl rings with the New England Patriots.

Fresno State amassed 405 total yards while USC managed only 183 against the nation’s 98th-rated defense.

USC Coach Larry Smith made perhaps the biggest mistake of his career when he said losing to Fresno State was not as big a deal as many were making of it.

Smith said he was not shocked by the defeat.

“I don’t think there are any David and Goliaths anymore,” Smith said. “Names and logos don’t mean anything. You don’t beat someone just because of your name and logo.”

Smith said that on a Tuesday night.

He was forced to resign the following Friday.

Thirteen years later, Pete Carroll has no such concerns.

After Saturday night, though, Carroll may want to forget Fresno and mix in a Salad State.