The Only Traveler Today Is the Horse

It’s homecoming at USC, a daylong opportunity for alums to renew acquaintances and revel in shared memories of their college years.

The top-ranked Trojan football team is looking forward to celebrating a different sort of homecoming.

USC played five of its first seven games on the road, and four of its last five.

Today’s Pacific 10 Conference game against Washington State marks the start of a season-ending five-game stretch that includes four games at the Coliseum, where the Trojans have not lost in more than four years.

“We made it through the hard part of the season. Now the finish is always the great challenge,” Coach Pete Carroll said. “The wonderful thing about it is that we have a chance to do it at home.”

USC extended its winning streak to 29 games and kept alive its quest for a third consecutive national championship with a victory last week at Washington. The win improved the Trojans’ record to 7-0 overall and 4-0 in the Pac-10.

USC extended its home winning streak to 23 games with victories over Arkansas on Sept. 17 and Arizona on Oct. 8.

“It doesn’t even feel like we’ve been at home,” quarterback Matt Leinart said. “We love playing at the Coliseum and have had a lot of success there. I just can’t wait to get out on that field.”

Neither, apparently, can other USC players, who said the Trojans were looking forward to remaining in Los Angeles and enjoying the comforts of playing before 90,000.

“We’re tired of plane rides and waiting for buses,” flanker Steve Smith said. “You want to feel that home crowd.”

USC, which struggled in victories at Oregon, Arizona State and Notre Dame, cruised last week at Washington with an offensive approach that Leinart and others characterized as “back to basics.”

The formula seemed to work wonders for Leinart, who had acknowledged that his performance was off for several weeks. Against the Huskies he had his most efficient game of the season and passed for four touchdowns, three to split end Dwayne Jarrett.

Despite the victory, USC dropped to No. 2 behind Texas in the bowl championship series standings this week.

However, Carroll and his players said they would not need extra motivation against a Washington State team that has lost four in a row.

“They could easily be undefeated,” Leinart said. “They had some tough games and just kind of couldn’t finish.”

Washington State began the season with victories over Idaho, Nevada and Grambling State. After an open date, the Cougars dropped Pac-10 games against Oregon, Stanford, UCLA and California.

Washington State was ahead of UCLA by 17 points entering the fourth quarter, but lost in overtime, 44-41.

Last week against Cal, Washington State overcame an 18-point halftime deficit and led, 38-28, with less than 10 minutes left. But the Cougars gave up two touchdown passes and lost, 42-38.

“We have made plays, but we haven’t made plays in the clutch when it counts,” Washington State Coach Bill Doba said.

The Cougars feature the nation’s second-leading rusher, senior Jerome Harrison, who is averaging 166 yards a game and has eclipsed the 100-yard mark in 10 consecutive games.

USC is giving up only 95 rushing yards a game.

“We see great running backs every day in practice,” defensive end Lawrence Jackson said, referring to Reggie Bush and LenDale White.

Washington State quarterback Alex Brink has improved dramatically since last season and relies on junior receiver Jason Hill, who caught six passes for 240 yards and three touchdowns against Cal.

Brink will face a reconfigured Trojan secondary with converted safety Josh Pinkard making his first start at cornerback in place of injured John Walker.

Doba said his team must control the ball to have a shot at beating USC.

“They have the complete package offensively,” he said of the Trojans. “The key for us is to keep our offense on the field, and keep our defense off the field as much as possible.”

Carroll is just happy to be back on the field where he has not lost since Sept. 29, 2001, when Stanford defeated the Trojans, 21-16.

After draining comeback victories at Oregon, Arizona State and Notre Dame, USC is set up to make a run at its second consecutice appearance in the BCS title game, which will be played this season at the Rose Bowl.

“The enormous matchups and the issues we have fought through have really helped us,” Carroll said. “I have always felt that we need difficulties, we need the challenges, we need the problems to accelerate the process of coming together as a team and how to play together.

“We have been challenged. We need to bank on that now.”

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Running roadblock

USC will face a top running back today in Washington State’s Jerome Harrison, who averages 166.1 yards a game. How the Trojans have fared against each opponent’s leading rusher this season, with per-game average going into the game and his performance against USC:

*--* Date Player Opponent YPG Att. Yds Avg TD Sept. 3 Bryan Maneafaiga * Hawaii 19.0 5 10 2.0 0 Sept. 17 De’Arrius Howard Arkansas 129.5 9 4 0.4 0 Sept. 24 Terrence Whitehead Oregon 54.3 7 14 2.0 0 Oct. 1 Keegan Herring Arizona State 106.3 15 59 3.9 1 Oct. 8 Mike Bell Arizona 82.0 10 38 3.8 0 Oct. 15 Darius Walker Notre Dame 88.0 19 72 3.8 0 Oct. 22 Louis Rankin Washington 78.9 3 12 4.0 0

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* leading returning rusher; yards-per-game average is for 2004.