It seems strange that Bush got cut off at the pass list

The way the first half of the Rose Bowl was going, there were probably a number of fans wishing they were in the same position as Reggie Bush -- stopped from being here.

But if the sideline-pass story is true, Reggie Bush was quoted accurately and USC told him to stay away from the Rose Bowl, it’s kind of funny now to hear USC express so much concern about where Bush takes up residence while the Trojans are playing football.

It also makes you wonder if USC is more worried about the NCAA and its findings than it has let on to date. And what would that mean for Pete Carroll’s future plans at USC?

OK, so BCS rules allowed USC to hand out sideline passes to only five guests for the Rose Bowl -- one obviously going to Matt Leinart, who some think could be Carroll’s starting quarterback next season.

Leinart was also spotted partying with Britney Spears on Friday night in Arizona, and what a better way to recruit than to remind every young man in America, you come to USC and one day you too might be nuzzling a pop star gone wild after impregnating one of the school’s basketball players and dumping her for Paris Hilton.

“Sign me up, coach.”

AS FOR the other sideline passes, a USC spokesman said the school received scores of requests -- deciding on Marcus Allen, Ronnie Lott and Charles White. Hard to argue.

Restaurant owner John Papadakis also received a pass, and I’m sure USC considered it a good tip for all those fine Greek meals served to recruits over the years. He broke a lot of dishes entertaining those guys.

Unfortunately, that meant Darth Vader, who was participating in the coin toss, spent more time on the field than Bush. Maybe there was some concern Bush would walk off with the coin -- considering it just another extra benefit like the $757,000 house his family reportedly received while he played his final year here.

Just look, though, how far USC has come in a year. There were more eyes on Bush in this same stadium than probably for anyone else on the field against Texas, but to hear USC tell it now, Bush was too late with a call to merit any special attention.

Maybe so, but Fox’s Jay Glazer reported: “Reggie Bush has told me that USC does not want him on the sidelines, or present anywhere at [the] Rose Bowl.”

That raises a Cardinal flag -- particularly in the way of NCAA concerns, and maybe the one thing that could drive Carroll to Arizona or anywhere else they play their football on Sundays.

Glazer reported it’s Bush’s guess “that his appearance would stoke controversy surrounding the allegations that surfaced earlier in the year surrounding his parents and that house. Reggie is very hurt by this. O.J. Simpson can go to a practice, but Reggie can’t go to the game? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

I would remind you that Glazer works for Fox and the folks at Fox often seem outraged. And as far as facts go, Simpson invited himself to a pre-bowl practice a few years back, and while I would’ve preferred someone tell him to leave, I’m not surprised no one wanted to make him mad.

And if Bush had someone get a new home for his family, he probably could have found someone to get him a ticket for the Rose Bowl once he learned he wouldn’t be given a pass. But obviously something’s not right between Bush and USC.

USC said it decided more than a week ago who would receive the allocated sideline passes and Bush was too late with his request. No reason to believe that’s not true, but hard to imagine the school wouldn’t go out of its way to find a place in the Rose Bowl for its most recent Heisman winner if he wanted to be here.

If Bush’s guess is correct and USC wants to distance itself from him, it’s more than just a sad ending to a terrific time for Trojan football. It raises the question what the NCAA is going to have to say about that same time in USC football lore.

TO DATE, Carroll has been almost perfect. He wins games, lots of them, and has shown an incredible competitive knack of answering every challenge tossed his way. He has been a terrific leader.

He ran up and down the sideline in the second half and embodied the spirit of college football -- leading his entire team on a rampage when it counted the most.

When he talks about Reggie Bush, and he does so on a regular basis, he speaks like a coach afforded the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work with Superman in cleats.

“We had a similar game against UCLA two years ago, but Reggie exploded,” Carroll said this week in mentioning Bush. “This time when we played UCLA, Reggie was in New Orleans.”

Carroll has talked all season long about his admiration for Bush, embracing him rather than pulling away from the game-breaker. Given Carroll’s competitive nature, you wouldn’t expect him to run from Bush, Bush’s problems or an NCAA investigation -- especially when he contends that he has done nothing wrong.

But if someone did tell Bush to stay away from USC and out of the Rose Bowl spotlight, someone at USC is really concerned about Bush’s time at the school and what it might ultimately mean for Carroll’s program.

Once again, and for the umpteenth time, Carroll said he is not leaving USC. He loves the way the Trojans set themselves up for next year with the win over Michigan. He said he doesn’t know how the story got started, but he has talked to no one from Arizona.

It might be semantics -- his agent talking to Arizona on his behalf -- but the guy who owns the Cardinals is so bad he makes the Spanos Goofs look like descendants of Einstein. It’d have to take more than Leinart, the chance to meet Spears, part ownership, power and a ton of money to take the Arizona job or any other NFL post.

I hope that’s just not a nudge from the NCAA.

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T.J. Simers can be reached at t.j.simers@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Simers, go to latimes.com/simers.