With these tailbacks, this season could be a blast

C.J. Gable cut left, swung right and sprinted through a handful of frozen Idaho defenders for a ribbon-cutting, rip-roaring, 33-yard run.

And promptly came out of the game.

Stafon Johnson dashed around the right corner and into an end zone ringing with 90,000 cheers, a four-yard run for the first USC touchdown of the season.

The next time the Trojans were on the goal line, he was on the bench.

The most breathtaking move by a guy carrying the ball for USC on Saturday night was a full hurdle over a crouched Idaho defender by Stanley Havili.

And he’s, like, the fullback.

The ballyhooed USC running back pool -- deep and roiling and a big reason for the Trojans’ No. 1 ranking -- spilled on to a field for the first time Saturday in the Trojans’ 38-10 victory over Idaho.

The resulting splash left the offense in a new formation.

Student Body Wow.

“All of these running backs doing their thing, we call it dancing,” said a smiling Johnson, the Dorsey kid rising to his first big city moment, scoring two touchdowns and averaging 5.3 yards on a dozen carries.

As for the actions of the rest of the Trojans, we call it slogging.

John David Booty was inconsistent, the defense was occasionally inattentive, the play-calling was vanilla and the overall performance was less than impressive, as if everyone was saving themselves for that taller corn of Nebraska.

But, man, those running backs were fun.

So fun that with two of the five listed possible starters on the bench with injuries, they still combined for 219 yards and scored four of the five touchdowns.

So important that, in the first half, the Trojans ran only five plays in which a running back didn’t touch the ball.

So promising, the best run of the night was by a guy who, more than dozen paragraphs into this story, I haven’t even mentioned yet.

His name is Joe McKnight, and he might never be this low in a USC game column again.

Considered one of the nation’s best prep running backs last year, the Louisiana kid spurned LSU to fly here and become the next Reggie Bush,

The number on his door (4) is one less, but his transmission runs the same.

Early in the third quarter, McKnight caught a Booty lateral on the right side, found it too crowded for his liking, spun left and ran across the entire field with seemingly the entire Idaho defense flailing after him.

He either juked or broke down a half-dozen defenders en route to a 21-yard gain.

After which, of course, he vanished for the rest of the quarter.

“We have so many guys, one can leave and it’s like he never left,” said C.J. Gable, the starter who led the backs with 68 yards rushing.

Besides Gable, Johnson, McKnight and Havili, the ball also was carried by Desmond Reed and Allen Bradford.

Missing was, believe it or not, last year’s leading rusher Chauncey Washington. Indeed, he should get well soon.

“We do this stuff every day in practice, it’s great to cheer for all of us doing it in the game,” said Johnson.

The good news for USC is that, unlike most teams, they can survive one or two or six injuries to running backs.

The bad news is, how is Pete Carroll going to keep the healthy guys happy?

Already, one running back has set what must be a national record for angst.

When is the last time an athlete made the cover of Sports Illustrated, then almost immediately quit his team because he wasn’t good enough to be a starter?

That was Emmanuel Moody a couple of weeks ago.

That’s depth.

So how can Carroll keep other bits of lightning from bolting?

I asked that same question a couple of years ago when Bush and LenDale White were sparring for playing time.

“Yeah, and what happened?” said Carroll, remembering with a smile. “One guy won the Heisman Trophy, and the other guy rushed for 52 touchdowns. So what do you want?”

Carroll hates the talk that, while entertaining the heck out of the rest of us, he is creating unhappiness among his players.

“Look at our injuries, you can see how we need so many running backs,” Carroll said. “And look at the NFL today. Many teams are using two running backs, it just makes sense. The kids understand that.”

About the only person who seemed bothered by all the running Saturday was Booty, who didn’t throw enough to find any sort of rhythm.

Just as someone can’t win the Heisman against Idaho, someone also can’t lose it, and that’s good for Booty, who showed signs of last season’s pre-Rose Bowl struggles.

With 2:06 left in the first half, Siua Musika batted down one of his passes. Fans, remembering how tipped passes led to both of USC’s losses last year, booed.

In the third quarter, on fourth down at the Idaho goal line, Booty threw behind David Ausberry on a slant route. Fans, remembering such passes throughout last season, booed again.

The game’s final moments occurred, appropriately, with Booty resting on the bench and one of the running backs churning up wet grass down the field. Reed, I think. Somebody. Everybody.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at bill.plaschke@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.