Trojans' Flaws Might be Beauty Marks

Matt Hayes - SportingNews.com

BERKELEY, Calif. -- You didn't really think they'd just go away, did you? Just when they look their weakest, when it looks like the rest of the Pac-10 can breathe, the Southern Cal Trojans flex and all is well again in Troy. And you know what that means.

A streak of victories to finish the season, and weeks whining and defending the indefensible until the BCS standings spit out two other teams to play in the national championship game.

Only this time, maybe this Southern Cal team can do what no other has done under coach Pete Carroll after Saturday's 30-3 victory over Cal: find a way to the big game despite itself.

"That loss to Washington made everyone realize this is so fragile," Trojans safety Taylor Mays said. "You can't just show up and expect good things to happen."

We've become so accustomed over the years to this overpowering machine, a team that can turn it on whenever it wants and roll anyone in its way. They get bored and lose to an unranked team, then refocus and play better than anyone in the nation.

Now there are flaws. There are nagging issues that can't be overcome with sheer talent.

But you know what? Maybe this is a good thing. Maybe all those years of all those perfect teams that couldn't get it done can be surpassed by the team with imperfections that can.

"We're growing," Carroll said. "It's a process of coming together."

Gone are the days of flash and flare, of white-hot quarterbacks and skill players making the ridiculous seem simple. Every drive is an adventure now, every play a way to grind out a few more yards and gain a few more first downs and eventually score enough to beat the other guy.

This is an NFL offense now, a homogenized former shell of itself with one overriding goal: Don't screw up. It's double tight end power running sets, and throwing to the fullback out of the backfield. It's swing passes on third-and-long, and freshman quarterback Matt Barkley still finding himself and learning to throw it away and settle for a field goal in the red zone.

Remember those dominating USC defenses? Don't let the numbers this season fool you.

The revamped unit is giving up seven points a game, but there are holes that can be easily exposed. Receivers regularly run free in the secondary, and that unit constantly overruns plays. This defense is not as strong up the middle as all of those defenses with all of those NFL picks, but they can gut it out and suck it up and get a stop when they need it.

"We've got a lot of guys on defense who have never been in this situation before," Trojans linebacker Chris Galippo said. "We don't know what's coming next, but we know we have to be mentally ready for anything every time we get on the field."

In January, when Mark Sanchez announced he would forgo his senior season and enter the NFL draft, the length and depth of Carroll's public disappointment with the decision was shocking -- a temper tantrum that, frankly, seemed selfish. If Sanchez had stayed, this is a different team.

Then again, if he had stayed, maybe it's the same team as years past. Maybe the Trojans get another shot at advancing to the national championship game, and like 2006, they lose focus and lose to another unranked team with everything on the line.

"When you get complacent," Mays says, "Bad things happen. That's not going to happen the rest of the season."

Because this time, with this team, there are no givens. These Trojans won't lose focus, won't turn it on when they need it most. And maybe, just maybe, won't be whining on the last day of the season.

They'll be playing.

Matt Hayes covers college football for Sporting News. E-mail him at mhayes@sportingnews.com.

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