Carroll Excited to Invade Lincoln

USC coach praises Blackshirts, Callahan's versatility

Well, look who stood up for The Good Life.

Apparently Pete Carroll's been to Nebraska once before and it wasn't for a football game. When a reporter Tuesday asked Carroll why he would go to Nebraska for something else, the Southern California coach had an answer fit for a travel agency.

"I wouldn't think that Nebraska people would be very fond of the way you put that," said Carroll, who actually came for a few days to talk shop with Tom Osborne's old coaching staff.  "There's a lot of good things in Nebraska."

Including, on Saturday night, Carroll's football team.

The coach is used to being the circus in town. For the last five years, the Trojans have been the kings of college football, winning two national championships, and playing for a third. They've had three Heisman Trophy winners. They have the song, the band, and the cheerleaders. If USC decided to play a game at Cody Elementary in Omaha, somebody would rig a television camera to the swing set to broadcast it.

While NU Head Coach Bill Callahan sparks skepticism when calls USC just another game, Carroll says it of Nebraska and it essentially rings true. The Trojans get every opponent's best shot.

"That's what we have come to expect and that's normal for us to be in that situation," Carroll said. "It doesn't make it easy, but it is what we have come to grow and learn to expect.

"It makes us have to play our best."

Callahan agreed.

"SC's been in all the big games, been on on the road, played a lot of great teams, and done well," he said.

USC didn't have its finest day in a 38-10 win over Idaho. The offense failed to convert some very short third down plays, and the defense, somewhat surprisingly, seemed out-schemed by the Vandals' shotgun offense. Idaho lacked the superior athletes to consistently move the ball against The Trojans' Cover 2 defense, but it had more success than most expected.

Carroll called the game "unusual," because USC clearly experimented with different plays and blitz packages. One one play, freshman fullback Stanley Havili lined up at wideout and caught a screen pass. True freshman Joe McKnight got an extended look at tailback. And in some cases, the blitzes worked against the Trojans, as the Vandals busted a few running plays into the secondary.

"We had control of the game early," Carroll said. "We substituted some guys early in different spots, called some plays to make sure the guy got the ball, things like that, because we wanted to make sure we got those things accomplished as we were working through the game."

So just how much Nebraska can glean from that game is uncertain. Much like, Carroll said, he was unable to tell much from NU's 52-10 rout of Nevada. 

The 20-17 win over Wake Forest, however, was more revealing. 

Carroll called it "really highly contested," and was probably most impressed with Wake's wide receiver Kenneth Moore, who gashed the Blackshirts several times with end around runs.

"(Nebraska) couldn't tackle him," Carroll said. "He was making plays all over the place. Really popped some runs, caught the ball and ran with it. Put them back in the football game.

"Wake really had a legitimate chance to win the game, to go down and win it. Nebraska's defense rose to the occasion and won the football game."

Carroll likes NU's offense, as well. In fact, it looks like a more wide open version of USC's attack.

"They can do anything," he said. "They can totally open it up if they want to or just close it and hammer you."

Last year, Nebraska chose the latter option, without much success. Carroll didn't critique the decision; he figured Callahan and Co. was attacking USC's relative lack of size. Which the Huskers were. Only it didn't work. 

USC's defense is more seasoned now, but it's lost one crucial advantage from the 2006 game: Home field. Carroll said he's heard a lot of good things about Memorial Stadium. Good as in it's loud. 

"I know just historically it's an extraordinary crowd," Carroll said."They've got a great following. It's going to be a fantastic challenge for our young guys to handle it, deal with it well and perform like they're capable."

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