[Maisel] Carroll's coaching propels USC to top of decade ranking - ESPN
...Mix all of that together and it's a recipe for two consecutive national championships -- and a few seconds away from a third.

USC got off to a slow start in the last 10 years. Carroll didn't arrive until December 2000, and anyone who recalls that the coaches in the previous four years were Paul Hackett and John Robinson either is a diehard Trojan or needs a hobby.

The point is that you could make the case that USC didn't dominate the decade long enough to deserve to be No. 1...

...USC has been a member of the Pac-10 in its various forms since 1922. Over the last decade, however, the Trojans have been in a league of their own.

[Buchanan] No. 1 Southern California - Yahoo Sports
...Southern California doesn't have a 1,000-yard rusher returning, and no wide receiver on the roster managed even 30 catches in 2006. But the Trojans...aren't too concerned...

...Some believe the 2007 Southern Cal defense could be the best in school history. That seems like a stretch considering the defensive units that John McKay and John Robinson put on the field in the 1960s and 1970s. Yet, there is no debate that the Trojans defense should rank among the best...

...Assistant coaches keep coming and going, but Southern California keeps winning. In fact, the Trojans have posted at least 11 victories in five of their six seasons under Carroll, who has shown he can recruit and strategize with the best of them...

No. 1 Trojans' toughest test may be Pac-10 - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
...Outside the conference, USC enjoyed double-digit wins over Southeastern Conference West champ Arkansas (50-14), Notre Dame (44-24) and Michigan (32-18) in the Rose Bowl.

"That just goes to show how good the Pac-10 is," said Arizona State senior center Mike Pollak, despite LSU coach Les Miles' recent disparaging comments about the ease of USC's conference schedule.

Having faced LSU in 2005 (a 35-31 loss), Pollak said: "I would say USC is tougher (physically) than those guys."

But how much better will USC be against an encouraged and experienced Pac-10 that returns, according to Commissioner Tom Hansen, 165 starters?...

Also, Pac-10's assignment is to go the extra mile in '07 - LA Times
[Withers] Trojans' competition limited to rhetoric - Seattle Times
2007 CFN Pac 10 Preview - College Football News

As Usual, U.S.C. Is Loaded, but Now It’s on Defense - NY Times
...The Trojans enter this season with inexperienced receivers and tailbacks around the senior quarterback John David Booty, so the team’s identity, especially early on, will come from a defense that returns 10 starters...

...The most talent-rich position may be linebacker, where U.S.C. is so deep that a backup last year, Oscar Lua, was selected by New England in the seventh round of the N.F.L. draft. This year’s linebackers include three players in contention for the Bednarik Award, which is given to the top defensive player in college football. In Phil Steele’s positional rankings in his preseason magazine, he has outside linebackers Keith Rivers and Brian Cushing ranked as the No. 1 and No. 2 outside linebackers in the country and Ray Maualuga as the third-best middle linebacker...

Also, It's unanimous: USC favored in Pac-10 - LA Times
Pac-10 coaches come not to bury the Trojans but praise them - LA Times
The greatest ever? - OC Register
USC the unanimous pick - VC Star
USC is lauded as all-time best - Sac Bee
Trojans draw universal praise - Spokane Spokesman-Review
[Forde] Harbaugh declaration delivers Pac-10 jolt - ESPN

The mystery of the Olympic champion - Vancouver North Shore Outlook
While searching microfilmed newspapers for something else, I spotted a tiny item in The North Shore Press of Aug. 2, 1932.

It read, “When news came through from Los Angeles that Duncan MacNaughton...had carried off first honors in the high jump at the Olympic Games, congratulations...were forwarded to MacNaughton...

...He then enrolled at the University of Southern California, a fortunate choice. That’s where he met high jumper Bob Van Osdel who became a lifelong friend. And the proximity to the site of the Olympics became critical...

...After more than three hours, the competition was captured by McNaughton...when Osdel, who informally coached McNaughton at USC, suggested the Canadian concentrate on his kick. It worked...

Miles still talking Pac-10 as he prepares for SEC media day - Monroe News-Star
...LSU coach Les Miles, meanwhile, has been ridiculing the Pac-10's and USC's schedules compared to those of SEC teams. He will take the pulpit on Friday....

...Miles has said he'd love to meet USC for the BCS national title...

..."I would like nothing better than to play USC for the title," Miles said recently. "I can tell you they have a much easier road to travel. They're going to play real knockdown drag-outs with UCLA and Cal-Berkley, Stanford — some real juggernauts there. They've got it good out there. I would like that path for us. The SEC provides much stiffer competition."...

Pac-10 teams, though, routinely play better non-conference opponents than the SEC...

Also, USC's seniors back to handle "unfinished business" - Inland Empire Press-Enterprise
Miles downplays USC comments - Baton Rouge Advocate
[Gimino] THE BATTLE FOR NO. 2 - Tucson Citizen

USC's Top 10 Athletes in Photos - CNNSI
1. Marcus Allen
2. OJ Simpson
3. Cheryl Miller
4. Matt Leinart
5. Reggie Bush
6. Stan Smith
7. Lisa Leslie
8. Carson Palmer
9. Lenny Krayzelburg
10. Mark McGwire

USC 2007 Preview - Athlon Sports
It is a measure of how far Pete Carroll has taken the USC program that an 11–2 season, highlighted by a victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl, was considered a disappointment by many of the Trojans’ boosters.

Now, the expectations at USC now are the BCS Championship Game or bust. Missing it for the first time in three years was difficult for Trojans fans to take...

...But Carroll — with 15 starters returning, including 10 on defense, and a banner recruiting class overflowing with blue-chip athletes — should have the Trojans right back in the thick of the BCS title race.

The key will be juicing up a running game that sputtered badly...

[Dwyre] He is in hog heaven at USC - LA Times
..."It just got to the point where I knew it wasn't going to work out there," Mustain says. "Not this year, not ever."

Now, he is a Trojan, bringing to mind the theory that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em...

...It also means that Pete Carroll, the father of mother-lodes, keeps the quarterback feast coming, even though, about this time next year, he could be in for a tough decision on his next Heisman Trophy candidate...

...when '08 arrives and it is Sanchez's time, there will be Mustain, with a pedigree...and one more year of eligibility than Sanchez.

As Dick Enberg would say, "Oh, my!"...

Looking ahead: USC TROJANS - Seattle P-I
...Guess what? The Trojans should be even better this season. The defense is already being touted as one of the best ever with 10 returning starters from the '06 team. (Three others also saw some starting action.)

The linebacking corps is just sick. Brian Cushing, Rey Maulauga and Keith Rivers? You've got to be kidding me...

...Don't think just because the middle of the field will be abuzz with activity that the other facets of the defense aren't stacked, as well...

...WHAT THE HUSKIES CAN EXPECT: I'm wondering when was the last time the Huskies got shut out at home… Nov. 6, 1976. Cal beat UW 7-0 in Don James' second year...

Still No. 1 - Tuscaloosa News
...last summer, as part of our countdown to the 2006 season, The Tuscaloosa News’ Best College Football Rankings attempted to measure the top programs in every imaginable way...

...Naturally, it created a stir, but provided fodder for attempting to answer the sport’s ultimate question: “Which school really has the best program?” or “Who’s No. 1?”

Last summer, our answer was Southern California...

...Rankings...Recruiting...Attendance...Pro potential...Academics...Bowl appearances....Associated Press national championships...The All-Time Associated Press Poll...College Football Hall of Fame inductees (players only)....Coaching legacy...

...So who’s No. 1?

Once again, it’s Southern California...

[Paris] Carroll swears there's no place like USC - NC Times
Fight on? There was plenty of that chatter Monday with USC coach Pete Carroll in town.

Dream on? That's Carroll's response to those speculating he'll someday return to the NFL.

"Please don't leave," a USC fan pleaded..."Don't go."

The charismatic Carroll chuckled.

"I'm not going anywhere,'' he said. "There is nothing better than being at USC."

Believe Carroll at your own risk...

When McNair makes pitch, USC gets catch - LA Times
Todd McNair is driving and talking and recruiting. He's always recruiting. Running backs, wide receivers, defensive backs. Even occasional doubters.

How in the world does USC, with a depth chart that wound up 10 deep — yep, that's 10 deep — at tailback, persuade high school All-American after high school All-American to sign with the school and believe, beyond a doubt, they'll play from the moment they step on the field?

"None of these guys are afraid of competition,"...

Ellis turns out to be just like Mike - Lindy's Sports
There was a feeling around USC that nobody would ever replace All-American nose tackle Mike Patterson, who now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles. Patterson's quickness was his forte, confounding opposing centers and guards.

But if you ask USC coach Pete Carroll, there's been hardly any drop-off since Sedrick Ellis replaced Patterson. Ellis won the Morris Trophy last season, given to the Pac-10's top defensive lineman. The conference's offensive linemen voted on the award.

"He's simply a dominating player who gets past guys consistently with his quickness and speed," Carroll said. "He's one of the main reasons I'm so excited about this defense."...

[Dodd] McKnight's USC move leaves storm behind in Bayou - CBS Sportsline
...Joe McKnight is more than a traitor to those crazed LSU loyalists. Why John Curtis, McKnight's coach, was told he was "the most hated guy in the LSU community."

You can understand -- must understand -- because McKnight will never be Brock Berlin. Thank goodness. McKnight has more talent, more character, more of a future; the nation's best high school running back out of John Curtis Christian High School here in Jefferson Parish near New Orleans...and finally ended up signing ... with USC in February.

When McKnight went West, the reaction was swift and cruel...

...The recruiting hooks became the sunshine, USC's tradition and a desire to matriculate through the famed Annenberg School for Communication to become a broadcast journalist...

He's no mama's boy - Hamilton Spectator
Gotta pull for a linebacker who learned how not to pulverize ball carriers from his mother.

Gotta pull for a guy with the best nickname at Tiger-Cat training camp: Zeke (And Destroy) Moreno.

Gotta pull for a guy who is getting noticed as the possible answer to the Tiger-Cats' middle linebacker riddle.

That just might be Moreno, a 6-foot-2, 246-pound University of Southern California product who has played 61 NFL games...

...Moreno, 28, is also somewhat of a cultural pioneer. The Chula Vista Californian is one of the few Latinos to play pro ball...

No. 1: Trojans continue to be a BCS mainstay - Athlon Sports
How in the world does Pete Carroll continue to keep his team so stacked with talent year after year? How can the seven Parade All-America running backs at USC all believe they’re going to be the next star at Tailback U.? Why does quarterback Mark Sanchez, the 2004 Parade All-America Player of the Year, sit on the bench behind Matt Leinart and John David Booty — for three years? It’s the same story at just about every position on the team. If the Trojans lose a game this year, it’ll be their own fault.

With 15 starters back from last season, including 10 on defense, along with most of the top backups and another stellar recruiting class (they didn’t have a lot of scholarships to give this year, but the quality they reaped is ridiculously good), Carroll’s crew should roll from Sept. 1 through Dec. 1 and beyond...

Johnson turns down Titans, will retire - ESPN
Keyshawn Johnson has declined an offer from the Tennessee Titans and has decided to retire.

The wide receiver, who also expected to receive an offer from the Oakland Raiders, is expected to announce his decision at a Wednesday afternoon news conference at his alma mater of USC, his agent, Jerome Stanley, told ESPN.com's John Clayton.

Stanley said Johnson is expected to pursue a broadcasting career.

"The timing of it was just right," Stanley said. "There were a couple of slots open in broadcasting...

Leinart throws celeb-studded birthday bash in Scottsdale - Arizona Republic
What’s the point in being young, rich and famous if you can’t have a star-studded birthday bash?

No point at all.

So Arizona Cardinals quarterback Matt Leinart kicked off his 24th birthday celebration Saturday afternoon, May 19, at the Mondrian Scottsdale.

Celebrities who partied by the pool with him included Nick Lachey and Vanessa Minnillo.

Following a private barbecue, Leinart and his friends made their way to Skybar and continued celebrating VIP style until the club opened to the general public at 10:30 p.m.

Party with the unwashed? Please...

Also, Cardinals digesting playbook - East Valley Tribune

Seau is back on the inside - Boston Globe
Junior Seau is staying in school.

The 38-year-old linebacker officially signed on for his second year of postgraduate work yesterday, inking a one-year deal with the Patriots. The move was anticipated...

...The signing comes less than two years after Seau said he was graduating from football, not necessarily retiring. At the time, following 13 years with the Chargers and three with the Dolphins, he said he would play if the right situation presented itself...

...Seau, now entering his 18th NFL season, later told the "Patriots All-Access" television show that he had two plates inserted in his arm, with 14 screws.

With Seau in the fold, the linebacker corps gets a boost...

Also, Pats officially get Seau back - Boston Herald