Wanna See That Again?

*Instant replay is this year's hot button, but you don't have to hit the rewind to know which is the team to beat…again

Don't botherprintingthose cardinal-and-gold "Three-Pete" T-shirts. It's not that we doubt Pete Carroll can take USC to a third straight title. No, you have to stash those iron-ons because, as the law firm of Shaub, Williams & Nunziato will tell you, they infringe on the trademark of some guy named Pat Riley. Humility be damned. Confidence is soaring in LA, even though no team has ever ended up No. 1 three years running. In fact, just succeeding where Minnesota, Army, Notre Dame, Alabama, Oklahoma and Nebraska failed may not satisfy greedy Left Coast appetites. "We want to do it better than it's ever been done before," says Carroll. The rest of us know the 13-game road through the Rose Bowl leaves no margin for error, and offers so many places to crash and burn. So, yeah, there may be one good reason for each game USC has to win to explain why they're a lock to make history. But there are just as many reasons to explain why the task won't be easy at all.

1. PETE CARROLL HAS IT ALL FIGURED OUT No one is better at prepping his team and identifying an opponent's weakness. Witness the first half of USC's 55-19 Orange Bowl demolition of Oklahoma. The Trojans overwhelmed the Sooners' "impenetrable" O-line by widening their line splits. Brilliant.

Carroll hasn't wasted time polishing his trophies. This off-season, when he wasn't studying film, he was crisscrossing the country to evaluate recruits, and that's one task you won't find on too many head coaches' to-do lists. He also picked the brains of John Wooden and Phil Jackson, two men who know about sustaining greatness. The Wizard told Carroll not to alter his philosophy-Tempo! Tempo! Tempo!-because the ever-evolving team dynamic provides all the change a program needs. "The players are the ones who will be different," Wooden said. "You have to adapt to that." Jackson advised Carroll to be mindful of his focus. New Age psychobabble? Maybe. But Carroll has made down-to-earth sense of it. "We gotta be real," he translates. "Thinking about what it takes to be national champion is a waste of time. Right now, we just have to have a good camp. Then we have to get ready for the first game."

Whom hasn't Carroll consulted? Tom Osborne or any of the other coaches who came up short on their three-peat bids. "That's the last thing I want to do," he says. "I want to talk to the guys who kept winning." THE DOUBLE EDGE: Aside from his QB, Carroll is USC's most coveted NFL prospect. Some team insiders believe he's waiting for LA to land a franchise, but it's not hard to imagine an owner throwing Larry Brown-type bank his way around Christmastime. And that would cause a Larry Brown-size distraction.

2.RETURN OF MATTY HEISMAN The unflappable Matt Leinart is the perfect guy to run what may be the perfect offense. He's 25— 1 as a starter, and his TDs-to-INTs ratio is a staggering 71:15. This guy was the best player in college football last season despite nagging elbow and groin injuries that he says had him playing at about 75% effectiveness.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: After bypassing the chance to be the No. 1 pick in the draft, Leinart returns with a chance to become the biggest star in college football-ever. Now he has to engage in an expectations game that will be almost impossible to win. It doesn't matter how unflappable he is, that has to take a mental toll.

3. MATTY'S GOT BACKUP Chow Offensive called 'S coordinator GOT sophomore BACKUP Norm J.D. l Booty the most physically gifted quarterback he's ever coached. And Booty is game-ready after two years of the guru's tutelage. After all, Chow shepherded Leinart to stardom and turned Carson Palmer from mediocre to Heisman winner.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: Make that ex-offensive coordinator. The guru is gone. Chow now works for the Tennessee Titans. And it's not like he's the only staffer to cash in. D-line coach/recruiting coordinator Ed Orgeron is now head coach at Ole Miss; LB coach Nick Holt is running the show at Idaho; O-line coach Tim Davis now coaches the line for the Miami Dolphins and QB coach Carl Smith is the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Staff departures can derail even the most stable program. FSU hasn't finished in the Top 5 since assistant head coach Chuck Amato (NC State) and offensive coordinator Mark Richt (Georgia) left for top jobs in 2000 and 2001. Orgeron won two national titles when he worked Miami's sideline from 1988 through 1992. He says the dynamics of that program changed after he and two other colleagues (D-coordinator Sonny Lubick and strength coach Brad Roll) took off. "I'm not saying there was anything wrong with the new guys," says Orgeron, "but they just didn't know those kids. You gotta know how they act and how they respond. You have to respect them and they have to respect you back." THE TRIPLE EDGE: Carroll, who is more hands-on than Dennis Erickson or Bobby Bowden, won't let USC get too loose under the new regime. "That cat's so aware of every facet of his program," Orgeron says. "Nothing's getting through the cracks."

4. SATURDAY'S FORECAST: MORE THUNDER AND LIGHTNING If Leinart doesn't win the Heisman, RB Reggie Bush probably will. He's the most feared player in college football, having ripped off 57 plays of 20 or more yards in his two years at Troy. What is most amazing about the numbers Bush puts in the books is that he's not the starter. That would be junior LenDale White, the Trojans' sugar-footed sledgehammer, who rushed for 1,103 yards and scored 17 TDs last year. Either Bush or White has scored in USC's past 24 games; in 11 of them, both did.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: So far, Bush and White have shared the football and the spotlight without complaint. How much longer can that continue? This spring, Bush began to stump for more touches. Hey, the guy is trying to fuel a Heisman campaign here. And if he does get a bigger piece of the rock, how will that strike White, who has the skills to make a Heisman statement of his own? By the way, this spring, talented freshman Michael Coleman, a 235-pound bruiser, groused that he should be starting.

5. PATH OF LITTLE RESISTANCE The Trojans don't play one preseason Top-16 team. Vegas line-setters see Cal, a sevenpoint underdog, as the only opponent who will get fewer than 15 points.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: The Trojans will have to play the Pac-10's three toughest teams-Cal, Arizona State and Oregon-on the road. All told, USC will travel 7,423 miles to get to its six road games.

6. POINTS TAKEN-LOTS OF THEM The USC offense returns 13 players with at least six starts on their résumés. Check out the goods. In addition to Leinart and Booty and Thunder and Lightning, the Trojans boast a sick stash of receivers, led by All-America candidates Steve Smith, Dwayne Jarrett and tight end Dominique Byrd. "pounder Patrick nation They've 's piled Turner best from on wideout , Nashville top a 6 of '5 recruit " that , whom 220 the - - ll Leinart describes as "unreal"- and soph Whitney Lewis, the gem of the 2003 recruiting class, who is now academically eligible. "They could average 70 points a game," says a rival Pac-10 coach. "The 49ers wish they had this kind of talent at the skill positions."

THE DOUBLE EDGE: It's a good thing they can light it up, because the D could be in for hard times. USC must replace two dominant linemen, Shaun Cody and Mike Patterson and never-out-of-position linebackers, Lofa Tatupu and Matt Grootegoed. That's a pretty big uh-oh, given that Carroll's No. 1 defensive principle is shutting down the run. The young linebackers are faster and may even be more gifted than their predecessors, but they'll have trouble making plays without Patterson creating havoc in the center of the line. Worse still, corner Eric Wright transferred after police found 136 hits of ecstasy in his apartment (possession charges were dropped). And DT Manny Wright (no relation) was taken by Miami in the supplemental draft after failing to make the grade this spring.

7. THE PREPS ARE PROS Carroll's recruiting pitch is straightforward: if you're good enough, you'll play right away. Some insiders say he so believes his message that if two players are even close to even, he'll play the younger one. Think that might be why USC collected the best group of blue-chippers for the third straight year? In addition to Turner and Mark Sanchez, the nation's top QB recruit, Carroll landed a quartet of linebackers (Rey Maualuga, Luthur Brown, Brian Cushing and Kaluka Maiava) who will all make a quick impact.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: In the past two years, USC has lost four still-eligible stars: first-round DE Kenechi Udeze, first-round WR Mike Williams, secondrounder Tatupu and fifth-rounder Manny Wright. As Carroll tells every five-star recruit: "It's just an opportunity for the next guy." But the better they are coming in, the more it hurts when their bus leaves early.

8. MR. RODGERS HAS LEFT THE NEIGHBORHOOD Cal QB Aaron Rodgers, USC public enemy No. 1, completed a record 23 straight passes against the Trojans last October and came within one play of knocking them off. But A-Rod is now the heir apparent of Brett Favre, so there will be no rematch.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: The NFL taketh away, and the NFL giveth. While the Trojans have beaten archrival Notre Dame by 31 points in each of the past three years, they can't expect winning to come quite so effortlessly now that former Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis has taken over in South Bend. Think of the Irish mastermind as a lumpy Reese to Carroll's Terminator, sent back from Foxboro to neutralize USC's domination. Or don't.

9. NO PAC-10 TITLE GAME = NO SWEAT Ask Phil Fulmer or Bob Stoops how they feel about having to deal with a title game-then duck. The Vols' BCS dreams were dashed by No. 21 LSU in the 2001 SEC championship game. And in 2003, No. 13 K-State deflated the hopes of Stoops' undefeated Sooners in the Big 12 title game.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: Should the Trojans actually lose an early-season game, they won't have the benefit of a Pac-10 title game to reposition themselves for the Rose Bowl. In 2001, one-loss Oregon was edged out of the title picture in the final BCS poll by Nebraska. Blast you, strength of schedule!

10.PUNTER WHO DRILLS 'EM Tom "The Bomb" Malone (49 ypp in 2003) has the leg to be only the second kicker ever to average 50 per over an entire season (LSU's Chad Kessler was the first, with 50.3 ypp in 1997). Too bad he won't get enough punts to officially qualify as the best.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: Kicker Ryan Killeen, USC's alltime leading scorer, is gone. And yes, it matters. Killeen's booming kicks (57% of his 281 kickoffs pinned opponents within their 20-yard line) often gave USC's D the gift of taking the field with their opponent looking at a lot of grass.

11. A SAFETY WHO DOES TOO Every national champ in the 21st century has had a lethal safety. Oklahoma had Roy Williams, Miami had Ed Reed, Ohio State had Mike Doss and the Trojans have had 220-pound enforcer Darnell Bing. Still do. His teethrattling hits helped USC lead the nation in rushing defense the past two years as they flipped the Pac-10's "soft" rep roughly on its head. "He's their Rodney Harrison," says an NFL scout. Like White's punishing play on offense, Bing's collisions set the tone for the Trojans' roughneck defense.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: These guys might be a little too tweaked. In March, flanker Steve Smith punched TE Dominique Byrd in the face, breaking his jaw-over a video game wager. Later in the spring, White had to be restrained from attacking Coleman in the weight room because the freshman had questioned his conditioning in the papers.

THE TRIPLE EDGE: From chaos comes order, and from all this anger has emerged a young leader. Sophomore DE Lawrence Jackson called a players-only meeting in late spring to right the ship. "He said there was a little too much going on," recalls Bing, "and that this team was not acting as one unit. That was true."

12. HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS If all goes to plan, USC will be playing the 2006 BCS national title game in its own backyard.

THE DOUBLE EDGE: The last time the Trojans played in Pasadena, Leinart had one of his worst games of 2004 and Bush fumbled three times, losing one. USC barely got by UCLA, 22-point dogs, 29-24.

13. STAR POWER These guys have been on more magazine covers than Brangelina. USC boasts favorites for the Davey O'Brien (best QB), Doak Walker (RB), Biletnikoff (WR), Lombardi (lineman), Thorpe (DB) and Ray Guy (punter) awards, and, of course, the Heisman and Bobby Dodd (coach) awards. Who knows? With Leinart hanging with Nick and Jessica, can the cover of People be far behind?

THE DOUBLE EDGE: When you get to this velvet-rope level, you have to handle the tricky tentacles of fame. After winning the Heisman, Leinart got to cherry-pick the late-night talk-show circuit. He chose Kimmel (Nick was a guest too). Even Malone, the punter, now has a fansite touting him for the Heisman.

Just how far does the attention span? During USC's spring game, a baby-face kid wearing a No. 5 Trojans jersey with the word "BROTHER" across the shoulders made his way around the rim of the field, signing programs and hats. The luminary was Reggie Bush's 14-year-old sibling, Jovan. Twenty feet away, a graying man with a No. 5 jersey marked "DAD" was signing too.

"We're cognizant that we're in LA and in a fishbowl," says Carroll. "We'll be in a battle against ourselves. It's going to be a challenge."

As making history should be.

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