There isn't much that can give those in the Southern California football family the creeps.
But one of them is anything that brings to mind Vince Young, the former Texas quarterback and offensive wrecking ball who led the Longhorns over the unbeaten Trojans in the 2006 BCS title game.
Of course, any quarterback who runs and passes with equal skill, and can turn a broken pass play into a scrambling first down presents special problems for anyone.
The Trojans don't just need the Vince nightmare to know that. Oregon's twin-engine QB Dennis Dixon helped spoil the Trojans' title hopes two years ago.
Now comes more double-trouble Saturday at Ohio State. USC gets Terrelle Pryor, the Buckeyes' run-pass quarterback. The Trojans kept him in check last year when he split equally unproductive time with senior Todd Boeckman in USC's 35-3 victory. But that was Pryor's first game, after which he became the starter.
"We thrust him into a situation with very little experience," said Ohio State coach Jim Tressel in a conference call Tuesday. "Now he understands more why he's doing what he's doing, and why we're doing what we're doing."
If the freshman Pryor were thrown into the fire last year, this year he's supposed to be the fire. He got off to a so-so start against Navy last week, mostly as a pocket passer. He hit 14 of 21 attempts for 174 yards and a touchdown. But he threw a late interception that gave Navy life and an upset chance, too.
The 6-6, 235-pound quarterback also picked up 30 yards on the ground.
The Trojans can watch film all week and figure out how to defend Ohio State's offense. It's Pryor's improvisational work they'll have to scheme against, as well, as odd as that sounds. When you have as much talent as USC and a bright coaching staff, it's uncertainty that scares you the most.
The fewer wild cards, the better.
"The most difficult thing to play against is a quarterback who can run on a play not designed to be a run," said USC coach Pete Carroll Tuesday. "It's the X factor that you can't prepare for."
They'll try anyway. Middle linebacker Chris Galippo said if you see enough of Pryor "you can pick up on some tendencies that will give you an edge.
"He's a better athlete than me, and better than some of our other guys. You have to make up for that in some way."
Besides that, Pryor is more than a handful to tackle.
"He's a big frame," Galippo said. "Arm tackles won't work. Trying to thud him up won't work. He sheds people and he stiff-arms people. You have to wrap him up and stay with him."
At least big-hitting safety Taylor Mays will finally get a chance to pummel an opposing quarterback, since most tend to slide before contact.
"He's big and tall, so we'll see," said Mays, who weighs the same, but is three inches shorter. "If we can hit him early in the game, maybe we can set the tempo."
In the meantime, they'll prep for the unknown. Plan to stop something even Pryor doesn't plan.
"When we're covering downfield and he runs, someone has to account for him," Mays said. "Knowing your assignments and being disciplined gives you the best chance to contain a player like that."
It will be creativity versus structure. Free-form versus order. It's a psychology major's kind of game, and the Left Coast team is hoping for a left brain win.
(Reach Gregg Patton at gpatton(at)PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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Must credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
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