ShareThisSouthern California dropped to 12th in the national rankings Sunday after losing to Washington 16-13 on Saturday in Seattle. The Trojans have lost to an unranked team the past four seasons, and one could argue that's the only reason they haven't won four consecutive national titles.
Critics will blame coach Pete Carroll for not having his team ready to play a week after winning a much-hyped, nationally televised game at Ohio State. Just like last year, when USC couldn't avoid a letdown against Oregon State. Or 2007, when the Trojans found a way to lose to Stanford. Or 2006, when USC fell in the trap door against Oregon State and UCLA.
That anybody criticizes Carroll is ridiculous. He has led the Trojans to seven consecutive Pac-10 titles, 11-win seasons, Associated Press top-4 finishes and BCS bowls. His laidback, semi-retired surfer vibe works well with recruits, their parents and players, and his confidence comes across in his aggressive coaching style and development of fast, hard-hitting, cocky teams.
USC is 10-0 against Big Ten teams and 11-1 in non-conference road games since 2002. Carroll's USC teams walk into opposing stadiums as if they own the place, and that attitude -- combined with top-level talent and an aggressive game plan -- has proven very hard to beat.
Unless ... the Trojans are going against a team that they can't possibly respect because of the way they are wired. Washington was winless last season and lost to USC 56-0. There's no way any Trojan thought they could lose Saturday; I don't care how many times they were warned about a letdown. Same with the previous seasons.
A week after going 9-for-20 on third- and fourth-down attempts at Ohio State, the Trojans went 0-for-11 at Washington. That's got nothing to do with game planning or play calling.
And though it's true that quarterback Matt Barkley was out injured -- and USC's 110 passing yards were the fewest since Carroll took over in 2001 -- I don't think the Trojans win even if Barkley plays. From the moment the Trojans took the field, you could sense that they again had mailed in the focus and effort, and no freshman quarterback was going to change that.
It's the price of being the most consistently dominant college football team in the country -- consistent annual losses to teams that couldn't carry your jock. Since 2002, USC has a winning percentage of 78 percent (18-5) on the road against unranked Pac-10 teams -- and 93 percent (66-5) against everyone else.
Trojans fans, you don't get one without the other.
WHAT ELSE WE LEARNED
-- Kiffin a genius: All of Lane Kiffin's popping off was premeditated, taking the focus off his players and putting it on himself. Maybe. At least that's the story he's telling after his Tennessee team hung tough against No. 1 Florida. What Florida's win and No. 2 Texas' less-than-stellar win over Texas Tech told me is that maybe those two teams aren't head and shoulders above everybody else. And that Cal's Jahvid Best might have a better chance of overtaking Gators quarterback Tim Tebow and Longhorns quarterback Colt McCoy in the Heisman race than anybody thought.
-- Kelly, too: Cincinnati coach Brian Kelly has his team up to No. 14 in the country after beating Oregon State -- breaking the Beavers' 26-game winning streak in non-conference home games. The Bearcats' revamped defense held Jacquizz Rodgers to 73 yards on 20 carries. Kelly worked on Gary Hart's presidential campaign after graduating from college in 1983 and found that politics is great training to be a college coach.
"Going to the local chicken and beer place in east Cincinnati or doing the home visits, that grass-roots part is so ingrained in being a politician because that's your groundswell of support," he told the Associated Press. "Well, it's the same thing in building a program."
Kelly has gone from Grand Valley State to Central Michigan to Cincinnati, where he has turned around the program. Now, his name will be at the top of the ballot for the next available job at a BCS school.
LOOKING AHEAD
Preseason rankings are a joke, and there is still muffled laughter echoing as we jump into Week 4. Penn State is ranked fifth in the country after beating Akron, Syracuse and Temple. At home. Evan Royster is a pretty good running back, and he had 134 yards and a touchdown against the Owls despite the flu. Whether he'll be enough to beat Iowa (3-0) is another question. Coach Joe Paterno actually might have to furrow his brow to get his 387th career win.
CONFERENCE CHUMP
Every week, we honor the team that let down its conference the most:
BYU (Mountain West)
Max Hall threw three interceptions and had one of them returned for a touchdown Saturday in a 54-28 loss at home to Florida State. The Seminoles forced five turnovers and ran the ball at will, crushing dreams of a BCS berth for both the Cougars and probably for the entire Mountain West Conference. Hours earlier, Utah had lost at Oregon, which ended up costing the Utes their spot in the Top 25.
BYU is still ranked 19th and though its season-opening win over Oklahoma was too impressive to be a fluke, the Cougars were clearly a different team Saturday. Whatever happened, you know the guys from big-money bowls are chuckling at the Mountain West today.
(E-mail Vittorio Tafur at vtafur(at)sfchronicle.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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