ShareThisBy GREGG PATTON
As it turns out, they are still playing football at Southern California. It's just the blinding aura that has moved on.
The Trojans will open the season Saturday at Arkansas and ... hey, where did all the satellite trucks go?
For the first time in three seasons, the national TV cameras, magazines and dot-coms have found other campuses to play on.
If local reporters still know their way to Howard Jones Field and Heritage Hall, and Trojans fans have already gobbled up every Coliseum seat for the team's six home games, there's a bit less of the klieg-light feel around USC these days.
No surprise.
That's what happens when your 34-game winning streak vanishes in the space of an 8-yard sprint by Vince Young. And your two Heisman Trophy-winning icons split for the NFL. And you lose your national champion title. And the No. 1 ranking leaves town after a 33-week stay.
At least for now, the Trojans don't show up for practices and wonder if they're on location, too.
"It does feel different, there's not as much buzz nationally," said coach Pete Carroll, who disputed a suggestion that his Hollywood-tinged program had "gone back to being just a football team."
"Some of those things we can't control," he said of the extra attention. "It isn't better, it isn't worse."
On second thought, maybe it is better.
"I don't think it's taken away from the experience," Carroll said. "It's enhanced it. Maybe we'll be fortunate enough to go through it again."
It seems likely. The Trojans will open the season ranked No. 6 by The Associated Press and No. 3 by the USA Today coaches poll.
No one believes they are missing the personnel to tear off another big winning streak. It's the names that aren't clear, yet.
No doubt the Trojans machine is primed and ready to go again. There are touchdowns out there. We just don't know who will score them, yet.
The Trojans have a lot of blank lines on stat sheets needing to be filled in.
"We lost Matt (Leinart), we lost Reggie (Bush)," said senior center Ryan Kalil, of Corona. "But we have plenty of guys here who helped us win games before."
And plenty of new guys who will help them win, too.
The presumption is that strong-armed John David Booty will slip easily into Matt Leinart's quarterback role, having spent more time learning behind the scenes than his predecessor.
If he comes close to being Leinart-esque, the Heisman hype will surely find him, too.
At running back, the picture is cloudy. Make that a pouring rainstorm. For USC, the position is so deep it may take half the season to figure out who the go-to guy is. If they ever really identify one primary runner.
"It's not by committee," joked Carroll. "It's like a caucus."
What's most important is that the Trojans offensive line, led by returning earth-movers like Kalil and junior tackle Sam Baker, should be able to open holes for just about anything on two legs. Much less guys who run like they've got four.
"We got faster," said Carroll, whose team speed already had the CHP on edge. "It's quite a track team coming in."
In any case, the easing off of media attention isn't that big of a deal for the players.
"Every year has a different atmosphere," Kalil said. "This year there's been a lot more excitement about who's going to fill spots.
"This (summer) camp was the most fun I've been in. Our whole philosophy is about competing in practice. It's really been intense this time."
Junior defensive end Lawrence Jackson acknowledged that the environment around the team has changed but maybe not for long.
Around Troy lately, every time they turn the page, another superstar jumps out and scores on a 75-yard touchdown play.
Or stuffs the run, or completes a crucial third-down pass, or makes an interception.
"Our program has a way of doing things _ you can lose players, but you get players just as good," he said, mentioning one of the freshman running backs competing for the lead role. "It's like C. J. (Gable), people just don't know about him."
They will know about someone _ or some two or three _ soon enough.
Don't bet against Saturday.
