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		USC focused, engaged for the Emerald Bowl By Morris Phillips December 26, 2009

	It wasn’t sunny and it wasn’t pretty like it is on the now-rarely used L.A. Coliseum turf. In fact, it was sloppy, wet, and with all the missteps on both sides, the score was a lot closer than we’ve become accustomed to. And most significantly, this bowl game was a full week prior and thousands of miles away from a customary BCS appearance on an awkwardly-placed football field in a baseball stadium. But it the end, it was USC football: patient offense, along with stingy defense that got a whole lot stingier in the second half. The Trojans registered their fourth consecutive bowl victory and sixth in eight appearances under Pete Carroll. And they did under the backdrop of doom and disappointment enveloping their team, everything that the NCAA compliance department to the TMZ-laced Southland media could heap upon the Trojans with the kitchen sink thrown on top. First running back Stafon Johnson suffered a horrific throat injury lifting weights that instantly ended his football career. Then the losses—first to lowly Washington, then decisively to Oregon and Stanford, and finally to Arizona—came, each unexpected and shocking with a whole lot of pressure from the local media dropped on Carroll. And then in the days leading up to the Emerald Bowl finale, three academic suspensions and star running back Joe McKnight driving a SUV—an improper benefit in NCAA terms—which created a 24-hour a day saga running across the ESPN bottom line regarding whether he would be allowed to play. Year after year, teams that disappoint, then end up in lesser bowls, play with their collective shoulders slumped and get beat in embarrassing fashion. Don’t think Notre Dame was wary of that when they declined all bowl invitations following a year that cost Charlie Weis his job. But that wasn’t the case with the Trojans. After Boston College’s offense surged briefly following the opening kickoff on Saturday night, USC responded—in the rain, mud and cold. After both of their initial touchdowns, sideline celebrations broke out with 70 Trojans jumping in unison. Carroll, as the head cheerleader, was expressive, engaged and making eye contact with every guy that made a play. So how did they do it? How did the Trojans make it a priority to play quality football with so much adversity surrounding them? “We went retro. You go back and recreate an approach. We went back to the basics of hard-nosed football,” Carroll said afterwards. In the weeks leading up to the game, USC had intense, full-contact practices that evidently are quite a spectacle. Analyst Ed Cunningham, who did USC-Cal earlier this year, gushed about the USC practices, labeling them more intense and competitive then the games themselves. On Saturday, USC kept it vanilla on offense with a pedestrian run game, featuring Allen Bradford, setting up Matt Barkley’s high percentage pass game. Barkley responded by connecting on 12 of his first 13 pass attempts for 154 yards and two scores. Spectacular numbers without any spectacular plays as Barkley enjoyed great protection, but more often than not played it safe, settling for check down routes, quick slants and outs. Throughout, wideout Damian Williams was building a big night that would result in 12 catches for 189 yards and the Emerald Bowl MVP award. On defense, USC made the adjustments at the half that put the clamps on the BC attack. While Eagles’ receiver Rich Gunnell had a big first half, the Trojans shut him down in the second half with a lot more zone and plenty of safety help. Shifty halfback Montel Harris, running behind an offense line that Carroll said was a big and active as any the Trojans had seen all year, put up a 100-yard night, but he wasn’t around for the finish. When Harris tried to pick up a blitz, he got dinged up, and ended up on the sidelines for the finish, as BC had to abandon their run game down two scores in the fourth quarter. But then USC stopped BC quarterback Dave Shinskie with a pair of big sacks that put the cap on the Trojans effort. So did the Trojans, blessed with as much talent as any team in the country, underperform in 2009? Clearly, that was the case, with three of their four losses coming to teams that simply didn’t have the depth or talent in personnel to trouble the Trojans. But given that, USC didn’t let those losses put a damper on the Emerald Bowl. And for putting their best foot forward on Saturday, USC deserves credit.