Trojans Adjusting To Role As Underdogs

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A top-ranked national power will run into the storied Coliseum this weekend looking to preserve its unbeaten record. The opponent will be young and undermanned, simply hoping to trip up the Pac-10's most powerful program.

Southern California has been that big dog for most of the past decade. Nobody knows how the Trojans will act now that they're the underdog.

No. 1 Oregon (7-0, 4-0 Pac-10) is a seven-point favorite Saturday, which means No. 24 USC (5-2, 2-2) won't be favored at home for the first time in 51 games since 2001. Although nearly every superlative streak from their near-decade of dominance has been snapped during the Trojans' tumultuous last 12 months, this particular step back is tough.

"It's not what we're used to at SC, but Oregon has earned it, that's for sure," USC linebacker Chris Galippo said. "They've been great. I was resentful when they got to the Rose Bowl last year and we didn't, but they deserve to be where they are."

With boundless talent and flair, former coach Pete Carroll's USC teams turned the Coliseum into one of college football's toughest venues for opponents, winning 47 of 48 games over an incredibly dominant stretch into 2009. Only an astonishing loss to Stanford kept the Trojans from perfection through parts of eight seasons.

A crowd of 90,000-plus fans regularly filled the venerated Olympic stadium with cardinal and gold, while movie stars and millionaire alumni packed the sidelines. Once an Orange Bowl victory in Carroll's second season firmly re-established USC as a powerhouse, the Trojans thrived in Los Angeles' spotlight.

It has all come crashing down since late last season, when USC lost home games to Stanford -- a 55-21 thrashing -- and Arizona before Carroll skedaddled for Seattle. Washington then beat the Trojans at the Coliseum four weeks ago on a field goal at the final gun. It was USC's third loss in five home games.

For a school so familiar with being on top, these ordinary performances have caused reflection and adjustments.

"It reminds me what a phenomenal run we've done here before," said coach Lane Kiffin, an assistant to Carroll for much of the past decade. "You feel how focused your players come to work, and that's why it's so phenomenal. You get everyone's best shot, and everyone is so focused."

In the relatively few games in which the Trojans have been an underdog over the past nine years, they've often fared well.

The Trojans' 24-22 loss to Oregon in 2001 was among the first signs of Carroll's renaissance. As a significant underdog, USC scored 16 consecutive points against the seventh-ranked Ducks and took a late one-point lead on Carson Palmer's 93-yard touchdown pass to Kareem Kelly before Oregon kicked a game-winning field goal.

In the 2003 season opener, the Trojans traveled to Auburn and earned a 23-0 victory that led to a national title run.

Oregon also beat USC as a favorite at Autzen Stadium in 2007, but the Trojans' game performance in that loss propelled them on another Rose Bowl run past the Ducks, who lost quarterback Dennis Dixon to injury.

USC had been a pointspread favorite in every game since 2007 until its loss at Stanford last month -- another defeat on a last-gasp field goal.

"We don't look at it as favorites or underdogs, because everybody is counting us out this season anyway," said tailback Allen Bradford, who leads USC with 560 yards rushing and four touchdowns. "With the NCAA stuff, we know people don't expect us to keep working and keep bringing it every week, but we're doing it. We're a couple of plays away from being 7-0, and we're going to show that to Oregon."

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