Slow starts? Tell Pete Carroll about it. Carroll’s Trojans may be back in the championship hunt this week with last place, hopeless Washington State coming to the Coliseum, but don't forget: Pete's been there, man. He says he can relate to first-year Cougar coach Paul Wulff, because he’s seen it all before. Coaching USC may look easy, but believe Carroll when he says it’s been no picnic –- in fact, when you put them side by side, how could Pete Carroll not empathize with Paul Wulff? Looking back over the first two months of the season, it's like looking into a mirror:

Sometimes Pete wishes he had a whole team full of really coachable, two-star guys nobody’s ever heard of, guys pulled out of the stands, guys who are hungry. Well, no. On second thought, he doesn’t really. But he can imagine what that's like, and he totally gets it. He really does.