INSIDE SLANT

With the way USC played down the stretch of the season—losing three of its last five games, sputtering on offense and lacking apparent emotion in the regular-season finale against Arizona—this might not be the best time for coach Pete Carroll to be making guarantees.

But Carroll is always pumped up, and he just might be able to pass on his evergreen enthusiasm as the Trojans step down to the Emerald Bowl against Boston College after several years of being in the national championship discussion.

“Our players like to work out, they love to play games,” Carroll said. “I can guarantee you that they’re going to play this game like it’s the national championship game.”

USC takes an 8-4 record into the Emerald Bowl, trying to overcome a frustrating season in which it failed to transition from massive personnel losses on defense and to true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley on offense.

Was it just a one-year blip? These kinds of seasons happen, eventually, to most top programs.

“We’re going to be fine,” junior receiver Damian Williams told the Los Angeles Daily News. “The team’s going bounce back. You look at Florida two years ago, they played Michigan in the Capital One Bowl? Then the next year they won the national championship.”

More from Williams: “I mean UCLA was a dynasty in basketball for ever, so what happened in the years they didn’t win a championship. They’re still a great team. Stuff like that, it just happens sometimes. You can’t always been on top. As much as you strive to always be on top, and be great, sometimes you just can’t.”

While the Trojans deal with a disappointing season, Boston College overachieved in its 8-4 season. So, there is a definite difference in how the teams feel about being in the Emerald Bowl.

Carroll said the team can recapture the feeling that it is going to win every game. But will that start with this bowl?

“How long? I don’t know. Can we do it next year? I don’t know,” Carroll said in the L.A. Times. “But we’re going to go after it and see what happens.”

NOTES, QUOTES

• Three players, including two starters who earned honorable mention All-Pac-10, were ruled academically ineligible for the Emerald Bowl. Tight end Anthony McCoy, offensive tackle Tyron Smith and backup defensive tackle Averell Spicer all are being replaced by underclassmen understudies.

A dejected Pete Carroll said all three players had “all the help in the world to get it done and they didn’t.”

• University of Southern California school officials are investigating the use of a sports utility vehicle by running back Joe McKnight. The 2006 Land Rover belonged to a Santa Monica businessman who, according to the Los Angeles Times, employs McKnight’s girlfriend. If the investigation yields enough evidence for USC to self-report an “extra benefit,” McKnight would be ineligible for the bowl game. It’s possible he won’t suit up either way if the investigation is ongoing.

• It’s hard to believe. The Trojans, especially, are in disbelief. Mighty USC, which had won a conference record seven consecutive Pac-10 titles, has been relegated to the Emerald Bowl.

“It feels so different,” coach Pete Carroll said after a 21-17 home loss to Arizona to end the regular season. “It is so different from where we have been and what we have done. It has been a different feeling. It never really kicked in like we wanted it to.”

What’s worse, it never really kicked in when the Trojans had a chance to salvage something OK from their season.

Heading into the finale, a victory over Arizona would have tied USC for second in the Pac-10 and netted a berth in the Holiday Bowl, perhaps the best of the non-New Year’s Day games. As it turned out, USC would have played Nebraska, a matchup that surely would have generated plenty of buzz.

A win over Arizona would have kept alive hopes of a 10-win season.

But the Trojans did not appear inspired, sputtered on offense (again) and let the Wildcats drive 80 yards for the game-winning drive in the final minutes. USC ended the regular season at 8-4 overall and 5-4 in the Pac-10, tied for fifth.

“We weren’t as hyped as we usually are,” running back Allen Bradford told the L.A. Daily News, talking about the Arizona game. “I felt it and I know everybody else did. I can’t explain it.”

Well, USC didn’t have the big prizes to play for in that game … and it certainly won’t in the Emerald Bowl against Boston College.

“It’s frustrating,” said safety Will Harris. “Very, very, very frustrating. I’ve never seen something like this here at Arizona. We have to show these young guys how to finish the season out.”

The Trojans, who sent eight defenders to the NFL, had various breakdowns on defense this season (Carroll said he over-schemed against Stanford and Oregon) and the offense was vanilla and rather boring with true freshman quarterback Matt Barkley and first-year play-caller Jeremy Bates.

“We had a major transition (this season) we weren’t able to withstand,” Carroll said.

Scouting The Offense:   True freshman quarterback Matt Barkley didn’t progress as hoped, as he threw at least one interception in each of the final eight games (11 interceptions overall in that span). Play-calling largely left something to be desired, too, as USC wasn’t able to simply line up and be dominating up front, which was expected with a veteran offensive line. If not for a controversial last-minute deep touchdown pass against UCLA, the Trojans would have failed to top 21 points in each of their last five games. The main difference on offense from 2008 to 2009 was the quarterback. Mark Sanchez had 34 touchdowns and 10 interceptions last season; Barkley has 13 touchdowns and 12 INTs.

Scouting The Defense:   USC was picked apart by a couple of excellent offensive teams (Stanford, Oregon), but played well enough to win in losses to Washington and Arizona, when the Trojans mustered a total of 30 points. The Trojans lacked experience in the front seven, but still had some incredible athletes and registered a healthy 2.75 sacks per game.

Matchup To Watch:   RB Montel Harris vs. USC linebackers—Boston College always runs the ball well, and Montel Harris is doing the heavy lifting this season with 1,355 yards, the sixth-best total in school history. He has 285 carries, which is 227 more than BC’s second-leading rusher. USC is 42nd nationally, allowing 131.0 yards per game, but the Trojans are usually more stout than that. USC went bigger in its linebacker corps in the last two games, with defensive end Devon Kennard shifting to strongside linebacker.

Other Key Matchups:  

Usc Rb A  llen Bradford vs. Boston College LB Luke Kuechly—Bradford is a strong, powerful force who scored half of his eight touchdowns in the past three games. Kuechly, a true freshman, leads Boston College with 142 tackles and was selected the ACC Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Usc Dt J  urrell Casey vs. Boston College C Matt Tennant—Casey, a promising sophomore, has 54 tackles, including 7.5 for loss and 3.5 sacks. Tennant is a second-team Walter Camp All-American.

Usc Fs T  aylor Mays vs. Boston College QB Dave Shinskie—Mays is known much more for his hitting than his ball-hawking skills (two interceptions in the past three seasons), but Shinskie has been interception-prone (13 interceptions in 255 pass attempts). Mays, a senior, would love to pick off a pass or two to impress the NFL scouts.

Quote To Note:   “Let me find a good word; I’d say unbelievable, amazing, crazy. There were ups and downs at times. It’s been a crazy year. I didn’t know what to expect. There were a lot of things that happened that were not characteristics of USC football.”—QB Matt Barkley, assessing his true freshman season.

STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL

Bowl Breakdown:   Southern Cal vs. Boston College, Emerald Bowl, Dec. 26, San Francisco—USC will be playing in the bowl after falling out of the AP Top 25 for the first time in eight years. Boston College (8-4, 5-3) had a surprisingly good season after an offseason of adversity and is making its 11th consecutive bowl appearance. As a comparison point, USC barely held on to win at Notre Dame (34-27) while Boston College barely fell in South Bend (20-16).

Players To Watch:  

FS Taylor Mays—He could have been a first-round pick last season but decided to come back for what turned out to disappointing season for the team and, to some extent, for him. He hasn’t been a playmaker on the ball as a free safety, but he’s still a big hitter and very few plays get behind him. He leads the team with 91 tackles, but has just one interception.

WR Damian Williams—He has a team-high 58 receptions for 821 yards and six touchdowns, and Williams, a junior, also has a pair of punt returns for touchdowns. The big question with Williams is whether or not this will be his last game.

QB Matt Barkley—Needs to sharpen his game and build momentum for next season. He has completed 184 of 315 passes for 2,385 yards, with 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.

DE Everson Griffen—Many thought the junior would be an All-American stud by now. That hasn’t quite happened, but he’s a very good player who has eight sacks and who has a lot of speed for Boston College to handle.

Roster Report:  

• Backup TE Blake Ayles (knee) said he would to play in the bowl game.

• Starting TE Anthony McCoy missed two full games and has been limited in several others because of an ankle sprain. He has 22 catches for 457 yards, an amazing average of 20.8 yards per catch.

• WR David Ausberry (leg) is out.

• C Kris O’Dowd, a preseason All-American, suffered a dislocated kneecap in fall camp and missed the opener. He played for a while after that, but was ineffective and taken out of the lineup for a few games. O’Dowd was back in the starting lineup against Arizona in the regular-season finale.

• Junior CB Shareece Wright, who was academically ineligible during the regular season, expects to be cleared to play in the Emerald Bowl. Wright, who had been a projected starter, is practicing with the team and figures to get significant playing time.

• Senior RB Stafon Johnson, who suffered a serious throat injury in a weightlifting accident in late September, could petition the NCAA for another year of eligibility. USC coach Pete Carroll, as of Dec. 13, denied a report that Johnson has made up his mind about entering the NFL Draft.

• CB Josh Pinkard suffered a knee injury in the season finale against Arizona that put his bowl availability in doubt.