Trojans rewrite familiar story in Saturday's win

                    

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Pete Carroll had been in this position before. Three years ago and about 700 miles southeast of Fayetteville, he took his USC Trojans into Auburn, another hostile SEC environment. On that night he was breaking in a new backfield that had lost the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, and dealing with a young team that had lost over 10 starters from the previous season.

The game plan was similar to last weekend's: Rely on a quick, attacking defense and play conservatively on offense while leaning on a pair of experienced receivers and a committee of four new tailbacks.

But heading into halftime with a 16-7 lead over Arkansas last Saturday, Carroll took a different course. He told offensive coaches Lane Kiffin and Steve Sarkisian to get going and open up the playbook. He had seen enough dinks and dunks and wanted to see what John David Booty, who completed 8-of-13 passes for 74 yards in the first half, could really do with an offense that has produced three of the past four Heisman Trophy winners.

"We played it a little bit safe early on," said Carroll. "Just to make sure we didn't make a mistake."

The conservative calling at the beginning of the game was about the only mistake the Trojans made during their 50-14 rout of Arkansas. After knocking off whatever rust was on him from the last time he started a game -- some four years ago at Evangel Christian High (Shreveport, La.) -- Booty embraced the new wide-open offense, completing 9-of-10 passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns in the third quarter.

"Early on, I was playing too fast," said Booty, who finished the game going 24-of-35 for 261 yards with three touchdowns. "In the second half, I was really able to slow down and get into a rhythm."

Before the game, Arkansas defensive coordinator Reggie Herring jokingly vowed to resign and hang himself if the team played as poorly as it did last season, when the Razorbacks were thumped 70-17 at the Coliseum, falling behind 28-7 in the first 10 minutes. Thankfully, there were no nooses around Herring late in the game.

While Arkansas was at least in the mix during the first half, its defense was dominated by the Trojans in the second half. USC scored touchdowns on five of its seven offensive possessions after intermission, while the Trojans defense intercepting three passes and forced two punts on Arkansas' seven offensive possessions.