School snapshot: USC

Football Digest, Spring, 2004 by Chuck O'Donnell

* USC, which ended its 2003 season with a victory over Michigan in the Rose Bowl, was ranked No. 1 in the final Associated Press pen. It had been 25 years since that happened.

* Three out of 63 coaches that participated in the USA Today/ESPN poll voted USC No. 1, even though they were obligated to reserve that selection for the winner of the BCS championship game, which was Louisiana State.

* Pete Carroll became the second USC head coach be named the Division I-A Coach of the Year by the American Football Coaches Association, joining John McKay, who won the award in 1962 and 1972.

* Matt Leinart, who set Pac-10 single-season records for touchdown passes (35) and consecutive passes without an interception (212) in 2003, was named the Trojans' most valuable player.

* USC has a 21-8 record in the Rose Bowl.

* Safeties coach Rocky Seto's wife, Sharla, was a member of USC's Pac-10 champion soccer team in 1998.

* The Carroll family has had great success in sports. Pete has 28 years coaching experience in college and the NFL His wife, Glena, played volleyball at Pacific. Their daughter, Jaime, was on the USC women's volleyball team that advanced to the NCAA Final Four in 2000. And Brennan Carroll, USC's tight ends coach and Pete's son, was a reserve tight end for three years at Pittsburgh.

* USC blew out rivals UCLA and Notre Dame in consecutive games in 2003, marking the first time since 1981 that the Trojans beat both teams in the same season.

* The 2003 season marked the first time since 1979 that the Trojans won 11 games.

* In 2003, USC led the Pac-10 in total offense (449.3) and total defense (284.9), as well as scoring offense (35.8) and scoring defense (18.5).

* Pete Carroll's first coaching job came in 1974 as a graduate assistant working with the wide receivers at Pacific.

* Running backs coach Kennedy Pola is named after the late President John F. Kennedy. Pola was born in Pago Pago, American Samoa, on November 22, 1963, the same day President Kennedy was assassinated.

* Offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who was the mastermind behind BYU's record-selling offenses for 21 years, was lured to USC by a salary that pays him more than $400,000 a year.

* USC has had five Heisman Trophy winners: quarterback Carson Palmer (2002), running back Marcus Allen (1981), running back Charles White (1979), running back O.J. Simpson (1968), and running back Mike Garrett (1965).