sooner n houston
8/23/2006, 01:39 PM
USC Ready for Shot at Historic Four-Peat
With less than two weeks until USC opens its 2006 season against Arkansas, head coach Pete Carroll has his players ready to take full advantage of the unique opportunity in front of them: becoming the first team in college football history to win four consecutive national titles.
“All of the players and coaches are on the same page. We want this bad,” said Carroll. “Sure, some people doubt we can do it. They say we weren’t actually the official national champions in 2003. And that we didn’t even win a title last year. But that’s the kind of negative talk you have to push aside when you’re going for history. We have to stay positive and unified.”
Carroll said he is using the same motivational techniques he did last year when USC went after a highly-publicized three-peat that included a trip to the BCS title game against Texas.
“We had a lot of players on that team who had already tasted so much success – Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, LenDale White – and we needed to create a little extra incentive for them,” said Carroll. “So I thought: ‘Hey, why not pretend we’ve won back-to-back championships and that we’re going for a third?’ Luckily, ESPN and the rest of the media went right along with it, and before we knew it our quest for a three-peat was the biggest story of the college football season. It was awesome. I even started to believe we were going for three in a row after a while.”
But while deep inside Carroll knows he only has a single national championship in his tenure at USC, his players and coaches honestly believe the Trojans could win four in a row this year.
“Yeah, it’s pretty funny. They have no idea that LSU won the BCS title in 2003, not us. And they’re in complete denial that we lost to Texas last year,” said Carroll. “After we got exposed in that game Matt Leinart said he still thought we were the better team. The adorable part is, these guys think that believing you’re the best is same as winning a national championship. And who am I to crush their hopes? Plus, pretending we’ve won back-to-back-to-back championships is great for recruiting. Kids will believe anything you tell them.”
Carroll says the most important part in winning a record fourth consecutive title won’t be determined so much by the performance of his team on the field as it will be by getting the media onboard with the USC hype machine again.
“As long as enough people believe something is true, it becomes true,” said Carroll. “That’s what happened last year. We need it to happen again.”
And luckily for Carroll, he’s already getting some to come over to his side.
“Take away one last minute drive and USC is holding the trophy last year,” said college football analyst Lee Corso. “So let’s not split hairs here. They more or less won that game. I mean, you say tomato, I say tomato. You say USC only has one national title, I say they’re about to get four in a row. Let’s not go and ruin what could be a great story with facts.”
http://sportspickle.com/features/volume5/2006-0823-usc.html
With less than two weeks until USC opens its 2006 season against Arkansas, head coach Pete Carroll has his players ready to take full advantage of the unique opportunity in front of them: becoming the first team in college football history to win four consecutive national titles.
“All of the players and coaches are on the same page. We want this bad,” said Carroll. “Sure, some people doubt we can do it. They say we weren’t actually the official national champions in 2003. And that we didn’t even win a title last year. But that’s the kind of negative talk you have to push aside when you’re going for history. We have to stay positive and unified.”
Carroll said he is using the same motivational techniques he did last year when USC went after a highly-publicized three-peat that included a trip to the BCS title game against Texas.
“We had a lot of players on that team who had already tasted so much success – Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, LenDale White – and we needed to create a little extra incentive for them,” said Carroll. “So I thought: ‘Hey, why not pretend we’ve won back-to-back championships and that we’re going for a third?’ Luckily, ESPN and the rest of the media went right along with it, and before we knew it our quest for a three-peat was the biggest story of the college football season. It was awesome. I even started to believe we were going for three in a row after a while.”
But while deep inside Carroll knows he only has a single national championship in his tenure at USC, his players and coaches honestly believe the Trojans could win four in a row this year.
“Yeah, it’s pretty funny. They have no idea that LSU won the BCS title in 2003, not us. And they’re in complete denial that we lost to Texas last year,” said Carroll. “After we got exposed in that game Matt Leinart said he still thought we were the better team. The adorable part is, these guys think that believing you’re the best is same as winning a national championship. And who am I to crush their hopes? Plus, pretending we’ve won back-to-back-to-back championships is great for recruiting. Kids will believe anything you tell them.”
Carroll says the most important part in winning a record fourth consecutive title won’t be determined so much by the performance of his team on the field as it will be by getting the media onboard with the USC hype machine again.
“As long as enough people believe something is true, it becomes true,” said Carroll. “That’s what happened last year. We need it to happen again.”
And luckily for Carroll, he’s already getting some to come over to his side.
“Take away one last minute drive and USC is holding the trophy last year,” said college football analyst Lee Corso. “So let’s not split hairs here. They more or less won that game. I mean, you say tomato, I say tomato. You say USC only has one national title, I say they’re about to get four in a row. Let’s not go and ruin what could be a great story with facts.”
http://sportspickle.com/features/volume5/2006-0823-usc.html