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As unlikely as it sounds, Youngstown State is nicknamed the Penguins because of a remark an opposing basketball coach reportedly made five years before there was a student poll to decide the school's mascot. All because of an unheated locker room and the lack of warmups caused Youngstown State's basketball team to wave their arms like penguins.
Owen Bird, who is credited by Southern California as the one who came up with the nickname said, "The term 'Trojan' as applied to USC means to me that no matter what the situation, what the odds or what the conditions, the competition must be carried on to the end and those who strive must give all they have and never be weary in doing so.
Southern California's website credits Bird, the sports editor, as being the one who created the nickname "Trojans. It wasn't unusual for school nicknames or mascots to come from newspapers. However, it's somewhat unclear as to whether Bird created "Trojans" on his own, or if he thought of a nickname at Bovard's request. Warren Bovard and Bird once rode together in a parade organized to honor Fred Kelly, USC's first gold medalist and "the world's champion hurdler," according to a story published in the Los Angeles Times, so the athletic director and sports editor may have been in the same social circles.
However, some alumni had grown accustomed to the programs' stature as a perennial national championship contender. In , Robinson was named head coach a second time, leading the Trojans to a victory in the Rose Bowl over Northwestern. However, losing streaks of 11 years to intersectional rival Notre Dame and 8 years to crosstown rival UCLA were unacceptable to some USC supporters. In , head coach Paul Hackett took over the team, but posted an even more disappointing record in three seasons.
By , some observers surmised that USC football's days of national dominance were fading; the football team's record of from to was their second-worst over any five-year span in history only the mark of from was worse , and the period marked the first and only time USC had been out of the final top 20 teams for four straight years. Carroll went in his first year, losing to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl , However, the Trojans went on to win the rest of their games, completing the regular season on the strength of senior quarterback Carson Palmer 's breakout performance.
After struggling for most of his collegiate career, Palmer excelled in the West Coast offense installed by new offensive coordinator Norm Chow. In fact, Palmer's performance, particularly in the season-ending rivalry games against Notre Dame and UCLA, impressed so many pundits that he went on to win the Heisman Trophy, carrying every region of voting and becoming the first USC quarterback to be so honored.
Facing off against BCS No. In , highly touted but unproven redshirt sophomore Matt Leinart took over for Palmer at quarterback. Although his first pass went for a touchdown in a win over Auburn , the Trojans suffered an early season triple-overtime loss to conference rival California in Berkeley. Nevertheless, Carroll guided the team to wins in their remaining games and they completed the regular season Before the postseason, both the coaches' poll and the AP Poll ranked USC number 1, but the BCS - which also gave consideration to computer rankings - ranked Oklahoma first, another one-loss team but one that had lost its own Big 12 Conference title game , with USC ranked third.
Key questions included the offensive line, with few returning starters, and the receiving corps, which had lost last year's senior Keary Colbert and the breakout star of , Mike Williams.
USC was the second team in NCAA football history to have gone wire-to-wire ranked first place from preseason to postseason since the AP began releasing preseason rankings ; the first was Florida State in three other schools went wire-to-wire before the existence of preseason polls - Notre Dame in , Army in and USC in Quarterback Leinart won the Heisman Trophy, with running back Bush placing fifth in the vote tally.
The Trojans' opponent in the Orange Bowl, Oklahoma, were themselves undefeated and captained by sixth-year quarterback Jason White , who had won the Heisman in ; the game marked the first time in NCAA history that two players who had already won the Heisman played against each other.
Most analysts expected the game to be close—as USC matched its speed and defense against the Oklahoma running game and skilled offensive line—but the reality proved to be far different. USC scored 38 points by halftime, and won by the score of Matt Leinart finished third in the Heisman voting. Additionally, OL Winston Justice did well enough to forgo his senior year and go professional.
However, USC's hopes for another national championship were dashed by the Texas Longhorns , in a dramatic loss at the Rose Bowl. For the football season, USC was forced to attempt to rebuild following the loss of offensive stalwarts Leinart, Bush, and White, defensive leader Bing, and offensive linemen Matua, Justice, and Lutui.
Mark Sanchez , the highly-touted recruit from the class of Mission Viejo High School, CA was widely viewed as a dark horse to win the starting job from Booty, although Booty was named the starter at the end of fall training camp. USC had many experienced players as well, including linebacker Dallas Sartz and wide receiver Chris McFoy, who have already graduated with their bachelors degrees and are pursuing Masters degrees to be eligible for one last year of college football.
Fullback Brandon Hancock would have been part of that group as well until an injury ended his collegiate career. Additionally, fifth year redshirt senior linebacker Oscar Lua, running back Ryan Powdrell and offensive lineman Kyle Williams were expected to either start or play frequently in The Trojans came out strong, easily defending their top status throughout the year.
However, USC began to display marked inconsistencies, as their margins of victory began to slip. The first setback proved to be a loss to unranked Oregon State , in which the Beavers were able to repeatedly capitalize on several Trojan turnovers.
Surprisingly, though USC dropped initially in the polls, they worked their way back up to the No. This eliminated the Trojans from championship contention and opened the door for Florida to become Ohio State's opponent. During Pete Carroll's six years as head coach, USC has lost only one game by more than seven points, that being a loss at Notre Dame in his first season. The 21st century has also seen the rise of USC football's popularity in the Los Angeles market: without any stadium expansions, USC has broken its average home attendance record four times in a row: reaching 77, in , 85, in , 90, in and over 91, with one game to go in the capacity of the Coliseum is 92, The Trojans were the presumptive 1 pick before the season.
Coach McKay's play calling emphasized and refined the run, taking full advantage of his quality backs-a trend followed by his former offensive coordinator and immediate successor, John Robinson. Carroll has had success and Heisman winners, both at Quarterback and Running Back.
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