Sometimes it's easy to forget what we're watching here. This USC offense isn't just the best in the country this year. It's the best of any year. This is the Secretariat of college offenses. A once-in-a-lifetime collection of talent that's so skilled and so deep, there aren't enough footballs to go around. They can say whatever they want at Notre Dame or Oklahoma or Florida or any other school they care to mention. This 2005 USC bunch offers the sport's first real weapons of mass destruction. Stanford's poor, overwhelmed Cardinal found out for itself Saturday night at Los Angeles Coliseum, when the No. 1 Trojans -- on their way to their 31st consecutive victory -- coolly and methodically built a 44-7 lead. And that was just in the first half. The final score was 51-21, but that really didn't matter. This was a night when everyone was simply awestruck by 30 minutes of style and precision from a team with a Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, his likely successor at tailback, backed by an assortment of other blue-chip runners and receivers, all of whom would be franchise players in any other program in America.
Matt Leinart went 20-of-25 for 245 yards and four touchdowns, Reggie Bush rushed for 105 yards, a 10.5 average and one touchdown, and Dwayne Jarrett caught 8 passes for 101 yards and a score, all in the first jaw-dropping 30 minutes. Sure, the Trojans, deploying mostly second-stringers, let up plenty in a second half when they had about as much incentive as Terrell Owens has supporters at the moment. And yes, a strong argument still can be made whether USC or Texas is the No. 1 all-around team in the country. But, please, Vince Young or no Vince Young, neither the Longhorns nor anyone else this side of the Indianapolis Colts can compare to the group Pete Carroll has assembled on offense. Let all the old-timers take their shots, too, from the days of Blanchard and Davis at Army to the years of the Lattners and Montanas at Notre Dame, to some of those wonderful Woody Hayes juggernauts at Ohio State. While they're at it, throw in the Bud Wilkinson Sooners of Oklahoma, Joe Namath's teams for Bear Bryant at Alabama and those crunching ground machines Tom Osborne used to produce at Nebraska. They were all great offenses. But none of them was like this. None had this kind of balance, this kind of overpowering offensive line. None could run and pass almost at will. None had a thrower like Leinart, a runner like Bush and a receiver like Jarrett. None had a LenDale White as their other tailback or a Steve Smith as their second receiver or a freshman as gifted as Patrick Turner begging just to get an occasional pass thrown his way.
And that's why, nine games into another unbeaten season, the Trojans, now a staggering 42-1 going back to early 2002, remain the overwhelming favorites to become the first college football program in history to capture three consecutive national championships. No one, absolutely no one, seems capable of matching points with this extraordinary unit. Back on Sept. 3, after the Trojans walloped Hawaii 63-17 despite a first quarter when the offense couldn't get on the field, the Heisman Trophy winner was asked how many points this USC group might produce if everything were to go right in a game. "I don't know," Leinart said, "maybe 90." And to think, some of us thought he was kidding.
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