Pullman bleeds cardinal and gold: Pregame Part I

2:10 P.M.

It’s amazing how many USC shirts are walking the streets of Pullman – not the shirts of course, but Trojan fans wearing them.

Luckily the color is pretty close to Cougar crimson, so the USC fans can hide a bit, if they want. But knowing Trojan followers as I do – and I know plenty, let me tell you – they aren’t going to hide. After all, Larry Smith isn’t coaching there anymore.

No, it’s now Pete Carroll, and he’s only posted a 57-10 record in his six years at SC, including a 51-4 mark in the past four years. In that stretch, the Trojans (3-0 overall, 1-0 in the Pac-10) have won four conference titles, have finished in the AP top four – including two national titles – and have won 24 consecutive Pac-10 games. No wonder those Trojan fans don’t mind walking around in their cardinal and gold shirts.

Carroll’s Trojans are especially tough on the road, having won 17 consecutive road games.

So what chance do the Cougars have? On the next post, we’ll look at the positive and negatives on the ledger, and posit the way the Cougs could pull the season’s biggest upset.