Illinois-Southern Cal Preview

12/29/2007 1:33 PM

By JEFF MEZYDLO
STATS Writer

When the season began, Southern California didn't expect to wind up playing in the Rose Bowl. Neither did Illinois.

After one of the most unpredictable seasons in college football history, however, the Trojans and Illini will meet on New Year's Day in a BCS matchup few would have predicted.

USC (10-2) is no stranger to playing in the Rose Bowl, and will be making its 32nd appearance - including its BCS title game loss to Texas two years ago - and third straight after beating Michigan 32-18 last season. The Trojans are 22-9 in the Rose Bowl.

While the game is a special part of the Trojans' tradition, it's not where they hoped to be playing their last game when the season began. A stunning home upset by 41-point underdog Stanford and a road loss to Oregon, though, ended USC's hopes of playing for the national championship and relegated it to a familiar trip to Pasadena.

"I don't think you can help but think about that," USC nose tackle Sedrick Ellis said. "There's nothing we can do about it now. Now we have to think about the Rose Bowl and Illinois."

USC opened the season ranked No. 1, and was 4-0 with its sights set on the BCS title game going into what appeared to be an easy matchup with Stanford on Oct. 6. Instead, the Trojans were shocked 24-23 by the Cardinal, and lost 24-17 to the Ducks three weeks later.

The Trojans managed to put together a strong finish, winning their final four games to claim their sixth straight Pac-10 title via tiebreaker over Arizona State. After higher-ranked BCS teams LSU, West Virginia, Kansas and Missouri lost in the season's final weeks, USC thought it might be considered to face Ohio State for the title in New Orleans.

That didn't happen, as the Trojans were seventh in the final BCS standings and had to settle for the conference's automatic bid to the Rose Bowl against Illinois (9-3).

"We'll play anybody, anywhere, anytime,'' USC coach Pete Carroll said. " ... If there was a way to keep playing games and see who would win and be the last team standing, we'd love to have that opportunity.''

The only team the Trojans have to worry about now is Illinois, which, under Big Ten coach of the year Ron Zook, is back in a bowl for the first time in six seasons. Unlike USC, the Illini benefited from the late defeats by the top-ranked BCS teams, as they received an at-large bid to the Rose Bowl after Big Ten champion Ohio State jumped past those teams to earn a spot in the national championship game.

"Illinois presented the tradition of the Big Ten-Pac-10, and wanting to stick with that tradition when we can was really the primary decision,'' said CL Keedy, president of the Tournament of Roses Association.

The Trojans won't argue - at least not about this matchup - considering they are a heavy favorite against a team that made its last postseason appearance in its only BCS bowl, a 47-34 loss to LSU in the 2002 Sugar Bowl.

"I think that's cool that that's the way it came off," Carroll said. "I think that's kind of what we all know the Rose Bowl to be.

"We're thrilled to be going to the Rose Bowl. It's a great reward for our season to go there and we'll have a great time."

A healthy John David Booty at quarterback has been key to USC's strong finish. Booty fractured the tip of his middle finger against Stanford and missed the next three games, but has played well since returning to guide the Trojans to the four straight victories.

The senior, who completed 62.7 percent of his passes for 2,106 yards with 20 touchdowns and nine interceptions, has thrown eight TDs and one interception in the last four contests.

Senior Chauncey Washington ran for 894 yards and nine touchdowns this season to lead a talented group of running backs.

USC's second-ranked defense, which allows 258.8 yards per contest, has given up an average of 12.7 points during its four-game winning streak - more than three fewer than its season average of 16.0.

The Trojans allow just 79.2 rushing yards per game, and that run defense will be tested by Illinois' fifth-ranked rushing attack that averages 266.2 yards and is led by Big Ten offensive player of the year Rashard Mendenhall.

The junior set single-season school records with 1,526 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns in helping Illinois win one more game in 2007 than it did its previous four seasons combined.

He's complemented by sophomore quarterback Juice Williams, who threw for 1,498 yards with 13 TDs and nine interceptions, and ran for a career-high 774 yards. Williams, the first Illinois quarterback to rush for 1,000 yards in a career, teams with the powerful Mendenhall to give the Illini a versatile and potent backfield.

"I think we're playing pretty good," Williams said. "We have a few things that we need to clean up, but overall we're doing pretty good."

Defensively, the Illini are led by first-team All-Big Ten linebacker J Leman. The senior led the conference in tackles 16 of the last 19 weeks dating to last season.

Illinois' improvement from 2-10 in 2006 marks the biggest turnaround in school history. The Illini went 6-2 to finish second in the Big Ten and defeated three ranked teams, highlighted by their 28-21 road victory over then-No. 1 Ohio State on Nov. 10, the Buckeyes' only loss.

"There's a tremendous sense of pride," lineman Martin O'Donnell said. "We've been through a lot of hard times and our fans have been through a lot of hard times. This year has been great so far, but we have one game left. Nobody wants to go out a loser."

Illinois is 3-1 in the Rose Bowl, but lost 45-9 to UCLA in 1984 in its most recent appearance.

Though USC leads 10-2 in the all-time series with Illinois, this will be their first matchup in the Rose Bowl. The Trojans won 55-3 on Sept. 7, 1996 in Champaign in the most recent meeting.