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LOS ANGELES — We are in uncharted territory here, so let’s tread cautiously.
We have had USC Heisman Trophy candidates in the past, and we have had players surprisingly decide to put off the NFL dream in favor of their senior season.
We have had teams rally in the wake of NCAA sanctions. We have had teams ranked No. 1 fall on their facemasks. We have had teams benefit from adding a late transfer.
But we have never had this.
We have never had a team like these USC Trojans, picked by most of the college-football cognescenti, to win the national championship despite having 10 fewer scholarship players than the competition.
They are led by a poster-boy quarterback, Matt Barkley, who instead of partaking in organized team activities this offseason with some NFL team, was in Haiti with 15 teammates building homes for those still displaced by the devastating earthquake of 2010.
“What some people have written, he may be able to go down as the most historic Trojan ever — if we do big things this year,’’ USC coach Lane Kiffin said.
These Trojans, eligible for a bowl for the first time since 2009, also can go down as one of the most intriguing teams in the history of college football.
If USC, fielding just 75 scholarship players wins it all, it could:
● Force the NCAA — which, in the wake of improprieties surrounding former running back Reggie Bush, stripped USC of 30 scholarships over three seasons and imposed a two-year bowl ban — to reconsider its penalties.
● Serve as a shining example for every football coach from Pop Warner to Penn State looking for a new message on an old theme — overcoming adversity.
● Snap the SEC’s run of six straight national champions.
“We definitely didn’t come here to be underdogs,” safety T.J. McDonald said after the Trojans were voted the preseason No. 1 in the AP poll.
When Barkley, surrounded by the school’s seven Heisman Trophies, announced in December, “I am staying so I can finish what I started,” it sounded so cool you could feel the warm breeze as it rolls in off the Pacific.
It is also the team’s 2012 motto: Unfinished Business.
“I think that phrase ‘unfinished business’ has to do with finishing at a top level and finishing at what we’re capable of as a team,’’ Barkley said.
Neither Barkley, nor Kiffin, nor McDonald define “Unfinished Business.” They do not speak about Heisman Trophies or national championships.
“My campaign is on the field,’’ Barkley said.
The Men of Troy, who went 10-2 last season, have a dynamic offense. Barkley has the nation’s best receiving tandem in Robert Woods and Marqise Lee. Penn State transfer and running back Silas Redd will push senior Curtis McNeal.
The defense has playmakers (McDonald), though the loss of defensive end Devon Kennard (torn pectoral) leaves the line thin, and the schedule is ideal.
We might be giving Kiffin too much credit, but perhaps his recently revealed duplicity has taken the spotlight off his players. Kiffin voted his team No. 1 in the USA Today coach’s poll, after saying he wouldn’t.
“We have less players than everybody else,” Kiffin said in explaining his vote. “So looking at it from the outside, I wouldn’t [vote USC No. 1]. Did I? Yeah, I did.’’
“That’s not based off of 75 vs. 85. That’s based off of Matt Barkley, T.J. McDonald and Robert Woods and Marqise Lee. I can’t go into a meeting with our players and have them say, ‘You put that team and that team ahead of us.’’’
Ah yes, 75 vs. 85. How’s this for fuzzy math?
The spin at USC since the NCAA sanctions has been the Trojans’ 75 scholarship players are better than any other team’s 85. There is even a website, Our75AreBetterThanYour 85.com.
“When you talk to the players, it doesn’t sound like they feel the sanctions,’’ said Ryan Abraham, who founded the website and is the publisher of USCTrojans.com.
We’ve heard the chip on the shoulder thing. These Trojans are marching in uncharted territory.
