Trojans Must Resist Urge To Rely On Reggie Bush

With all eyes on Mr. Heisman, USC would do well to spread the ball around

By John Tamanaha

NBCSports.com contributor

LOS ANGELES - In his first game as a Heisman Trophy winner, Reggie Bush can expect to get a lot of attention. Like Paris Hilton at a New Year's Eve party, his every move will be well noted. Although many of college football's finest will be on display, fans of both teams and the monstrous crush of media will have their focus keenly trained on the ubiquitous USC tailback.

But nothing will be able to match the scrutiny paid to Bush by the Texas defense. With every alignment and shift, the Longhorns will be locating, pointing, yelling and adjusting. They'll be doing everything in their power to anticipate what Bush will do. That's something quite difficult to get right, yet infinitely easier than stopping him.

On any given down, Bush might test the waters between the tackles, dart to the outside after taking a pitch, swing into the flat for a screen, lineup as a wideout streaking for the homerun ball or merely be the most effective decoy around.

Reggie Bush is the man of the moment and everything else that comes along with being the most recent recipient of the stiff-arm trophy. By far the most talked about player in college football, he is also a hot topic in NFL circles as well.

With all of that on the table, the Texas Longhorns defense is looking forward to the challenge of meeting hype with hard hits and somehow slowing down the speedster from San Diego . The Longhorns, who come into the Rose Bowl allowing only 14.6 points per game, could very well be up to the task. In its last 87 games, Texas has allowed only 20 runners to gain 100 or more yards.

But there is much more to the juggernaut that is the Trojan offense than just Bush alone. It's a carefully orchestrated collection of several combustible parts.

If not for the excellent offensive line that has a combined 143 starts under its massive belt, all Pete Carroll's bells and whistles wouldn't make as much noise. Upon that hefty foundation, quarterback Matt Leinart conducts his business as the ringmaster of one of the most unstoppable passing circuses ever seen. In turn, the persistent and consistent aerial attack sets up all the facets of the supercharged Trojan running game.

Although Bush has been the crown jewel of it all this season, having him running wild hasn't always necessarily resulted in an easy outing for USC.

In his memorable Heisman-clinching explosion versus Fresno State , Bush's 513 all-purpose yards didn't send the Trojans on their merry way. In fact, the game wasn't decided until the final seconds when the Georgia Bulldogs turned the ball over for the fifth time.

Similarly, in USC football's breathtaking 34-31 victory at Notre Dame Fighting Irish, his 160 yards rushing, three touchdowns and highlight-heavy performance didn't shield the Trojans from having to convert on a fourth-and-nine play from their own 26-yard line to keep the game-winning drive alive. If Notre Dame, which finished with nearly 40 minutes of possession time, had one more legitimate crack at it, the Trojans might not be sitting pretty in Pasadena .

Both the Bulldogs and Fighting Irish showcased offenses that could go toe-to-toe with USC. Yes, people . there is such a thing. And, guess what, Texas owns an attack with an even higher octane rating, which can match the Trojans point for point.

Just as the Longhorns are far better off when Leinart is on the sidelines, USC needs to limit the amount of time Texas quarterback Vince Young is out there taking snaps.

Michigan Wolverines would have liked to have held Young to one less series in the previous Rose Bowl and Ohio State Buckeyes felt the same way eight months later.

But even though the Texas offense has developed a habit of forcing teams to submit during its 19-game winning streak, the defense really should get lots of credit for making it possible.

The Longhorn stop unit wastes absolutely no time in getting the ball back into Young's hands, having forced the opposition into 71 three-and-outs in 165 total possessions this season. That translates into Texas not allowing a single first down an astonishing 43 percent of the time and puts Trojan offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin on a mission to keep the chains moving.

Reggie Bush can most certainly help the USC Trojans in that department, but his expertise is in yards-in-bunches and scoring points. He averages a touchdown every 14.4 times he touches the football. And when he is really putting on a show, scoring early and often in drives, the Trojans aren't always in the best position.

In an overall sense, USC is better off and simply unbeatable when Bush is used as a compliment to fellow tailback LenDale White, and vice versa.

Accomplishing that is easier said than done. There is only one football to go around and Bush's piece of that pie only increases as his legend grows (he's had 47 carries in USC's last two games). But Kiffin would be wise to give White the lion's share of the carries in the early going to get the bruiser from Denver into the flow of the game and establish the physical nature of the offense.

. How does Reggie Bush rank with past USC stars?

While Reggie Bush had big outings in the nailbiters with Notre Dame and Fresno State , there was another common component offensively . White was not an effective weapon. He gained only 26 yards on 10 carries against the Irish and just 21 yards on a measly seven rushes versus the Bulldogs.

In contrast, when White gets started early and ends up with a big game, the Trojans roll. In six of their past 13 games, including last year's 55-19 undressing of Oklahoma in the Orange Bowl, White outrushed Reggie Bush as the Trojans flourished, winning by an average of 26.8 points. And that doesn't even include USC's latest game when he rumbled for 154 yards and two touchdowns in the 66-19 rout over UCLA Bruins football team.

Bush-mania has taken over Southern California and many other parts of the nation, and his minutes won't be limited by any stretch of the imagination. But if the Trojans want to avoid having to pull a rabbit out of their helmets down the stretch -- something the Longhorns have become quite adept at doing themselves -- they ought to resist the temptation to please and opt instead to patiently get both tailbacks involved.

Slow and steady isn't how they are used to spending an evening at work, but perhaps the Trojans should shift into that gear. It might not be a hit with first-time viewers tuning in to see what all the fuss is about, but starting with a heavy diet of White's bulldozing and saving Bush's flash-n-dash for dessert might be the way to go.

John Tamanaha writes regularly for NBCSports.com and is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles .

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