• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Southern Cal-Hawaii Preview

Aug 30, 2010 - 10:12 PM By MATT BECKER STATS Senior Writer

No. 24 USC (0-0) at Hawaii (0-0), 11:00 p.m. EDT

Few things are certain at the onset of the college football season, but Southern California knows its will end at the Rose Bowl.

It won't be playing in the New Year's Day game, however.

With sanctions in place banning USC from playing in a bowl, Lane Kiffin's 14th-ranked Trojans are out to prove they deserve to be considered one of the nation's top teams this season beginning with Thursday night's opener at Hawaii.

Kiffin took over for Pete Carroll, who bolted for the NFL a few months before USC was sanctioned with a two-year bowl ban. The NCAA ruled former Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush and basketball player O.J. Mayo received improper benefits.

The sanctions allowed players to transfer without having to take a year off and many did leave, leaving Kiffin, who has his own history of NCAA missteps, with just 70 scholarship players - 15 below the NCAA's limit - at the start of training camp.

Although the Trojans know there will be no bowl game following their Dec. 4 finale against UCLA at the Rose Bowl, they aren't about to lower their standards.

"The only way we're going to be able to express ourselves is to win 13 games," said senior tailback Allen Bradford, who rushed for 668 yards and eight touchdowns last season. "We know it's going to be difficult this year. We're playing for a tradition. We're playing for a school. We're playing for ourselves."

Kiffin arrives following a 9-4 season for the Trojans, who suffered their most losses since going 6-6 in 2001, failing to win a share of the Pac-10 title for the first time since that same year. USC, which defeated Boston College in last December's Emerald Bowl, averaged 26.5 points and 389.1 yards - large drop-offs from their norms of 37.8 and 458.2 from the previous seven seasons.

"I do get a sense from the players that they have an us-against-the-world mentality, that everybody is counting them out," Kiffin said. "I don't really look at it that way or emphasize that, but I think it's helping some of our players."

Kiffin is hoping quarterback Matt Barkley can show greater consistency than he did as a freshman.

Barkley appeared in 12 games last season, completing 59.9 percent of his passes for 2,735 yards, 15 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.

He'll be joined in the backfield by junior Marc Tyler, who won the starting job by beating out Bradford - the team's top returning rusher.

Tyler missed all but one game last season due to a toe injury, but is in his best shape in years after dropping 15 pounds since spring ball. He rushed for 198 yards and a touchdown in limited duty as a freshman in 2008.

This will be the Trojans' first game against Hawaii since a 63-17 win in 2005. USC is 6-0 all-time against the Warriors, and has scored at least 61 points in each of the last three meetings.

Like the Trojans, Hawaii is also coming off a disappointing 2009. The Warriors went 6-7, finished fifth in the Western Athletic Conference and failed to go to a bowl for the first time since 2005.

A fast start will be a tall order given Hawaii's early schedule. After hosting USC, the Warriors travel across the country to play Army and then visit Colorado before returning home.

"We've got a competitive beginning with those three games," coach Greg McMackin said. "It's going to be a challenging schedule, but I think that we have the players to win."

McMackin believes quarterback Bryant Moniz will do a better job of leading the offense after being thrown into the starting role last season following a season-ending injury to Greg Alexander.

Moniz started eight games as a sophomore in 2009, and threw for 2,396 yards with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

"He was really still learning as he went, but this year he has a better grasp of the offense," McMackin said.

Moniz's top target returns in wide receiver Greg Salas, who ranked fourth in the Football Bowl Subdivision in receiving yards per game (122.3) last season and led the team in both catches (106) and receiving yards (1,590).