THE NATION - USC's big slip throws the city for a loss - The flogging has begun, but the Trojans aren't out of the national title picture just yet.

USC's football program has been the pride of Los Angeles, at least for sports fans outside of Westwood, ever since Shaquille O'Neal left the Southland for South Beach and Kobe Bryant started making more headlines with his mouth than his jump shot.

With two national championships, three Heisman Trophy winners and tens of millions of dollars in revenue streaming in under Coach Pete Carroll's leadership, it's no wonder the motivational phrase emblazoned on USC's playbook cover this season read "Do You Love It?"

But after one of the biggest upsets in college football history, the Trojans' stunning 24-23 loss to Stanford on Saturday at the Coliseum, USC players and coaches might be asking their legion of fans a different question:

"Do You (Still) Love Us?"

It did not seem that way when boos rained upon the Trojans as they left the field at halftime and after their 35-game home winning streak had officially ended.

"Believe me, inside I was booing too," quarterback John David Booty said of the halftime serenade. "I was as frustrated as they were."

The flogging continued on Internet message boards throughout the night and into Sunday morning, then started again on TV and radio talk shows, overshadowing the American League Division Series between the Angels and Boston Red Sox. (That 3-0 sweep was yet another blow to the Southland sports psyche.)

"Pete has lost control of this team. . . . There is no discipline, no fight, no heart in many of the players. They are too busy reading their headlines," read a post from one fan on WeAreSC.com.

Indeed, in the what-have-you-done-for-me-lately town that is L.A., Carroll in the eyes of some went from genius to nitwit. And quarterback Booty went from Heisman Trophy candidate to in danger of losing his job.

All in the span of one football game.

Well, maybe two. USC's sloppy three-point victory over Washington the week before was, in retrospect, a precursor.

"I was in the NFL for 16 years -- it went week to week," Carroll said of the extreme shifts in public opinion. "I've been through it all. . . it turns in the flick of an eye, so you have to remain humble throughout the whole process."

The Trojans' loss to 41-point underdog Stanford was only the latest in what has been a season of dramatic upsets in college football, starting with lower-division Appalachian State's season-opening victory over perennial power Michigan on the Wolverines' home field.