The truth is out there for USC fans, if they can handle it

I e-mailed USC sports information director Tim Tessalone to find out what time Monday I might talk to punter Mitch Mustain.

He replied: "QBs available on Tuesdays after practice as always."

My response: "I had no idea Mustain is a QB -- does Pete know?"

What better time to drop by USC than on "Tell the Truth Monday," as Pete & the Boys like to call it, to find out what they've got against Mustain.

The last time I asked the question was during Carroll's "Tell 'em anything to go away Tuesday" media session before the season opener, Carroll becoming very testy and dismissing the question.

And until Saturday evening, I was a Trojans fan.

"You're like a cockroach," Tessalone said, and in this case -- dead meat was the obvious attraction.

The Trojans threw away almost any national championship chatter with an inexplicable loss to Washington, many USC fans now calling for a quarterback they've never seen play.

I stopped by USC on Monday to find out if Mustain has ever been told why the coaching staff treats him like someone from UCLA.

But even though Mustain isn't doing much of anything these days, Tessalone said Mustain would not be allowed to talk. Then he went to the kid and told him he better clam up.

What if he talked? Were they going to bench him?

Right now no one seems to know why the kid -- who is 61-2 going back to junior high school, according to the USC media guide -- has a better chance of punting than throwing.

Maybe Mustain has been tweeting nasty things about Carroll. Maybe he should have gone 9-0 as a freshman starter at Arkansas instead of 8-0. Maybe Carroll's obvious coaching crush on Matt Barkley allows him to see no one else.

"I really do like the guy," gushed Carroll when Barkley's name was mentioned. "But I'm not sure I'd call it 'crush' because I really don't know what that means."

Whatever, The Times' daily sports poll asked the question after the loss to Washington: Now who should USC start at quarterback?

Aaron Corp had 15% of the vote, Barkley 40%, and Mustain pulled 45%.

Everyone, of course, loves the guy who isn't playing when things go sour, but why isn't Mustain getting any consideration?

"He's our third-string quarterback," said Carroll in stating the obvious, Barkley taking the bulk of first-team snaps Monday and Corp all the others.

"And that's it," Carroll said.