Football

USC's off-week practices provided the showcase, as planned, for younger players hoping to impress coaches. But junior quarterback Mitch Mustain also took advantage of the opportunity and might have positioned himself to become Matt Barkley's backup for the seventh-ranked Trojans' Oct. 17 game at Notre Dame. On Friday, after Mustain completed 10 of 12 passes and threw for two touchdowns during an early morning workout that was conducted without pads, Coach Pete Carroll declined to say whether the former Arkansas starter had overtaken sophomore Aaron Corp as the Trojans' No. 2 quarterback.

For more than a generation the avuncular John Madden was the principal voice of America's most popular game, professional football. In his more than 30 years as a broadcaster, the former coach turned announcer appeared on all four networks and was familiar to those old enough to remember his 1977 Super Bowl victory with the Oakland Raiders as to those young enough to tackle his bestselling video game.

USC quarterback Matt Barkley says he is ready to play, pain or no pain. Barkley, who started the first two games and then sat out the loss at Washington because of a bone bruise in his right shoulder, said Tuesday that he was planning to start Saturday night against Washington State at the Coliseum. But Coach Pete Carroll cautioned that he would monitor the freshman's progress before any choice was made between Barkley and Aaron Corp . "It could happen if everything works right," Carroll said of Barkley's starting.

USC football Coach Pete Carroll employed a former NFL tactician last season to help with the team's punting and kicking game, an arrangement that may have violated NCAA rules that prohibit consultants from coaching, The Times has learned. Carroll's action could widen a continuing investigation by the NCAA, the governing body of major college sports, which has been looking at USC football for more than three years and the school's basketball program for the last year.

Super Bowl Sunday arrived in China's capital at daybreak Monday, but by kickoff it was standing room only at the Goose 'n' Duck, a British-style sports pub near sprawling Chaoyang Park in east Beijing. The vast majority of the nearly 350 football fans who braved the frigid morning temperatures were expatriate Americans, many already with beer in hand despite the hour.

USC quarterback Mitch Mustain apparently just needed a few kicks to move up the depth chart. Mustain, now the Trojans' No. 2 quarterback behind Matt Barkley , said Tuesday that his recent stint working as a punter helped him focus and perform better at his primary position. "Actually having something to do that was at least halfway constructive helped a lot," he said. Mustain is clearly buoyed by his elevated status, which was evident last week when he took most of the second-team snaps during the Trojans' off week.

USC's coaching carousel continued to spin Monday as Pete Carroll hired one quarterbacks coach to replace another who had not yet arrived on campus. Carroll announced that Denver Broncos assistant Jeremy Bates would be the Trojans' assistant head coach for offense. He also will call plays. Bates, 32, replaces Carl Smith, who was named to the position on Jan. 6 but had yet to start work. Smith, USC's quarterbacks coach in 2004, interviewed with the Cleveland Browns last week.

Long after practice ended Wednesday, USC safety Taylor Mays continued to work. That's not unusual: The All-American routinely stays late to practice catching balls that are shot toward him from a machine. But Mays on Wednesday changed his routine, retiring to a far corner of the facility where he repeatedly charged into a tackling sled, driving it across the turf with his arms wrapped around the pads. Mays made a team-high 10 tackles in the Trojans' victory at California last Saturday.

It could be aspirins all around for UCLA this week. Defensive coordinator Chuck Bullough might need some help figuring out a scheme to stop Stanford's bull-like running back Toby Gerhart . And defensive tackle Brian Price already knows a few tablets can come in handy at game time. "I remember hitting him last year and it gave me a headache," Price said. "He is the toughest runner I've ever come across." Price isn't alone in those thoughts. Gerhart enters this week's game against the Bruins as the third-leading rusher in the nation, averaging 129 yards a game.

Pete Carroll 's announcement Tuesday that tailback Joe McKnight would start Saturday's opener against San Jose State did not come as a shock. But the timing spoke volumes. In three previous seasons with the current stable of running backs, Carroll never made a declaration so early in the week before the opener. It is a clear sign that Carroll and new play-caller Jeremy Bates plan to give McKnight an opportunity to earn a larger share of the carries and touches this season.