Here comes USC ... but where will these Trojans go down in Pac-10 history?

Given the reality of their team being 30-point underdogs at home to USC on Saturday, it might be more fun for Huskies fans to indulge in a little fantasy football this week.

We have a pretty good idea, for instance, that the current Huskies defense probably won't stop Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, LenDale White and Dwayne Jarrett on Saturday.

But what about Steve Emtman, Dana Hall, Donald Jones and the rest of the 1991 national-title winning Huskies?

How might they do against the current Trojans in what would be a matchup of maybe the best defense and best offense in recent Pac-10 history?

Consider that the offense USC brings to Husky Stadium is averaging 613 yards per game, on pace to shatter the conference record of 502 yards per game set by Washington State in 1997. In Leinart, the Trojans have the reigning Heisman Trophy winner, and in Bush, they have the player who might win it this year if Leinart doesn't repeat.

"This is the best offense I've ever seen," said longtime ABC announcer Keith Jackson, who will call the USC-Washington game.

Pac-10's best


Here's a quick look at Pac-10 teams that were named national champions by at least two of the major polls (AP, UPI, USA today/CNN, USA Today/ESPN, FWAA) since 1936.

1954 UCLA (9-0) — Bruins led the nation in scoring offense and scoring defense and had three All-Americans. Interestingly, closest thing to a loss was a 21-20 win at Washington against a Huskies team that finished 2-8.

1962 USC (11-0) — Gave up only 92 points all season and had three shutouts, including 14-0 win over Washington.

1967 USC (10-1) — O.J. Simpson, Ron Yary and Tim Rossovich stumbled just once, a 3-0 loss at Oregon State. Won at Husky Stadium 23-6.

1972 USC (12-0) — Regarded by many as the best team in Pac-10 history. Never trailed in the second half and outscored opponents 467-134. Closest game 30-21 against Stanford. Beat UW in Los Angeles 34-7 in a game Sonny Sixkiller missed due to injury.

1974 USC (10-1-1) — Lost to Arkansas and tied Cal, but clubbed Notre Dame in famous 55-24 comeback win and had a then-record 12 players picked to all-conference team. Beat UW in L.A. 42-11.

1978 USC (12-1) — Lost early at Arizona State but won last eight games. Split title with Alabama despite fact that USC had beaten the Tide in Birmingham. Beat UW in L.A. 28-10.

1991 Washington (12-0) — Huskies had just two close calls — at Nebraska and Cal — and whipped No. 4 Michigan in Rose Bowl.

2003 USC (12-1) — Shared title with LSU after being shut out of national-title game by BCS. Only loss in overtime at Cal. Beat UW in Seattle 43-23.

2004 USC (13-0) — Became just the second team in history to hold a No. 1 ranking in the AP poll from preseason to the end of the season. Beat UW in Los Angeles 38-0, stopping Washington's consecutive-game scoring streak at 271.

The 1991 Huskies, meanwhile, gave up just 77 points in conference play, the fewest allowed by a Pac-10 team that played eight conference games in the last 30 years. For the season, UW allowed 9.2 points per game, a total bettered only once in Pac-10 play since 1967.

In Emtman, the Huskies had the most dominant defender in the game and had four other players named to the All-Pac-10 team.

"I think we could play against anybody who has ever played in college football," said Don James, the coach of that 1991 team. "Beating them is another thing. But I think we could hopefully control their offense a little better than people have.

"They've got a couple of big receivers but we had some big defensive backs [Hall, for instance, was 6-3]. Our secondary was linebacker-sized, guys who could really run. They would give us a chance. Still, with Bush out in the open field, we would have to work hard to keep the ball away from him — in the kicking game especially. I think our defense would have been a good bit better [than USC's defense], but their offense is pretty special. They've got the experience on the offensive line that we had."

Ed Cunningham, who started all 12 games at center for the 1991 Huskies and is now an announcer for ABC Sports, thinks his team could have held its own.

"They would stress our defense a little bit," Cunningham said. "But you're talking about one of the most dominant defenses in college football with one of the best players in the history of college football [Emtman]."

Adds Sonny Sixkiller, a former UW quarterback and now an announcer, "I think [the '91 team] could stop the run and have Leinart try and pass against our talented cornerbacks."

The game, of course, isn't played on just one side of the ball, and if the '91 Huskies and these current Trojans did meet, the consensus is the old Dawgs would have an edge on offense.

The '91 Huskies led the Pac-10 in total offense, rushing offense and scoring as well as its defensive prowess and had players named as conference Players of the Year on both sides of the ball — Emtman and receiver Mario Bailey. The only other team to do that is UW in 1990 (Emtman, Greg Lewis) and USC last year (Bush and Leinart and the departed Shaun Cody on defense).

"We'd have 700 yards of total offense on them," Cunningham said. "Offensively, USC may the best team we've seen in college football in years and years and years. But this is not a good defensive team."

Indeed, the loss of several players to the NFL — including linebacker Lofa Tatupa, now playing with the Seahawks — and several others to injuries has had USC scrambling at times on defense this year.

The Trojans are allowing 350.3 yards and 21.2 points per game, numbers up substantially from 2004 — 279.3 yards and 13.0 points.

"They're almost doing it with mirrors," said Paul McDonald, a former USC quarterback who is now an analyst for the Trojans' radio broadcasts. "They're playing third-team players at some positions."

The defensive struggles lead most to conclude that last year's USC team was probably better than this one.

Of course, relative old-timers will tell you that this USC team can hardly be considered the greatest of all time when it might not even be the greatest in school history.

To many, that designation belongs to the 1972 Trojans, led by the likes of Anthony Davis, Lynn Swann and Richard Wood and the first team in history to receive every first-place vote in both the AP and UPI final polls.

The '72 Trojans join the '91 Huskies and the '04 Trojans, as the only Pac-10 teams to go without a loss or a tie and win a national title since the advent of two-platoon football in the mid-1960s.

"I've always considered that 1972 USC team the best team I've ever seen," Jackson said. "I've said that for a long time, and I've seen them all."

But Cunningham said this USC team could set a standard for perseverance that would be hard to top. USC has won at least a share of two straight national titles as well as 28 consecutive games and 39 out of 40. And it has done so in a time of limited scholarships and increased parity and has done so despite suffering some significant changes to its coaching staff in the past year, most notably the loss of offensive coordinator Norm Chow.

"If they go and win the national championship this year with this team, this is the most impressive run in college football, ever, because of what they've had to face with less players and the scholarship limitations," Cunningham said. "This will be an incredibly impressive thing if they do win out."

Bob Condotta: 206-515-5699 or bcondotta@seattletimes.com