Could USC football repeat its biggest backfield mistake?

Notes and observations as USC and Texas prepare for a game that can’t possibly match their 2006 encounter ...

LOS ANGELES >> You might be surprised to hear which USC coach was in tears in the locker room immediately after the Trojans lost to Texas, 41-38, in the BCS title game. Was it Pete Carroll? Steve Sarkisian? Ed Orgeron? No, someone who has a less-emotional image: Lane Kiffin.

Perhaps Kiffin was aware of the criticism coming for having Reggie Bush on the sideline for the famous fourth-and-2 handoff to LenDale White that was stuffed and allowed Texas to mount its winning drive.

• Are you shaking your head at the thought of Bush not being on the field? History could repeat itself this season. When have you seen Ronald Jones and Stephen Carr on the field together this season?

Carr has only played two games but he’s done more than Bush in his first two games. What’s wrong with playing the two best backs together?

So much of coaching today involves rigid lineups. Remember Heisman Trophy winner Marcus Allen was a fullback for Charles White in 1979. But today it is all about having three wide receivers on the field.

• USC has several players nursing injuries but there is enough depth this season that only one injury report ever matters. Is Sam Darnold healthy? Because if he’s ever unavailable, USC automatically becomes an average team.

• Everyone talks about the 2006 USC-Texas game. But actor John Wayne made news with his appearance at the 1966 USC-Texas game in Austin. According to media who covered that game, Wayne faced the Texas fans and made the popular “Hook ’em Horns” hand signal. But while doing it, Wayne was saying “(expletive) the ‘Horns.”

• Saturday’s game is a sellout but Bevo, the Longhorn steer mascot, will not be in attendance because of “space constraints” at the Coliseum, according to Texas. There is more grazing room at the Coliseum than at Colorado’s Folsom Field, where Ralphie the buffalo manages to come out and run before every game. And Traveler makes several appearances a game.

Even the Stanford band made it to last week’s game. So anything is possible.

• Lance Armstrong, the one-time cyclist, took offense to USC’s NCAA-mandated vacating of the 2006 Rose Bowl, which means the Trojans’ official record against the Longhorns is 4-0.

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“Negative USC, we were there. You lost the game fair and square,” Armstrong said on Twitter.

Armstrong is an expert at not winning fair and square. The Tour de France record books have blank lines for the winner from 1999-2005.

• My game prediction: It would be wonderful to say this might be a back-and-forth thriller like at the Rose Bowl. But Vince Young is not playing quarterback for Texas on Saturday. And someone better than Matt Leinart is playing quarterback for USC.

The Longhorns’ defensive front seven is not great, which will be ideal for USC’s running game. The one hope for Texas is that it’s passing game might expose USC’s shaky secondary. But it probably won’t be enough. USC 42, Texas 27.

• Here is one caveat: Texas coach Tom Herman, a graduate of Simi Valley High and Cal Lutheran, was an underdog six times at Ohio State as offensive coordinator and five times as Houston coach but went 11-0 in those games.

Naturally, he was not a candidate for the USC job when Steve Sarkisian was fired two years ago.

• Beware trying to get into the Coliseum in a timely manner Saturday. There were long lines last week for Stanford. And a much bigger crowd is expected for this game.

• USC is ranked No. 7 in the nation in Athlon’s preseason college basketball magazine. Let’s see how Andy Enfield deals with actual expectations.