By Brian Whitehead

Daily Titan Sports Columnist

If you’d told Pete Carroll three years ago that in 2009 USC would lose games to Washington, Oregon and Stanford, he would’ve belted out one of those condescending Donald Trump laughs, given you a couple DX Chops and wasted no time having you buried in Death Valley.

If you’d told Carroll three years ago that in 2009 “Tailback-U” would be headed for some no-name bowl against the third or fourth best team in the Big East or Atlantic Coast Conference, he would’ve locked you in a Port-A-Potty with Charlie Weis. Or better yet, tied you down and forced you to watch “Denise Richards: It’s Complicated” until your eyes bled.

The fact of the matter is, had you told Carroll these things following USC’s 32-18 dismantling of Michigan in the 2006-07 Rose Bowl, you would’ve been crazy.

Crazy, but right.

After an embarrassing 55-21 home butt-whuppin’ courtesy of an up-and-coming Stanford Cardinals team, the Trojans’ historic streak of Pac-10 dominance (seven straight league titles) officially went down in flames.

In regards to making their eighth straight BCS bowl, the glimmer of hope that remained after shocking losses to Washington and Oregon evaporated into thin air Saturday, along with the hopes of salvaging a frustrating 2009 season.

The Trojans, fresh off their third consecutive Rose Bowl victory and seventh straight 11-win season, entered the 2009 campaign a shell of their former selves. Eleven key players from that 12-1 2008 team were drafted in April, including irreplaceable leaders Mark Sanchez, Brian Cushing, Clay Matthews and Rey Maualuga.

Talk about stripping the cabinet bare. That’s like taking Mick Jaggar out of The Rolling Stones or Paul McCartney out of The Beatles. Sure, those groups would temporarily survive on legacy alone, but sooner or later their fans would notice the glaring hole and eventually say to themselves, “You know what, these guys just aren’t that good anymore.”

The 2009 version of the Men of Troy began the season at an inflated No. 4, despite their undeniable flaws and youth at the skill positions. All things considered, USC looked like a surefire lock to make their fifth consecutive Rose Bowl and quite possibly – with a lot of help – their first BCS Championship game since 2005.

USC freshman quarterback Matt Barkley is consoled by guard Jeff Byers as the clocks runs down in their 55-21 loss to Stanford. Photo Courtesy MCT.

After a mildly impressive win at Ohio State in the second week, USC appeared to have shrugged off any doubt that this particular season would be any different than the previous seven. After all, it’s USC we’re talking about.

A week after handing the Buckeyes the inevitable, “Remind me, why is Ohio State considered a national powerhouse?” loss, the Trojans traveled up to Washington to face a Huskies squad that, up until the week before, hadn’t won in 15 games. All Washington needed to do to erase a year of humiliation was beat a USC team that pummeled them 56-0 in the Coliseum a year ago.

And as luck would have it, they did.

No really, they did. 16-13. There’s film and everything.

After nose-diving to No. 12, the Trojans rallied off four straight wins and put themselves back into the BCS National Championship conversation.

Then Halloween rolled around.

To make a long, painful story short, USC got the snot kicked out of them in Oregon. An absolute drumming, 47-20. It wasn’t even that close. If there was ever a chink in Trojan armor, it was exposed, poked fun at, abused and insulted in Eugene. That night, USC was Miguel Cotto and Oregon was Manny Pacquiao.

Plummeting once again to No. 12 (and more importantly, second place in the Pac-10), USC climbed one spot before Saturday’s shellacking at the hands of a school most famous for producing Tiger Woods and “The Play.”

Stanford’s upset of USC – more than two years after The Upset Heard ‘Round The World – sent shockwaves across the nation, doing most of their damage in Southern California.

If anything, USC’s unprecedented third loss highlighted a bevy of growing pains Carroll has had to endure over the last year. If it wasn’t clear before, it’s crystal now: the Trojans are no longer head and shoulders above everyone else in the Pac-10, and for that matter, the country.

Though this 2009 team is loaded with five-star recruits at every position, the squad as a whole has been a far reach from any of the Carroll-coached teams of the past decade.

The reality is, this year USC has been an above-average football team with a true freshman starting at quarterback and a crummy defense that has been ripped to shreds all season.

In hindsight, giving a 19-year-old the reins to a program like USC was like giving a 13-year-old boy the camera in a Kim Kardashian Playboy cover shoot; it was destined to end badly.

If USC has anything going for them, it’s that they’ll reload next year (as they do every year), come back pissed that they had to play West Virginia or Wake Forest in a bowl game and rack up an undefeated 2010 season, earning the crystal football come January.

I mean, after all, it is USC we’re talking about.