Carroll Thrives on Half Gainers

Pete Carroll bounded into the locker room with no idea what to do.

The defensive game plan was failing. The opponent was marching up and down the field and led by 10 points.

Former Ohio State coach Earle Bruce laughed when he recalled his young secondary coach’s demeanor during halftime of the 1979 game against Minnesota.

“Pete came in and he’s saying, ‘You’re on your own! You’re on your own! We can’t stop ‘em!’ ” Bruce said. “I’ll never forget that.”

Ohio State went on to win by controlling the ball. The Buckeyes finished the season with only one loss -- a 17-16 defeat by USC in the Rose Bowl. And 25 years and eight coaching stops later, the 53-year-old Carroll rarely seems to be at a loss for making effective halftime adjustments.

In three-plus seasons as USC’s coach, Carroll’s defense -- and offensive coordinator Norm Chow’s high-powered offense -- has helped the Trojans win 24 of their last 25 games and a share of the 2003 national championship.

The top-ranked Trojans are 4-0 this season and remain on track to become the first team since Nebraska in 1994 and 1995 to win consecutive national titles.

“Obviously, Pete’s got things figured out now,” Bruce said.

Carroll and USC, however, face a major test Saturday when the Trojans put their 13-game winning streak and 16-game home winning streak on the line against seventh-ranked California. The Golden Bears, under offensive whiz Jeff Tedford, lead the nation in scoring and are second in offense.

Last season, Cal handed USC its only loss, a 34-31 triple-overtime defeat at Berkeley.

Even in that game, though, USC shut out the Golden Bears in the third quarter and held them to a field goal in the fourth before a fumble and a missed field-goal attempt sent them to defeat.

The Trojans have not lost since.

Carroll and his defensive players say that minor halftime adjustments -- if any -- to pass-rush strategies, blitzing schemes or coverage plans are secondary to a message that permeates the program.

“You can’t win a game in the first quarter or the first half,” defensive lineman Shaun Cody said. “You can’t win a game in the third quarter. You win in the fourth quarter.”

Several players said their indoctrination to the philosophy began when they were being recruited. It continued during summer conditioning workouts in the weight room and was put into practice during the season.

“We create second-half finishes as normal,” Carroll said. “Our strength coach spends eight months talking about finishing and the rest of our staff constantly pounds it as well. Everything is in motion to be finished well.”

USC finished off each of its opponents this season with dominant second halves, a trend that began to gain momentum just over midway through Carroll’s first season in 2001.

Consider:

* The Trojans have registered five shutouts and 11 second-half shutouts in 42 games with Carroll as coach.

* USC has surrendered an average of 4.4 points in the first quarter, five points in the second, three points in the third and 4.8 points in the fourth. The fourth-quarter average is skewed, however, because in 2002 and 2003 the Trojans gave up two touchdowns in the final 15 minutes of five victories that were routs.

* The Trojans have given up only 10 points and 325 yards in the second half this season.

Senior safety Jason Leach said USC’s locker room at halftime is devoid of a “rah-rah, cheer-cheer,” atmosphere. Carroll, he said, often queries defensive players before formulating strategy.

“He’ll ask us, but he already knows what’s going on,” Leach said. “The first couple of words come out of your mouth and he finishes the sentence.”

Carroll said there is no time -- or sense -- for making complicated halftime adjustments.

“You see the variables, you see what the issues are, what’s at hand, what’s at stake, and if you trust your upbringing, you go with your gut and you do what you need to do,” he said.

Carroll’s upbringing as a coach included stints with five college programs and five NFL teams before he arrived at USC. At each stop, Carroll said, he learned something about managing halftime.

And the coaches and players he worked with watched Carroll develop a knack for making second-half moves.

In 1977, Carroll was a graduate assistant for the secondary at Arkansas.

“Pete makes decisions -- he’s always been able to do that,” said Lou Holtz, who led the Razorbacks to an 11-1 record that season, went on to win a national title at Notre Dame and is now at South Carolina. “He’s a clear thinker. He’s not irrational and he’s not emotional.”

Carroll spent a season with Bruce at Iowa State and another at Ohio State before becoming defensive coordinator under Monte Kiffin at North Carolina State.

During USC’s comeback victory over Stanford on Sept. 25, Kiffin, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ defensive coordinator, called his son Lane, USC’s receivers coach, and left a message with advice about how to stop the Cardinal in the second half.

“I had already made the adjustment,” Carroll said chuckling.

In 1985, Carroll joined Bud Grant’s Minnesota Viking staff as a defensive backs coach. Grant remembers Carroll as a “young coach with a fertile mind.” When it came to halftime, Grant tried to pass on a simple philosophy.

“If you don’t have anything to say, don’t say it,” Grant said. “To come up with some slogan, some cliche or something Knute Rockne wrote doesn’t work. If it isn’t already in your mind, then just shut up.”

Ronnie Lott, a former All-American at USC and a Hall of Fame defensive back as a pro, played under Carroll in 1993 and 1994 with the New York Jets. Lott said Carroll’s experience enables him to put offenses in “unpredictable situations.”

“Some of it is inherent because of the way he studies and appreciates the game, and some of it is seeing so many offenses along the way,” Lott said. “There’s only so many things you can do with blocking schemes. There are a lot of things you can do to get people out of rhythm.”

As defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers in 1995 and 1996, Carroll coached a unit that featured Pro Bowl linebacker Ken Norton Jr., a graduate assistant this season at USC.

Norton said Carroll follows the same mode of operation he experienced in the pros.

“Sometimes, when you’re as smart as he is, you get to tinker with things and you start trying to outsmart people,” Norton said. “And then, in the second half, it’s like, ‘Forget it. Let’s just play.’ ”

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Times staff writer Sam Farmer contributed to this story.

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Second Best

USC has proved to be a second-half team on defense this season. Points per half in the Trojans’ four victories:

*--* 1st half 2nd half Final score USC 7 17 24 VIRGINIA TECH 10 3 13 COLORADO STATE 0 0 0 USC 28 21 49 BRIGHAM YOUNG 3 7 10 USC 21 21 42 USC 17 14 31 STANFORD 28 0 28 TOTALS USC 73 73 146 OPPONENT 41 10 51

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