USC revved and ready to go

Comparing the two teams for this Saturday's game between USC and Idaho might look like college football's version of "The Odd Couple."

USC is ranked by more than a dozen polls, magazines and websites as the preseason No. 1 team in the country. Idaho was picked by one magazine to finish 113th out of 120 Division 1-A football programs.

The Trojans have a Heisman Trophy candidate returning at quarterback in senior team captain John David Booty. On Saturday, the Vandals will start redshirt freshman Nathan Enderle, whose last start was as a high school senior in Nebraska.

"It's going to look a little bit different for him playing in the Coliseum with 92,000 people," said Idaho coach Robb Akey, who is the Vandals' third head coach in four years.

With such stark differences between the programs' recent histories, oddsmakers have made USC 46-point favorites for Saturday's game. Battling lofty expectations, USC coach Pete Carroll has worked to make sure his team doesn't overlook the men from Moscow.

"Every game is still a championship game for us," Carroll said. "We're still going to get as jacked up and ready to play as we do for every game."

Akey, who was the defensive coordinator last year for Washington State, is not unarmed entering Saturday's fight. Vandal cornerback Stanley Franks led the nation in interceptions last year with nine.

Franks could be a thorn in the side of Trojan receivers redshirt freshman David Ausberry, who will be making his first collegiate start, and junior Patrick Turner. Turner injured his shoulder on Tuesday during practice but returned to non-contact drills on Wednesday.

Assisting Franks will be team captain David Vobora, who serves as the team's field general at linebacker.

"He makes sure everything is happening as it's supposed to out there," Akey said of the senior.

Vobora will be responsible for stopping USC's mob of running backs. With Chauncey Washington still nursing an injured shoulder, C.J. Gable is expected to start. Carroll has reiterated his plan to use multiple ball carriers, rotating in as many as five other tailbacks.

"I really don't have my mind set on having one guy or two guys carrying the load," Carroll said.

The game is somewhat of a blast to the past for USC defensive coordinator Nick Holt, who coached the Vandals two years ago.

Holt left his position as linebacker coach with the Trojans after the 2003 season when Idaho offered him a job as head coach. Two years later, Holt returned to USC after a 5-18 record with the Vandals.

The look of the Vandals' program has changed since Holt last roamed the sidelines. Dennis Erickson has come and gone, making only a year-long stay in Idaho before leaving to become the coach at Arizona State.

Gone, too, are most of the starter's from Holt's team.

So what does the Vandal program look like now? Well, no one's quite sure yet. Franks is as close to a star that the program has. The team lacks an established offensive playmaker.

Not exactly an enviable situation for a new coach to inherit.

Given that he had no say in the scheduling of Saturday's game, it would be understandable for Akey to be frustrated to have this game as the beginning of his rebuilding process. But he sees the game as an opportunity for the Vandals to adopt a winning attitude immediately.

"I'm not about to sell our football team short," Akey said. "We're still going to go after and do our best to win."

Lowered expectations have yielded a rare opportunity for the Vandals. If they keep the score close with the Trojans, they'll be praised for a valiant effort, while a win would make them the talk of the college football world.

With his team being defined largely by others' opinions, Carroll just wants to see how his team plays against another team before deciding what expectations are reasonable for his team.

"We have to prove to ourselves what we can do every week that we're out there," Carroll said.

Maybe an eagerness to establish their own identities is something this odd couple has in common.

- True freshman Kris O'Dowd will get the start at Center in place of the injured Matt Spanos.

- Sophomore defensive back Vincent Joseph will return kicks.