MIAMI - No team has ever won three consecutive Associated Press national titles. Few teams have ever been better equipped to do so than Southern California.
USC's stunningly easy 55-19 victory over Oklahoma on Tuesday night in the Orange Bowl gave the Trojans a second straight national title - and set them up to make a run at history next season.
The Trojans enter the 2005 season with a 22-game winning streak, the longest in the country. If they are No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason poll, they will match Miami's record streak of 19 consecutive polls as the top-ranked team.
Things are going so well for the Men of Troy these days, coach Pete Carroll can't get enough of his job. Turning USC into the nation's pre-eminent college football program has been just about the coolest thing going for the hyped-up 53-year-old.
"I have people tell me, 'just relax.' Don't tell me relax. I'm having a ... ball," he said Wednesday morning, still a little groggy after celebrating till dawn with his team.
Nine teams have won back-to-back AP titles before, the last being Nebraska in 1994-95.
The Cornhuskers came within a long missed field goal on the final play of the Orange Bowl from beating Florida State for the 1993 national title.
Whether the 2005 Trojans are breaking in a new quarterback is a question that will be answered some time in the next two weeks or so.
Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart tossed an Orange Bowl-record five touchdown passes in what could have been his final college game.
The junior has been hedging lately on his prior pledge to complete his college eligibility. You can't blame him. The 6-foot-5 left-hander has the look of a top pick in the NFL Draft.
But for now Leinart is noncommittal.
"It's going to take a lot to for me to leave," he said.
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