This game will be all about talent. When the Southern California Trojans take the field against the Auburn Tigers this Saturday, the game plan, the lead, the name of the game, the story line, the theme -- call it what you will -- will be the ability of the players.
The skill players are straight out of Matrix Reloaded when it comes to grace, speed, and athletic ability. USC wide receiver Mike Williams is 6-5, 210 pounds, had 81 catches averaging 15.6 yards last year and was Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. He can fly.
The linemen on both sides resemble their NFL brethren in every aspect other than girth. For the most part, these guys are lean and fit. They are quick, tough, and experienced.
The linebackers and fullbacks are "tweeners", almost fast enough to play wide receiver and almost big enough to play up front. At least one of them, Auburn linebacker Karlos Dansby, could play any position. At 6-5, 235 pounds, he swoops around the field like Auburn's beloved War Eagle, making difficult plays look routine, and making impossible plays doable.
In the Peach Bowl two years ago, Dansby made one of the best plays I have ever seen. On a pass thrown out of bounds he dove, caught the ball, twisted in midair before touching down, and flipped the ball to a teammate who was inbounds. The New Jersey Nets' Jason Kidd couldn't do it better, and basketball is a sport in which one thinks about such stuff.
Add to the equation two experienced coaching staffs and a powerful will to win and you have the makings of a great football contest.
Both teams gobbled up top competition coming down the stretch last year, and they cannot seem to wait to get at each other. Football fans will be treated to near perfect physical specimens playing the best American team sport in a stadium that exists for these moments.
While both programs floundered in the late '90s, recruiting suffered. There were good players, but the lightning fast behemoths seemed to be missing, or limping. With the disappearance of the dominant physical presence, intimidation melted and was even reversed at times. Tommy Trojan and his horse Traveler became a Saturday Night Live joke. "War Damn Eagle" sounded more like a chirp than the long-feared battle cry.
No more. These teams are loaded and knowledgeable people have noticed. Auburn is being picked by experts to finish between first and eighth in the country, and Tommy Tuberville has become so alarmed about potential swelled heads that he jumped on our Trev Alberts with both feet for calling Auburn overrated. All Trev did was to voice an opinion, so why the heated response?
Tommy is a veteran coach, was at Miami with great teams, and knows the corrosive effect of lavish praise. It is especially dangerous when manifested on the cover of ESPN the Magazine covers and in New York Times spreads. He is delighted to have found a whipping boy to rile the troops.
Pete Carroll's USC team is being picked from sixth to 12th nationally, largely because of the loss of his entire offensive and defensive backfields.
The truth is that Auburn has too many question marks to be rated first in the nation and Southern California has too many good players to be ranked out of the top ten. Played on a neutral field this would be an even match.
But as everyone in America knows, the game will not be contested in anything resembling neutrality. Jordan-Hare Stadium will be hostile, it will be deafening, and it will be stifling.
In normal circumstances I do not believe home field is much of an advantage in football, but where all three of the above factors are present it is a major factor. Advantage Auburn.
My parents, Bill and Eleanor Curry, live in Opelika, Ala., which is located eight miles from Auburn. I called this week and asked what it is like to step outside at 5:00 P.M. "Hot!" was Mom's immediate response. My Dad, a lifelong coach, elaborated. "It is very hot, in the nineties, and the humidity is extremely high. It will be a major factor in the game."
The Southern California coaches will have a physical and psychological challenge beginning in warm-ups and lasting through the final horn. In Southeastern heat and humidity players tend to feel listless and tired from the beginning of stretching, even though they are in shape.
My first game as head coach at Georgia Tech was against Alabama in Birmingham. It was early September and the conditions were incredibly hot and humid. People were passing out in the stands prior to the arrival of the teams, and as we began stretching I noticed how profusely our players were sweating even though they were accustomed to such conditions.
Coach Bear Bryant and his Crimson Tide team were nowhere to be seen for about 20 minutes, so I began to worry, wondering what was going on. When Bear finally appeared I asked where his players were. He smiled and nodded toward the stands outside the locker room, which were shaded and cool. "They are under the stands stretching, Bill," he said. I knew I had been had.
Conditioning, hydration, allocation of players' energy and a proper mindset will be added challenges for the Trojans on Saturday. Vince Lombardi's mantra was right: "Fatigue makes cowards of us all."
As for the hidden yardage, it is impossible to compute with new teams, especially when kickers and punters are new as they are at Auburn. But if Southern California has not improved its kick protection, return game and kick coverage substantially since last year, it will be another advantage for the Tigers.
ESPN college football analyst Bill Curry coached for 17 years in the college ranks. His Game Plans for marquee matchups appear each week during the college football season.