LOS ANGELES - Can we have a shout-out for Pete Carroll, please?

Many of us are beginning to take USC's football coach for granted.

Nine games into what ought to be a rebuilding season, Carroll's Trojans have a chance to win another Pac-10 title and play for another national championship ... and we sense a sort of collective shrug, from Heritage Hall to the fringes of the Los Angeles media market.

Pac-10 championship, national title ... well, of course. Happens all the time.

Actually, no, it doesn't. Not even at USC, where football excellence is considered a birthright.

Running for No. 1 has become a perennial event at Troy only since Pete Carroll arrived on campus in 2001.

USC went 6-6 in Carroll's shake-out season. And the Trojans have been on a five-year rampage since. To the tune of 56-5, with two national titles and a record-tying four consecutive Pac-10 championships.

USC also has turned into one of the biggest draws in American football. Its game with Cal on Saturday will mark its ninth consecutive Coliseum sellout at a venue that holds more than 90,000 fans. (The Notre Dame game, a week later, will make it 10 consecutive sellouts.)

None of this happened

by accident.

Carroll is a world-class recruiter, motivator and football mind.

But there's more.

At age 55, he remains astoundingly energetic, a man in constant motion during practice and games despite a gimpy left knee. Asked tackle Kyle Williams: "How many coaches do you see running down the field with the kickoff team?"

He seems to feed off the energy of his players, and direct it right back at them. "I think he has fun when we're having fun,"

Williams said. "He's a player's coach, for sure."

Carroll's remarkable run has several other features that set it apart from nearly any program in the nation.

He wants a challenging opening game. "It gets you ready for what's going to happen the rest of the season," he said.

Thus, over the past five seasons USC has opened with matchups such as a home and home with Auburn, at Arkansas, and vs. Virginia Tech in Landover, Md.

He wants a challenging schedule. Every week.

Thus, USC's nonconference games this year are vs. Arkansas, Nebraska and Notre Dame.

Ohio State, by way of contrast, played Texas ... but also Northern Illinois and Bowling Green. Michigan played Notre Dame ... but also Vanderbilt and Central Michigan.

Carroll calls soft opponents "guaranteed wins" and equates them with scrimmages. More kids get game action, but he doubts the value of playing against bottom-feeders. "This has served us well," he said. "At no time do we take a break in our schedule. Every game is a championship game."

He never attaches added significance to a game. Not Notre Dame. Not UCLA. Not Cal. The idea is that everyone in the program should be going full-bore full-time.

"Players and coaches don't need extra incentives," he said. "When do you decide one play is more important than another? When do you go all out and not? We try to get away from that attitude."

He said he emphasized the importance of the Notre Dame game in his first season. The Irish won, 27-16. "I knew it was a mistake by the middle of the week," he said. "A classic mistake. And I haven't done it since."

He and his coaches never approach a game expecting or counting on stars to make big plays.

"We try not to bank on our players to win," he said. "We try to scheme it so that no matter who is in the game, we can be successful."

Whatever Carroll is doing, it must be right. He and the Trojans keep sending guys to the NFL and they keep on rolling. They reload; they don't rebuild.

And that is not an accident, either.

USC fans will be happy to know that Pete Carroll doesn't think in terms of one good season, here or there, now or then. But they already know that. And maybe are getting a little complacent about it.

Said Carroll: "You want to be great forever." We can't speak for "forever." But for five seasons, anyway, Pete Carroll and the Trojans are right on target.