IN HINDSIGHT, CARROLL WOULDN'T CHANGE A THING USC COACH DEFENDS HIS DECISIONS IN LOSS TO TEXAS IN NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME.

Byline: Scott Wolf Staff Writer

With 34 straight victories and two national championships, nothing USC coach Pete Carroll said or did would be confused for hubris.

But when tailback LenDale White got stopped two inches short of a first down in Wednesday's 41-38 loss to Texas in the Rose Bowl, it finally opened the Trojans' genius to an array of troubling questions.

Not that Carroll ever second-guessed himself. He remained defiant Thursday about his controversial fourth- and-2 call with 2:09 remaining that backfired and allowed quarterback Vince Young to drive the Longhorns just 56 yards to the winning touchdown.

``I'd do it exactly the same,'' Carroll said. ``When you get a chance to win, you have to go for it.''

Carroll said it did not matter whether Texas needed to drive 80 yards or 56 on the final drive despite the fact the Longhorns nearly ran out of time with just 19 seconds left.

``Regardless of where they get the ball, you have to stop them for four downs and then the next four downs,'' Carroll said. ``You've got to stop them. It doesn't matter how much farther it is. I've been clear about that for a number of years.''

That blunder is only one of several coaching miscues. Game and clock management were downright awful, which were especially noticeable because Carroll is renowned for being skillful during stressful situations.

But USC looked more like a 6-6 team in crunch-time decisions. After Texas took a 39-38 lead on Young's 8-yard run, USC was so confused that it had 12 men on the field, with Carroll completely unaware the Longhorns would go for two points, which was a no-brainer.

Carroll walked over to the offense, leaving defensive line coach Jethro Franklin to call the only remaining timeout. That blunder may have cost USC a chance to attempt a tying field goal in the final seconds.

``I was going on to the next series and they were going for two,'' Carroll said.

Even worse, it was the second time in the game USC had 12 men on the field, and the Trojans burned their other two timeouts unnecessarily.

``We had a couple of play selections where we called timeouts, where we wanted to get a good look,'' Carroll said. ``I've never been one for worrying about using timeouts.''

Maybe it's better USC didn't have timeouts, because Carroll said freshman kicker Troy Van Blarcom would have attempted a tying field goal instead of regular kicker Mario Danelo. Van Blarcom didn't attempt a kick all season, and had USC placed the national championship hopes in a true freshman's hands it would have been one of the more questionable decisions of the season.

Carroll's other supposed strength, getting a month to prepare for a team, didn't make much difference either, as Young shredded the Trojans' defense for 467 yards, and two scoring drives in the final 6:42.

Imagine the uproar if Texas blew a 38-26 lead. Longhorns coach Mack Brown would have been accused of choking again. But the criticism of Carroll was basically nonexistent on Thursday.

Asked about burning timeouts and taking delay-of-game and too-many-men-on-the-field penalties, Carroll said, ``Maybe (we were sloppy), I don't know.''

It sure seemed sloppy, as Carroll unsuccessfully tried to call a timeout as quarterback Matt Leinart got stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-1 play on the Texas 17 early in the game. Carroll said the referee gave him an incorrect measurement, saying the ball was closer to the first-down marker than it actually was.

``I asked for a measurement and he didn't budge,'' Carroll said. ``Once we realized it wasn't the measurement we were told, we tried to get a timeout.''

Scott Wolf, [phone]

scott.wolf(at)dailynews.com

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USC coach Pete Carroll said he'd do things ``exactly the same.''

Evan Yee/Staff Photographer