USC AVOIDS WILDCAT STRIKE TROJANS GAIN 724 YARDS, WHITE RUSHES FOR 179 YARDS, 4 TDS USC 42, ARIZONA 21.

Byline: Scott Wolf  Staff Writer

It's too bad USC didn't play defense as well on the field as in the locker room Saturday, or the No. 1-ranked Trojans would have experienced far fewer tense moments against Arizona.

USC coach Pete Carroll considered this game a test for the Trojans to play to their ability, no matter the opponent.

But the Trojans' 42-21 victory over Arizona in front of 90,221 at the Coliseum didn't prove much, except that a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns could make the score more lopsided than it was for most of the game.

``A win is a win,'' quarterback Matt Leinart said, defending the outcome. ``Maybe it doesn't feel or look like it, but it's a win.''

With USC posting gaudy statistics, such as 724 yards of offense, 39 first downs and 37 minutes in time of possession, it's hard to imagine the Trojans only held a 28-21 lead with 13 minutes remaining.

That contradiction between score and stats forced Carroll to go out of his way to rationalize the Trojans' performance.

``Sometimes you're going to play well and not win. Anyway, I don't really care,'' Carroll said. ``I just like getting wins. I don't know what more you can expect.

``I'm a football coach. I've been coaching for 37 years and you don't win every game everything-to-nothing. It just doesn't happen like that. I wish it did, but it just doesn't. You've got to live with the game and play it.''

The tone underscored a feeling that maybe things didn't go quite as smoothly as expected, despite that overwhelming difference in yardage, as Arizona gained just 245 yards.

It's also the result of increased expectations, built during USC's 27-game winning streak.

``I don't think expectations are too high. They are what they are,'' Carroll said. ``It doesn't bother me. I'm letting you know what I feel. This was a heckuva win, when you play a good defense and score 42 points.''

Arizona is also a 2-3 team and winless (0-2) in the Pacific-10 Conference. That fact wasn't lost on offensive lineman Winston Justice, who took himself to task for the closer-than-expected result.

``It was just a bad game. It was all our fault, too,'' he said. ``I think it was the whole offense. I had a bad game personally.''

Justice committed three holding penalties (two were enforced) after Arizona coaches alerted the officials to watch him closely during the game.

``It was just one of those games,'' Justice said.

Maybe Justice didn't get the memo on how good Arizona was. But neither did anyone else apparently. Although USC scored on its opening drive, it started out slowly for the third straight game.

``We need to stop starting off slow,'' Justice said. ``It's going to hurt us when we play a better team.''

Such as, perhaps, Notre Dame?

Maybe it's not fair to say USC started slowly. Sloppy might be a better word.

USC (5-0, 3-0) was lucky to lead 14-7 at halftime, as Leinart threw an interception and tailback Desmond Reed, playing because Reggie Bush sprained his knee and missed part of the first half, fumbled.

There was also an embarrassing effort from the kickoff team, which allowed returns of 51 and 76 yards to Arizona's Syndric Steptoe. There even was a question afterward if one of Troy Van Blarcom's kickoffs intentionally went out of bounds to prevent a return. It didn't.

And the defense also got in the act, as cornerback John Walker allowed a 38-yard pass that set up Arizona's first touchdown and cornerback Justin Wyatt gave up a 42-yard touchdown pass that cut the Trojans' lead to 21-14.

``We don't give up fade routes,'' secondary coach Greg Burns said. ``We've got to clean that up. Our defense doesn't do that.''

It all set the stage for an interesting fourth quarter. With USC ahead 28-21, Leinart threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Dwayne Jarrett. Or did he? Replays indicated Jarrett juggled the ball, but were inconclusive and the officials never reviewed the play.

``I was in,'' Jarrett said. ``I knew I bobbled it, but I held it up. At the last second, I tried to drag my feet. The ref was right there. We'd have scored anyways.''

Just in case, Carroll called out, ``May Day,'' USC's code for getting the extra-point team out quickly to prevent a review by the officials.

Scott Wolf, [phone]

scott.wolf(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, 2 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) USC's LenDale White finished with 179 yards and scored four touchdowns Saturday.

Andy Holzman/Staff Photographer

(2) USC's Dwayne Jarrett, left, celebrates with teammate Fred Davis after scoring a touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) DREW

(4 -- color) WHITE

Box:

(1) No. 1 USC at No. 12 NOTRE DAME

(2) ON THE RUN