WE ASKED TOO MUCH OF PALMER.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

USC's football season should have a lot of people looking hard in the mirror. Just about everybody but poor Carson Palmer, who was blindsided before he took his first hit of the 2000 season.

There's athletic director Mike Garrett, who ought to spend some time reflecting on the hosannas he heaped on his first football hire, Paul Hackett, in December of 1997. Garrett was the one who painted Hackett as the second coming of John McKay and if it was a portrait Hackett did nothing to disavow, well, he can be forgiven that.

Hackett is, after all, human, as his coaching record at Pittsburgh implied and as the Trojans faithful are painfully reminded every Saturday.

We trust Hackett no longer looks in the mirror and sees Bill Walsh. In the third year of his second USC residence, his haughty accent has become much less pronounced.

Alas, the aura that once radiated from Palmer like light also has largely disappeared. For that you can blame the grown-ups surrounding Palmer, including those of us in the media who proclaimed the redshirt sophomore a Heisman Trophy candidate/NFL Hall of Fame quarterback before his time.

There's nothing wrong with Palmer's passing that another two years of maturity won't smooth into a fine sheen. A few media members were the ones who dropped the ball. It was irresponsible of journalists (and a few USC types) to present as polished a player so raw his first start of the 2000 season was only the ninth of his collegiate career.

It wasn't as though Palmer was a party to the hype. As far as we know, he has yet to turn in a term paper ghost written by an athletic department tutor and titled, ``Just Give Me the Damn Heisman.''

Before the season's start, when so many people were plastering him on their top-10 Heisman favorites list, Palmer was providing the voice of reason that too often is missing in the increasingly shrill world of sports.

``I still have a long, long way to go,'' he said, not that many people were listening. ``I haven't won any big games. I don't even think I've played well yet.''

The Heisman? ``I'd settle for a healthy year,'' Palmer said in August.

He's still standing in late October - no small feat considering how shaky his pass protection has been - but Palmer's confidence appears shot.

The kid who came into the 2000 campaign with 10 career passing touchdowns against nine interceptions has thrown for seven touchdowns and been intercepted 11 times in 241 attempts. He has completed 54.8 percent of his passes, down from 58.7 percent in his first 16 appearances as a collegian.

When the college quarterback honor roll call is taken every week, Palmer no longer is mentioned in the same breath as Purdue's Drew Brees. There's no shame in that. The pity is that watching Palmer the past few Saturdays has been like observing an artist drained of inspiration.

The 20-year-old's movements have become mechanical and his manner mostly bereft of the exuberance that drew his teammates - and the spotlight - to him in the first place.

The simple joy of playing, once it's buried under the weight of towering expectations, can take time to excavate. Sometimes it is forever lost.

If Hackett can't save the Trojans' season, surely he, working in concert with offensive coordinator Hue Jackson, can salvage his quarterback's spirit and self-confidence.

Who is better equipped for the job than a former quarterbacks coach to the stars (Joe Montana, Danny White, Steve Bartkowksi, et al)? And, obviously, Hackett values Jackson's expertise in this area or he wouldn't have let former NFL signal caller Ken O'Brien go after last season.

Hackett, however unwittingly, did Palmer no favors last year when he spoke as though Palmer were singularly capable of turning a 6-6 team into a Rose Bowl contender. Every time Hackett said in 1999, ``Wait until next year when Carson is healthy,'' it planted a seed in the minds of journalists and USC boosters that Palmer would reach full bloom this year.

The prophecy had to work on the psyche of Palmer, who has proved himself capable of cramming huge expectations into a very small opening. To wit: When doctors told him last year there was a slight chance he could come back from a broken right collarbone to play in the season-ending USC-UCLA game, Palmer counted on being able to suit up.

``I didn't really prepare myself for not being healed,'' said Palmer, who wasn't cleared to play in the game. ``That's why I took it so hard.''

If the so-called experts gave him a slight chance of winning the Heisman this year, do you think Palmer's going to take not being in the mix any differently?

College kids are like that. They can be impatient and impetuous and impassioned. They are easily injured. That's why those who coach and cover them have to think very carefully about what they say or write about them.