On a day when Urban Meyer shockingly stepped down from one of the nations premier college football programs, Pete Carroll took steps to return USC as one of those top teams.

In a sometimes driving rain, USC beat Boston College 24-13 in the Emerald bowl at AT&T park in San Francisco.

Boston College, who had overachieved all year, was only a missed extra point away from tying the Trojans at halftime.

Parlaying numerous Trojan mistakes into two scores during the second quarter, the Eagles had USC back on their heels as the first half ended.

However, the men of Troy found themselves just in time to turn back the Eagles, who were game, but couldn’t quite overcome the Trojans athleticism in the second half.

Missing 1,000 yard running back Joe McKnight, who was held out of the game due to compliance problems, and starting tight end Anthony McCoy and offensive lineman Tyron Smith, the Trojans sputtered and coughed most of the night despite some big plays and 438 yards for the game.

BC, who was led by shifty running back Montel Harris’ 102 yards, had 312 total yards for the game.

Matt Barkley, the true freshman who had struggled in the second half of the season, passed for 350 yards on 27 of 37 attempts with two touchdowns. Barkley also ran for a touchdown on a quarterback sneak.

Barkley also had two interceptions to go with those gaudy numbers.

Meanwhile, Damien Williams, Matt Barkley’s favorite target this year, had his coming out party for the NFL by grabbing 12 passes for 189 yards and was named the Emerald bowl’s most valuable player.

The Trojans also had some disheartening news from defensive end Everson Griffen, who announced that he too would turn pro instead of returning for his senior season.

Griffen, who has enormous potential, also was inconsistent during his Trojan career.

However, the Trojans did receive some good news when both fullback Stanley Havilli and running back Allen Bradford said they would return to the Trojans for next season.

In the game itself, the Trojans, with the exception of the disastrous second quarter, controlled the game throughout.

Despite giving up some huge chunks of rushing yardage to Harris, the Trojan defense held well on sloppy field.

Those same wet conditions also diminished some of USC’s overall superior team speed and probably worked to BC’s advantage.

This was an important win for the Trojans, who will go into spring practice with the momentum of a one game winning streak.

Many thought that USC wouldn’t be pumped for this lesser bowl but those same people must have forgot Pete Carroll’s ability to motivate.

A couple of days ago I wrote a piece asking what USC’s performance in the Emerald bowl would say about the Trojans in 2010.

While there were no dynamic declarations coming out of San Francisco last night, there was the notion that the Trojans were ready to take steps to return back to the top in 2010.

Whether those steps are small or are giant leaps, remains to be seen.

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