At his Monday-morning post-Super Bowl XLVIII press conference, Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said he saw parallels between some of USC’s biggest wins during his tenure and Seattle’s rout of Denver on Sunday night.
“This game was very similar to the Oklahoma game,” Carroll said, referring to USC’s 55-19 rout in the 2004 Orange Bowl. “This game was very similar to the multiple Rose Bowl championship games. It was just like those games. It felt like it, it looked like it, the score was like it, the offense, the defense, the special teams.
“Something’s going on. I really can’t tell you exactly what it is, but something’s going on, because I sat back there and by the end of the first quarter, I’m like, ‘Oh, shoot, here it goes,’ and the score — bang, bang, bang, bang — it’s 22-0 at halftime.
“There’s a lot to it, and we’re very proud of it. And I’m thrilled that we’ve seen it in one area and been able to bring it to the NFL and recreate it.”
Carroll also said that he believed fans in Southern California could especially appreciate what the Seahawks had done, given the Trojans’ play in big bowl games.
“For the fans that have watched us over the years in Southern California, I would think they took great pride in what happened last night, because they understand what they just watched,” Carroll said. “There’s something about that. There’s something pretty powerful about that understanding. And hopefully, we’ll start stepping into the next one. We’ve done this before, and we’ll see how we do.”
Any discussion of Carroll at USC is perhaps tempered somewhat by his departure just before the football program was hit with sanctions. Nevertheless, his Trojans teams were outstanding in big games, with a 7-2 mark in postseason play. And in the NFL, his teams have won at least one playoff game in three of his four seasons.
Indeed, there is now a sustained track record of success that can be tracked from college back to the pros.