This looks oh so familiar, Pete Carroll leading an emerging West Coast power to the biggest stage in football. But instead of USC in a BCS bowl, Carroll is preparing the Seattle Seahawks for Super Bowl XLVIII, with a chance to become only the third head coach to win both an AP national championship and a Super Bowl.
Carroll brought the same approach from Los Angeles to the Pacific Northwest, carrying over numerous phrases, mantras and philosophies familiar to anyone who spent time around the program during seven consecutive conference championships and BCS bowls.
Tell the Truth Monday stayed intact, while Competition Tuesday and Turnover Wednesday each moved one day down the calendar. "All about the ball" has carried over to a plus-20 turnover margin this season, after the Seahawks delivered 13 more takeaways than giveaways last season.
There is the same relentless pass rush from the front four, the same kind of linebackers that seem to be everywhere at all times, the same punishing rushing offense, the same leadership from the quarterback, the same home-field dominance, the same ability to rise to the occasion in the biggest moments.
"I really feel like I'm watching cardinal and gold wearing blue and green," USC sports information director Tim Tessalone told the Orange County Register. "Instead of a Trojan on the helmet, there's a Seahawk. It's scarily reminiscent of the arc here, the feel, the electricity."
Really, the biggest difference between Carroll's Seahawks and Trojans on the field is in the secondary, specifically at cornerback. For all his renown as a defensive backs guru, Carroll never had a dominant superstar at the position as he does now with Richard Sherman.
Junior-college transfer Will Poole was excellent during his one season at USC, posting seven interceptions, 19 pass breakups and four forced fumbles in 2003.
Much of Terrell Thomas' career at USC was undone by injuries -- bad luck that has continued during his time with the New York Giants -- but his best campaign with the Trojans came in 2007, when he had 45 tackles, four interceptions and three forced fumbles.
Aside from those two, Carroll's USC cornerbacks were largely nondescript. Instead of the ferocious playmakers of the "Legion of Boom," they were often the lines of last resort in case the defensive line, linebackers or safeties couldn't make something happen in front of them.
And they all tended to fit into a particular body type: long-armed and lanky, but rarely topping out over 6-foot. That's a far cry from the towering Sherman and his ilk, but Carroll never had to deal with physically dominant wide receivers like Larry Fitzgerald or Michael Crabtree in what was the Pac-10.
But a good number of USC fans cannot or will not forgive Carroll for the timing of his departure, only months before the NCAA hammered the program with unprecedented penalties in the Reggie Bush case, creating the perception that he skipped town just before the posse arrived. Carroll's freewheeling approach occasionally skirted the rulebook and certainly invoked the governing body's ire.
As in most instances, however, the success is remembered more than the flaws. Consider it perhaps one reason why USC athletic director Pat Haden turned to one former Carroll assistant, Steve Sarkisian, to serve as head coach after firing another in Lane Kiffin.
Consider it a main reason why a good chunk of unaffiliated Los Angeles will be rooting for the Seahawks on Sunday, remembering what Carroll accomplished at USC and seeing him on the verge of doing it again.
Follow Dan Greenspan on Twitter @DanGreenspan.
