Carroll Looks to Start Pac-10 With Statement

USC came from behind in its season opener to defeat Virginia Tech in front of a huge crowd at FedEx Field.

The Trojans shut out Colorado State at the Coliseum, and showed their quick-strike capability in a victory at Brigham Young.

With the preliminaries behind, Coach Pete Carroll said Sunday he was glad to turn his focus to the start of USC’s Pacific 10 Conference schedule, which begins Saturday at Stanford.

“This is what our whole program is built on -- going after this conference,” said Carroll, whose team has shared and won the last two conference titles. “Our goal is to try and make a big statement when we play in the Pac-10.”

USC’s 42-10 victory over BYU on Saturday improved the Trojans’ record to 3-0 and helped them strengthen their position atop the Associated Press media poll. USC picked up two first-place votes, which gave the Trojans 54 of the possible 65.

“You can see why they’re the No. 1 team in the country,” BYU Coach Gary Crowton said after the game. “Our defense did really well at times, but with them having so many weapons, it was hard to maintain our momentum.”

Carroll called his team’s victory over Virginia Tech “probably the most beneficial” of the Trojans’ wins, but said there were lessons learned from each game.

Against BYU, the Trojans started slowly before taking command with three touchdowns in the final 8 minutes 30 seconds of the first half.

Sophomore tailbacks Reggie Bush and LenDale White each rushed for more than 100 yards, the first time since 1996 that two Trojans eclipsed the 100-yard mark in the same game.

“We’ve just got so many weapons on this team, and we’re still trying to find out how to use them,” quarterback Matt Leinart said.

Junior Hershel Dennis, who sat out the first two games while serving a suspension for violating team rules, had 18 yards in three fourth-quarter carries. But Carroll said he could not foresee the Trojans changing course in how they have deployed their tailbacks.

Carroll said he was pleased with the play of USC’s offensive line, which handled BYU’s 3-3-5 defensive scheme and helped spring Bush and White for 66- and 43-yard touchdown runs, respectively.

Carroll is not surprised by the performance of a Trojan defense that has given up only 23 points in three games. But he seemed slightly taken aback by BYU’s conservative approach on offense.

“They didn’t come after us much -- they kind of dinked the ball around underneath us and stayed in shotgun a bunch and didn’t try to run the ball with much intent,” Carroll said. “It wasn’t a very difficult game in we didn’t have to do a lot other than stay deep.”

Sophomore defensive tackle Manuel Wright made his first start against BYU, but Carroll said he was not as active as he had been against Colorado State. And though freshman end Jeff Schweiger recorded a sack for the third consecutive game, Carroll said he struggled at times against BYU’s experienced offensive line.

The kicking game also is a concern. Ryan Killeen missed field-goal tries of 43 and 49 yards.

“I didn’t know if we were going to be able to go for another field goal if we needed it,” Carroll said. “We have to get better at it.”

Asked if that meant the place-kicking job was open, Carroll said, “No, not yet.”

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Carroll said tight end Dominique Byrd would practice “to some extent” this week but would probably not play until Oct. 9 against California. Byrd is recovering from a broken left kneecap he suffered while playing basketball a week before training camp began.... Senior fullback Lee Webb scored the first touchdown of his career on a nine-yard run with 2:30 left against BYU. Leinart scored his first rushing touchdown on a one-yard run in the third quarter.

Times staff writers David Wharton and Chris Dufresne contributed to this report.