Landscape changes, but USC still team to beat

What's new in college football in 2005? Plenty, starting with nearly 20 percent of Division I-A head coaches.

Eight conferences will use instant replay for the first time, six leagues will welcome first-year members and a new poll will help determine which teams play in the Bowl Championship Series.

Amid all that change, Southern California remains a constant -- the Trojans are still the class of college football.

With back-to-back national titles, 22 straight wins and a 36-3 record over the last three seasons, USC already has established itself as college football's first dynasty of the new millennium.

If Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart and the rest of coach Pete Carroll's Trojans add an unprecedented third straight national title, a case can be made that theirs is the greatest run in the sport's history.

"It would be a tremendous accomplishment just from the standpoint of parity in football now," said Miami coach Larry Coker, who was part of a Hurricanes program that won 34 straight from 2000 to 2003, but only one championship. "Getting there is very, very difficult, but to win those games would be a tremendous accomplishment. It's never been done. That says a lot right there."

Eleven teams have won at least 30 straight games, but only Miami's streak came within the last three decades.

Leinart, the big left-handerd quarterback with SoCal roots, shocked many when he decided to return for his senior season.

After tossing five touchdown passes in a 55-19 Orange Bowl rout of Oklahoma, Leinart put off the NFL, where he was almost assured of being the No. 1 pick in the draft.

Leinart is one of nine returning starters to USC's offense and one of two Heisman Trophy finalists in the Trojans' backfield. Tailback Reggie Bush is the other.

The Rose Bowl will host the BCS national title game this season, and the Trojans -- ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press preseason poll -- are overwhelming favorites to be playing in Pasadena on Jan. 4.

In the Big 12, No. 2 Texas could have its best team in the Mack Brown era, led by quarterback Vince Young. No. 7 Oklahoma has to replace 11 players drafted by the NFL, plus 2003 Heisman winner Jason White. Having tailback Adrian Peterson, the Heisman runner-up as a freshman in 2004, is a nice way to start.

No. 4 Michigan and No. 6 Ohio State are expected to make a run at the national title out of the Big Ten, and No. 11 Iowa has now nudged its way into the league's elite.

In the Southeastern Conference, No. 3 Tennessee and No. 5 LSU are favored, while No. 10 Florida is one of those schools banking on a new coach (Urban Meyer) to change its fortunes.