In ways large and small, football coaches impart a swagger to their players, from Dennis Erickson’s laissez-faire attitude toward Miami’s insolence back in the ’90s, to the simple decision by Jim Harbaugh to receive the opening kickoff last week at Washington State.

Convention suggested that with a quarterback (Andrew Luck) making his first start, Harbaugh would defer and kick off. But he took the ball as a show of confidence in Luck. And because he had a pretty good idea Washington State couldn’t stop his offense.
So here’s Pete Carroll’s display of healthy arrogance as his USC team prepares to meet Ohio State on Saturday in Columbus: He’ll be running the same old (successful) prostyle offense with hotshot freshman Matt Barkley at quarterback.
On the other side of the field will be Terrelle Pryor, the latter-day Vince Young. With Pryor, the tradition-steeped Buckeyes are only too happy to run the offensive flavor of the month, the spread-option.
Carroll, meanwhile, has resisted any urge to implement the spread-option, maybe because there are plenty of prostyle quarterback prospects within a quarter-tank of gas of USC, and it’s not like USC hasn’t made that work.
Or maybe it’s just because this is USC, and it’s above that sort of gimmick.
In lavishing praise on Pryor this week, Carroll said he especially likes running quarterbacks, “but we always come up with guys that are not of that makeup.”
(Some tissue might be appropriate here, as you weep over USC having to make do with Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Mark Sanchez and Barkley.)
The focus will indeed be on the quarterbacks in this one. In particular, Barkley is an item, simply because true freshmen — even one who has already had a spring session — aren’t supposed to be able to lead national-title contenders.
Looking back at Barkley’s 15-for-19 debut against San Jose State, Carroll said, “I love Matt’s comments. He said he was nervous walking down the steps, and then after that, he wasn’t. His first game ever ... come on, man.”
Now, can Barkley do it when there are 105,000 scarlet-clad fans and the band is doing “Script Ohio” and somebody famous is dotting the “I”?
Some history on Pac-10 freshmen quarterbacks is worthwhile (not that any of it applies to USC).
In the last 20 years, 21 freshmen (true and redshirt) have been their team’s primary quarterback, starting six or more games.
It’s not quite the prescription for misery it might seem. Eight of those 21 have had winning seasons. The best of them was Todd “Super-Size Me” Marinovich’s 9-2-1, Rose Bowl-winning year at USC in 1989.
The next-best are Brock Huard’s 9-3 season for Washington in 1996, same as Ryan Kealy’s for Arizona State in ’97.
There have been only four true-freshmen quarterbacks that were six-game starters in the past 20 years. Two won mildly — Jake Plummer at ASU in 1993 (6-5) and Cade McNown of UCLA in 1995 (7-5).
Running the Trojans’ pro set, Barkley might rewrite all that history. As he told LA writers this week, in anticipation of the Horseshoe, “Bring it on.”

Flame-broiled
It didn’t take long for the heat to be turned up on at least two coaches whose jobs may be vulnerable.
At Virginia, where Al Groh is 56-45 in nine seasons, the Cavaliers turned the ball over seven times and lost to FCS (formerly I-AA) William and Mary.
“There will be a lot of negativity out there,” Groh said this week, “some of it well-deserved.”
Meanwhile, at Colorado, Dan Hawkins had talked over the summer about the Buffaloes shooting for a 10-win season. That looks dubious after the Buffs, a double-digit favorite, fell to Colorado State at home in their opener.
There were boos at Folsom Field, and the displeasure is heightened among some by the fact Hawkins is starting his son Cody at quarterback.
In a Denver Post story recently, CU athletic director Mike Bohn said he couldn’t foresee a scenario by which Hawkins (13-25 at CU) would lose his job this year, but added, “As you know, this business can be pretty crazy.”
And what’s more . . .
—Grant Teaff, executive director of the American Football Coaches Assn., called Thursday to take issue with a characterization as “silly” in this space Wednesday in reference to the first-weekend, pregame mass handshake mandated by the AFCA and NCAA. Teaff says the AFCA’s efforts beginning about 15 years ago to emphasize sportsmanship helped ease the mess in Boise last week. “Say what you want to,” Teaff insists, “but in another time and place, both benches would have unloaded.”
—So when has this happened — two programs from the old I-AA level from the same state beating FBS teams on the same day? Richmond — OK, it only beat Duke — joined William and Mary in the fun.
—Another coach who might be feeling uneasy is Mike Price at UTEP, whose record in El Paso dropped below .500 at 30-31 with a home loss to Buffalo.
—All in the family: It sounded catchy last week when Harbaugh, asked about motivating his team for WSU after a 58-0 victory a year ago, said, “We don’t have any rearview mirrors in this car.” At least it did until a check of The Baltimore Sun Web site, which early in August quoted NFL Ravens coach John Harbaugh — Jim’s brother — responding thusly to some derogatory comments by ex-Ravens linebacker Bart Scott: “We don’t have any rearview mirrors in our car.”

INFORMATION
Pac-10 rankings
1. USC (1-0)/Almost done with athletic dorm for tailbacks
2. California (1-0)/Last Rose Bowl same year as Missouri Compromise
3. Oregon State (1-0)/Shout it from rooftops: Moevao battling shingles
4. Stanford (1-0)/Sadly, missed Lentil Festival by week in Pullman
5. UCLA (1-0)/Kiffin meets Neuheisel at Violation Station
6. Arizona State (1-0)/As LB prospect, Burfict looks almost perfect
7. Arizona (1-0)/Stoops has 26 wins at UA, 24 of them ugly
8. Washington (0-1)/More Huskies lose, more excited fans get
9. Oregon (0-1)/In first move as AD, Bellotti may add boxing
10. WSU (0-1)/Students getting flu from watching football team

Pac-10 picks
Washington 38, Idaho 20 — The long winter (and spring, summer and fall) of Huskies’ discontent finally ends.
Hawaii 30, WSU 24 — Warriors might simply be more used to winning.
Oregon 31, Purdue 23 — But after last week, nothing’s a given for Ducks.
Oregon State 27, UNLV 24 — Rebels’ QB Omar Clayton will test Beavers.
California 51, Eastern Washington 14 — Bears keep scoring average right at 51.
Wake Forest 23, Stanford 21 — Would be big if Cardinal can bag second road victory.
Ohio State 24, USC 23 — A shaky vote for Pryor’s legs over Barkley’s inexperience.
Tennessee 27, UCLA 20 — Bruins’ defense should keep them in this one.
Arizona 37, Northern Arizona 13 — Lumberjacks starting a week later than everybody else.