Pete Carroll is my kind of coach...

...but I still want his team to lose tomorrow.


DEATH TO REPLAY REVIEW!

USC head football coach Pete Carroll can take solace that the only thing that might gum up the most prolific offense in college football history Saturday at Notre Dame Stadium, other than perhaps an inspired Irish defense, will be the languid and lengthy NBC TV timeouts.

Instant replay will not be in use for the top-ranked Trojans' clash with No. 9 Notre Dame -- at Carroll's insistence.

"I just have never liked it," Carroll said Tuesday, via teleconference, of both the college and pro versions of instant replay review. "I've always liked the traditional way the games go and the rhythm of it. There's good stuff that happens and bad stuff that happens. I've never not trusted the officials. I've always thought the officials were doing the best they could do and busting their tails to make the right calls, and I have been willing to live with the way the game was.

"At Arizona State (on Oct. 1), we had four reviews, and it seemed like it took forever. We were standing on the field with our arms folded, waiting for a decision. That's not the way the game was in the past. I'm a little bit stuck in the past. I liked it better the way it was."

Well, because it's a non-conference game and the visiting team does have a choice in the matter, Carroll opted against replay -- even though it's a Pac-10 rule. According to Dave Parry, the national coordinator for football officiating, Saturday's game is the only one in the nation this season in which replay was available and turned down.

"Nothing went into it," Carroll said. "They gave me a choice, and I didn't want it."

Notre Dame, incidentally, has had 11 plays reviewed in its first five games or 2.2 per game -- roughly three times the rate Big Ten teams averaged last season (0.75 per game) when it was the only conference to experiment with the rule. (Thanks to SouthBendTribune.com for the heads up.)