It took nearly the entire summer to imagine, but somebody succeeded in constructing a scenario in which the USC football team does not play for the Bowl Championship Series title Jan. 7 in New Orleans.

A cataclysmic event.

"I think SC has to beat themselves, to be quite honest," said Washington State coach Bill Doba.

"I think (USC coach Pete Carroll) has to guard against overconfidence or having really, really, really bad luck."

Such is the current conventional confidence in the Trojans as the 2007 season kicks off this week.

All 37 votes in the Pacific-10 Conference's preseason poll tabbed USC for its sixth straight conference title. The preseason No. 1 choice in both national polls, the Trojans earned 62 of The Associated Press' 65 first-place votes and 45 of the coaches' 60 first-place votes.

"Hopefully, we can come through and make it a very special season," said Carroll. "We're just a bunch of guys trying to put together a terrific team."

Eleven preseason magazines unanimously selected the Trojans to win the national championship.

And then there were the coaches at last month's Pac-10 media day, who all but tripped over each other scrambling to pat Pete Carroll on the back.

"USC isn't only the best team in the country, but maybe the best team in the history of college football," said first-year Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh. "I think their current team is that good."

"They should be in that league that I was really successful in," joked first-year Arizona State coach Dennis Erickson. "The National Football League."

Even the most publicized quote of the summer, LSU coach Les Miles' crack at USC's conference schedule, was more of a swipe at the Trojans' conference peers than an attack of the merits of the Trojans as a football team.

"I can tell you this, (USC has) a much easier road to travel," Miles told WWL Radio in New Orleans. "They're going to play some real knock-down, drag-outs with UCLA and Washington, Cal Berkeley, Stanford — some real juggernauts. I would like that path for us."

Although USC has won a Pac-10-record 33 straight home games, it has had a lot more trouble in conference than out of conference under Carroll.

USC has won 16 straight nonconference games, beating the likes of Notre Dame (five times), Arkansas (twice), Nebraska, Virginia Tech, Auburn and Fresno State during that streak. During that five-year span, its four regular-season losses have come to Pac-10 foes — at Washington State in 2002, at Cal in 2003 and at Oregon State and UCLA last year.

"Our toughest games by far in our season last year were in conference," said Carroll.

That trend should continue this year, as late trips to Oregon, Arizona State and Cal loom before UCLA comes calling on Dec. 1.

By that time, the coaching staff will have sorted through a depth chart that includes 13 receivers and 14 running backs.

"The last thing we're trying to do is keep everyone happy," said Carroll.

That was captured nicely by running back Emmanuel Moody's decision to transfer out of Troy the same week he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. He has reportedly visited Florida and Oklahoma State. Receiver Jamere Holland's decision to transfer was more contentious, as Carroll declined to release the speedster from his scholarship so he could attend Pac-10 rival Oregon.

USC might need all the depth it can muster. Injuries to several runners, including starter Chauncey Washington and heralded freshman Joe McKnight, opened the door for sophomore Stafon Johnson, an afterthought as a freshman last year.

There is no question who will play quarterback, as John David Booty returns as a favorite to join Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush as recent USC Heisman Trophy winners.

"That's part of being at USC," said Booty, "following big-time players."

Plenty of "big-time players" remain on the defensive side of the ball. Many resisted the urge to turn pro to stay at USC, like defensive tackle Sedrick Ellis, defensive end Lawrence Jackson and linebacker Keith Rivers.

"It says that they're here for real," said Carroll. "These guys came back to work with the intention of putting together a fantastic team."

Rivers and former St. Bonaventure High student Rey Maualuga highlight a powerful linebacking corps. Josh Pinkard, a Hueneme High product, Taylor Mays and Keith Ellison give USC perhaps the best group of safeties in the country. So good, in fact, that Pinkard has been working at cornerback, a potential weakness. "It's really the chemistry that's going to make the difference," said Carroll.

At 65-12 in his six seasons, Carroll knows what it takes. He leads all active Division I-A coaches nationally in winning percentage at .844. His teams have won 56 of its last 60 games — winning at least 11 games, earning the Pac-10 title, playing in a BCS bowl and finishing in the AP Top 4 in each of the last five seasons.

But it has perhaps never entered a season with higher expectations and certainly never entered a season coming off a loss to archrival UCLA.