USC status is day to day

PALO ALTO —  As he often does, Pete Carroll turned to the NFL for a lesson when USC began preparations for today’s game against winless Stanford.

The Trojans were still reeling from their turnover-plagued, upset loss at Oregon State, a game his team almost came back to win, when Carroll asked players to take a hard look at three recent pro football case studies.

In the aftermath of their turnover-laden performance against the unbeaten Chicago Bears a few weeks ago, the Arizona Cardinals and former Trojan quarterback Matt Leinart lost to the winless Oakland Raiders the following week. Buoyed by the victory, the Raiders returned two interceptions for touchdowns the next week and beat the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers with less than 100 yards of offense.

Meanwhile, the Cardinals, who were on the verge of beating the Bears, continue to struggle.

“It isn’t necessarily who has the best players or the best athletes or who’s the best prepared or any of that stuff,” Carroll said. “It’s how you play the game that day, at that time. It’s the game that can get you sometimes.”

USC, which fell from third to eighth in the Bowl Championship Series standings, lost three fumbles, had a pass intercepted and also gave up a punt return for a touchdown against Oregon State.

The last time the Trojans lost a Pacific 10 Conference game, in 2003 at California, they rebounded with a program-turning victory at Arizona State that began a 34-game winning streak.

That streak ended in last season’s BCS title game against Texas. The Trojans’ 27-game conference winning streak ended last week at Corvallis, Ore., when quarterback John David Booty’s two-point conversion pass was tipped away by a defensive lineman with seven seconds left.

“It’s important to get back in the win column and hopefully get another streak going,” said Booty, the Pac-10’s passing and total offense leader. “We have to go out and play well and show everybody that, really, last week wasn’t typical SC ball. We know it’s going to be tough being on the road again.”

Today’s game marks the last one USC will play outside Southern California during the regular season. The Trojans conclude their schedule with home games against Oregon, Cal and Notre Dame and the finale at the Rose Bowl against UCLA.

USC’s greatest challenge against Stanford could go beyond any the injury-plagued Cardinal might present at new Stanford Stadium.

Most of the players on USC’s roster have never been required to bounce back from a loss during the regular season.

“It’s going to be a tough spot for us with such a young team,” said linebacker Oscar Lua, a fifth-year senior. “Their expectation was greatness and nothing but W’s.... Some of the older guys have experienced what it’s like to bounce back. Now it’s up to the older guys to get the younger guys in that same mind-set.”

Beat-up Stanford, which had an open date last week, cannot be thrilled about facing a Trojans team that still has a shot at playing for the BCS title.

The Cardinal ranks last or next-to-last in the Pac-10, and is among the bottom 10 nationally, in most major statistical categories.

Stanford began the season with 10 returning starters on offense, but eight have suffered injuries, including quarterback Trent Edwards and receiver Mark Bradford, the former Los Angeles Fremont High star.

Stanford has committed 19 turnovers, losing 11 fumbles with eight intercepted passes.

After watching tape of USC’s self-destruction against Oregon State, Stanford Coach Walt Harris said, “When you turn the ball over, it comes back to haunt you, as it has done to us all season long.”

Nevertheless, Carroll expects that the Cardinal will take confidence from what Oregon State achieved last week.

“With two weeks [for Stanford] to prepare, we have to be ready in a lot of different areas for them to try and surprise us and make some plays and do some things,” Carroll said.

When USC traveled here in 2004, it gave up a touchdown on a fake field goal and another on a seemingly innocuous running play that turned into an 82-yard touchdown on the final play of the first half. The Trojans retired to their locker room, where players engaged in a raucous, season-changing meeting.

They emerged and overcame an 11-point deficit en route to victory.

“We’re hoping that doesn’t happen, obviously,” Lua said of falling behind. “If it does, and it’s something we’ve got to learn from like Oregon State ... it would be a great opportunity to rally it up and finish it off.”

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gary.klein@latimes.com