My choice is the duo of Stafon Johnson and Joe McKnight. Obviously both had their moments last year, but hear me out. Over the last two years Chauncey Washington and the Running Back by committee were effective, but they were nowhere near dominant. Maybe the duo of Johnson/McKnight will not be as good as Bush/White, but I get a strong feeling that this duo will bring back the dominant USC rushing attack. With all of the depth at RB these two have a lot to prove and if they don’t combine for about 2,000 yards* rushing then its a disappointment. They were the #2 and #1 RBs in their respective classes, and (at least in Johnson’s case) their peers** have surpassed them. Its their time to shine and USC IS Tailback U after all!

• Last year USC backs combine for 2574 yds, with 969 yds (5 ypr) from Washington, 673 yds (6.9 ypr) from Johnson, and 540 yds (5.7 ypr) from McKnight.

• From the 2006 class, look at the production of Chris Wells, Knowshon Moreno, C.J. Spiller, and Le Sean McCoy. Also, although McKnight had a great freshman year, I don’t think anyone would argue that any freshman RB had a better season than Noel Devine. I still think Stafon could emerge as the best back out of his class though.

After a year of calling plays and fine tuning the offense he should be experienced and knowledgeable enough to run the best offense the Pac-10 if not one of the best units in the nation.

With all those talented five-star-all-universe players coming to USC out of high school, there should be no reason why the offense should be having any major problems, unless there are freak injuries or something like that.

They underachieved. Dropped balls, blown routes, and slow feet.