"We're protecting the bowl games and the tradition and the money and all that kind of stuff," Carroll said yesterday. "That's the part we have to deal with, because it's not really the reasons that the competitors are playing.

"We're playing because we want to see how far we can go."

Carroll isn't the first coach to call for playoffs. A few years ago, it was Auburn's Tommy Tuberville. Last year, it was Michigan's Lloyd Carr. Usually, the plea comes from a coach whose team is in danger of being left out. Carroll's Trojans, No. 8 in the BCS standings, stand virtually no chance of playing for the national title.

This happens to be one of those seasons when a lot of people might care what Carroll and other coaches have to say. Aside from people in the Mountain and Show-Me states, does anybody really want to watch West Virginia and Missouri play for the national title on Jan. 7? How many people think those are the two best teams in America?

Count most Trojans players among the BCS skeptics. They also admit they put themselves in this position by losing to Stanford and Oregon. The Trojans (9-2, 6-2 in the Pac-10) play UCLA on Saturday for the right to play in the Rose Bowl.

They entered this season as the consensus No. 1 pick.

"We feel like we'd be able to play anybody and beat anybody," Trojans safety Taylor Mays said. "It'd be nice to have that opportunity to have a chance to settle it instead of just one game and let the computers decide it."

A playoff system is particularly inviting to USC now, because it appears to be playing its best as the season concludes. Both losses came after quarterback John David Booty broke a finger on his throwing hand. The Trojans dealt with major injuries to the offensive line, backfield and secondary.

Now, they're as healthy as they have been.

"Unfortunately, some key people got banged up and we were pretty devastated with injuries," linebacker Keith Rivers said. "Now, guys are stronger and everyone's getting better."

The BCS was established to determine a national champion and to enhance bowl arrangements, some of which are nearly 100 years old. There are plenty of people, university presidents and bowl-committee members among them, who would stand in the way of playoffs. The current BCS system runs through 2010.

Carroll has no illusions that his and other coaches' wishes will be granted any time soon.

"I don't have any hunch on that one at all," Carroll said. "I wouldn't even know where to draw the hunch from."

Even his own players are far from united on the idea. A longer season means more bruises and less free time for other pursuits like, say, getting an education. An eight-team playoff would add at least two games to the Trojans' current schedule.

"I'm sure that'd be cool for the fans," tackle Drew Radovich said. "For the players, that's a little long."

Another USC lineman, guard Jeff Byers, said 2-3 more games wouldn't bother him at all. Byers said the players' bodies are accustomed to the rigors of the season by now.

"I don't think it would bother anybody. They do it in the NFL and they're in their 30s," Byers said.

"We're in our early 20s. I would hope we could take it better than they can."

USC benefited from the current system by playing in two BCS title games, in 2005 and 2006. It beat Oklahoma in the first and lost to Texas in the second. USC did not make the BCS championship after the 2003 season, but still celebrates that as a national championship year. They finished No. 1 in the Associated Press poll.

In other words, perspectives change.