LOS ANGELES ? They could have been the Lost Battalion.
In June of 2010, the NCAA threw the book, plus several Kindles, at USC's football program: a two-year bowl ban and the loss of 30 scholarships,
In doing so, it invited its rising juniors and seniors to transfer elsewhere and play immediately.
You would have expected them to scatter like appleseeds, but only six did, although two incoming freshmen were released from their letters of intent.
You wouldn't have expected them to hunker down and get the USC program through this purgatory, and into championship-ready shape for 2012. Not this Now Generation; not the kids who live on 4G.
But here they are. If the Trojans beat UCLA on Saturday night they will finish 10-2. They have beaten Oregon and Notre Dame on the road. They would win the Pac-12 South if they were eligible.
"If you had told me we'd be 9-2, beat Oregon and Notre Dame on the road, I don't think I would have believed it," said linebacker Chris Galippo, one of the battalion.
There are 23 seniors and redshirt juniors who could say goodbye Saturday night. Nine play extensively.
Of USC's top 48, counting specialists, there are 37 who are eligible for 2012. Even if Matt Barkley and Matt Kalil aren't among them, the Trojans will be a candidate to make the BCS championship game. The effect of the missing scholarships probably won't become a burden until 2014.
The seniors, the ones who stayed, will miss their second consecutive bowl. They haven't seen much light, but they've passed the torch.
"I grew up with the Kalils, Ryan and Matt, since I was 9," Galippo said. "Matt and I followed Ryan around. Ryan went to Servite, came to USC, was the starting center and lost maybe three games in four years.
"My first two years we went 12-1 and 11-2 and had Rose Bowl victories. It became normal. My third year, it was almost like, hey, the Rose Bowl's so boring."
Then USC went, or was banished, to the Emerald Bowl.
"And we were saying how much we wished we were at the Rose Bowl," Galippo said, laughing.
"But at least last year I had the chance to hang out, go to the bowl parties. This year, obviously, it gives me a head start over the guys who have obligations through mid-January."
He's talking about preparations for the NFL combine and draft. He wasn't sanctioned from the pros, after all.
There were two reasons the probation wasn't all that traumatic, at least for Galippo.
"We had zero control over it," he said. "It was frustrating that we had absolutely nothing to do with those (probation-causing) situations, but it didn't matter what we thought. It almost put our mind at ease."
The other reason is that Galippo already had a dress rehearsal, at Servite. After his sophomore year, Troy Thomas replaced coach Larry Toner, and the school replaced its athletic director and president.
"At USC it was always the perfect transition," Galippo said. "Pete Carroll came in, started winning championships. There wasn't a lot of adversity."
In 2009, there was. The Trojans went 8-5. They weren't winning games during warmups anymore. Distractions became issues.
Then Carroll left, athletic director Mike Garrett was fired, and Lane Kiffin and Pat Haden replaced them.
"The program started to get complacent," Galippo admitted. "Over time, rules become rules and then become habits, and they don't have to be enforced. The atmosphere of the program starts running itself. It became lackadaisical in a lot of areas.
"Coach Lane and his staff weren't putting up with certain things in the disciplinary area. Then their recruits were so mature and tough. The catches and plays that Robert Woods and Marqise Lee make are not the things that impress me the most, it's the leadership and humility. If any guys on the team could take a practice off, it would be one of those guys, or Matt Barkley, but they don't."
Why did the Lost Battalion stick together? Galippo says transferring is more complicated than you think --- "You gotta learn a program, a new set of rules, sit out a year and usually move to another part of the country."
The Trojans who had NFL futures saw no reason to leave. That, when you boil it down, was more a motivation than trophies and "Fight On," although some schools have a mojo that can't be sanctioned away.
"I'll be emotional Saturday," said Chris Galippo, fifth-year senior, 23-year-old realist. "But I committed here when I was a sophomore at Servite. I feel like I've been here 10 years. I love this place, but I'm ready for the next chapter. Maybe come back on weekends and tailgate."
The sizzle remains, thanks to a battalion that wouldn't get lost.
Contact the writer: Mwhicker@OCRegister.com. Follow him on Twitter at MwhickerOCR
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