Two No. 10s hoping for perfect day

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. - An injury to No. 10 put the hurt on Southern California's national-championship hopes this season.

So did an injury to No. 10.

Confused? There's a simple explanation: USC has two outstanding players who wear the same number - quarterback John David Booty and linebacker Brian Cushing.

Both players starred in last year's Rose Bowl, and both figure to have similar opportunities today in this year's game against No. 13 Illinois.

"It felt like a bunch of hard work coming together," Cushing said of USC's 32-18 victory over Michigan a year ago in Pasadena. "My best game came out of it. It felt good to have the season end on that note."

Cushing, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound junior from Park Ridge, N.J., had seven tackles, including 21/2 sacks, and forced a fumble to help him earn the Rose Bowl defensive MVP award. Booty passed for 391 yards and four second-half touchdowns against the Wolverines.

"He's all attitude," cornerback Terrell Thomas said, smiling. "He's one of those tough guys. He makes sure nobody hits harder than he does. He's real prideful about that. He was a great athlete in high school - he played safety, he played receiver. He thinks he can do it all."

Cushing is proud to be a Jersey guy in SoCal. "He never lets you forget that," Thomas said.

Fellow linebacker Ray Maualuga praised Cushing's toughness and leadership qualities.

"When he's out, we don't have that vocal leader," Maualuga said. "He's a guy that goes to practice and gives everything he has. He makes practice more exciting, he loves to compete. He gives it a little extra juice.

"Something about those Jersey guys, they've got a different mentality about them. He likes to compete, have fun at the same time."

Cushing sprained his left ankle in the season-opener against Idaho. He played briefly in the next two games before sitting out the following three, including the Stanford game.

"I got rolled on from behind; the ankle twisted the wrong way," Cushing recalled Sunday at Rose Bowl media day. "It was a serious injury, it was hurting. Just the fact that it's still sore, you know it was serious.

"I might have tried to come back too soon. We had a good team, I wanted to be a part of it. I didn't want to miss out. I'm as close to 100 percent as I'm going to be. I feel the best I've felt since the opening game."

The Trojans are loaded at linebacker with the likes of Cushing, Maualuga, Keith Rivers, Thomas Williams, Clay Matthews and Kaluka Maiava.

But they missed Cushing when he was sidelined.

"We've been at our best since he came back," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "He's a tremendous, tenacious football player."

Cushing said despite the disappointment of coming close but missing out on the national-championship game for a second straight year, playing in the Rose Bowl remains a thrill.

"It's another game to play together, it's the last game for this team," he said. "It's special, I feel very fortunate."