Saturday's game will mark the final time USC's seniors will play in the Coliseum, and Carroll is playing emotional therapist for his players this week as they prepare for their grand finale.
To make his point, he has referred back to Matt Leinart, who was famously so shaken with emotion that he couldn't play well during the opening part of the 2005 Senior Day, when USC faced UCLA in the record-setting quarterback's final game at the Coliseum. Leinart went 0-for-5 on the Trojans' opening drive -- he was so jittery that coaches elected to call 12 runs in the game's first 17 plays -- before finding his calm and getting into a groove en route to USC's 66-19 win.
"He couldn't function, he was such a mess," Carroll told his team this afternoon, using Leinart as the example of how not to start out on Senior Day. "You have to control your emotions and get right so you can have the day you deserve."
Matt Leinart conducts the band at the end of his final game at the Coliseum, a 66-19 win over UCLA in December 2005. Leinart was so overcome with emotion that he couldn't perform as well as he had during his record-breaking career, and Coach Carroll is using that as an example for his players this week in anticipation of Saturday's Senior Day. [Photo courtesy of Getty Images]
