When a reporter asked about this teams offense not living up to expectations, Pete went into Phil Jackson mode — totally complimenting the reporter (thank you for lighting a fire in my team to get even better), but essentially saying nope you’re wrong.

“We’ve done extensive studies to make sure we know. We want to know the truth of what’s going on. We’re ahead in rushing yards, we’re ahead in passing yards, we’re ahead in efficiency, time of possession, turnovers, everything. All of the critical stats and that’s really positive and it’s important for our team to know that because they have a sense that they’re not living up to expectations which I love. But we do need to know what the truth is.”

Assessment of John David Booty’s performance:

“There aren’t very many negatives. There aren’t very many cons looking at John David’s performance so far, other than he’s been about an inch off on three or four passes that would have given him another 150 or 200 yards in passing. We just missed Fred Davis. We just missed Steve Smith on the sidelines the other night. We missed Steve big time against Nebraska, which was about a 60 or 70-yard play… Our third down efficiency is at 60%, he’s 66% completions, he threw an interception only because the guy (Dwayne Jarrett) fell down.”

On Rey Maualuga:

“He’s so fast, so sudden and he’s just getting going. He has so much upside. To see the physical side of his play and then to see the finesse play on the interception to keep that ball off the ground, that’s a wide range of ability.”

On former Trojan Mike Patterson’s fumble recovery for a touchdown for the Philadelphia Eagles:

“The first highlight we showed in the meeting yesterday was Mikey’s run. That was awesome. I had a ball watching him and he looked pretty good. He had pretty good strides. Sometimes those big guys don’t look that good for 90 yards.”

On Matt Leinart with the Arizona Cardinals:

“If (Matt ends up starting on Sunday) comes true, that’s awesome. We didn’t talk to Matt last night, but we were all kind of giddy about that…hoping that that would happen and he’d get that chance. “

On Reggie Bush and the Saints on MNF::

“Another thing–what an extraordinary night of football to watch the Saints last night. The emotional display and whatever went on, and to have Reggie Bush right in the middle of it all and just trying his hardest to do something. He wanted so badly to break something as the fans wanted him to. That was an event. It was a memorable event…. The Saints are 3-0, man.”

Pete Carroll, Bill Doba Discuss Saturday’s Game At Washington State [USCtrojans.com]