On the surface, USC’s game at Ohio State on Saturday looks like big trouble for USC. The Trojans will start a freshman quarterback who was playing for Mater Dei High School a year ago, nearly their entire defense from 2008 is gone, and it’s on the road against the nation’s eighth-ranked team, in a particularly intimidating environment.

And yet.

And yet …

This is exactly the sort of game USC has won — consistently and usually quite easily — since Pete Carroll got the program up to speed. Since the midpoint of the 2002 season, that is.

Consider.

USC has won 22 consecutive nonconference regular-season games.

Included in that streak are some of the most notable programs in the country.

Such as … Notre Dame (seven times), Arkansas (twice), Nebraska (twice), BYU (twice), Auburn, Virginia Tech — and Ohio State.

Consider some of the scores: USC 23, Auburn 0 … USC 24, Virginia Tech 13 … USC 42, BYU 10 … USC 50, Arkansas 14 … USC 49, Nebraska 31 … USC 63, Hawaii 17 .. USC 38, Notre Dame 3 …

And those were USC road games.

Here are some of the nonconference scores when the Trojans were playing at home: USC 70, Arkansas 17 … USC 44, Notre Dame 13 … USC 28, Nebraska 10 … USC 44, Notre Dame 24 … USC 41, Notre Dame 10 … and USC 35, Ohio State 3, just last year.

In six of the aforementioned games, the opponent was nationally ranked. Anywhere from No. 5 to No. 19. (USC has two more wins over nationally ranked nonconference teams since 2002, but those were close games we didn’t mention — 34-31 at No. 9 Notre Dame and 50-42 over No. 16 Fresno State, both in 2005).

Clearly, something is going on here.

The most likely explanation for this dominance is fairly straightfoward: USC has better talent than the rest of the country. The programs it has been dominating may be recruiting among the top 5-10 percent of the nation’s talent — while USC is recruiting from among the top 1 percent.

When USC meets up with teams unfamiliar with its speed, size, strength … well, things get out of hand more than occasionally.

This includes bowl games, during the Carroll Era, where USC handled/nuked No. 4 Iowa 38-17 (20o3 Orange Bowl), No. 4 Michigan 28-14 (2004 Rose Bowl), No. 2 Oklahoma 55-19 (2005 Orange Bowl), No. 3 Michigan 32-18 (2007 Rose Bowl), No. 13 Illinois 49-17 (2008 Rose Bowl) and No. 8 Penn State 38-24 (2009 Rose Bowl).

There is something about USC’s physical presence, its preparation by Carroll and his staff and the great confidence his teams bring to every game … that proves nearly irresistable on the field. Even against well-regarded talent.

USC has much more trouble against the “lesser” teams of the Pac-10, having lost to Oregon State (twice), UCLA, Washington State, Cal, Stanford and Oregon since 2002. Our pet theory is that annual exposure to the Trojans creates a sort of inoculation against panic, amng Pac-10 teams. They play USC often enough to know that even those future NFL first-rounders fasten their chin straps one buckle at a time.

This is not to suggest you run out tonight and bet the farm on USC. There is precedent for a nonconference opponent to come in and handle the Trojans. Albeit only one game, since 2002.

And that would be the 2006 Rose Bowl, when Texas scored with 19 seconds left to defeat USC 41-38. This game might serve as an inspiration to Ohio State because it has a big, physical and mobile quarterback in Terrelle Prior — just as Texas had a big, physical and mobile quatterback in Vince Young.

It can be done. Yes. It is possible for a non-Pac-10 team to defeat Pete Carroll’s Trojans.

However, it’s certainly not a result you would feel comfortable predicting. No matter what apparent shortcomings USC might seem to have.  Up to and including a freshman quarterback … a green defense … and a game in your own stadium.