Michael Ventre

LOS ANGELES - Each year, a new college football season brings a new “greatest.” The greatest offense in history. The greatest defense in history. The greatest team in history. The greatest coach, quarterback, tailback, weakside linebacker, long snapper, mascot and pre-game cocktail.

“The greatest” is an obsession in all sports, of course. Arguments rage over the greatest home run hitter, the greatest one-on-one scorer, the greatest pound-for-pound fighter. It probably has a lot to do with the fact that there is at least a small percentage of time in which the mouths of most sports fans aren’t filled with food and drink, thereby creating an opportunity for them to flap their gums and state their cases.

The reason such debates occur more often in college football than in most other sports is because there is more turnover. Each year players graduate, run out of eligibility or leave for the NFL, creating new faces in new positions and therefore new assemblages and new arguments.

Since the week prior to the start of the 2007 season is the ideal opportunity to keep “the greatest” tradition rolling, here is a fresh hunk of argument meat to toss at bickering sports carnivores who are salivating in anticipation of more viewpoints to tussle over:

Is USC’s defense the greatest of all time?                                           

The sudden sounds you just heard when this question was posed vary according to region. There are the bellows of outrage from Louisiana, where LSU has a mighty fine group itself. There are also the groans of disapproval from Texas, the snickering of disgust from Florida, the dueling blares of indignation from Ohio State and Michigan, and the hoots of exasperation from Oklahoma. If you listen closely enough, you can even hear a peep of pique from TCU.

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Indeed, declaring that a team’s defense might be the greatest ever well before one snap has been taken in the 2007 season registers wildly in the red on the audacity meter. The more prudent path would be to wait at least a few games in, when there is more evidence to examine.

But what fun is that?

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The top-ranked Trojans may just have the greatest defense of all time, at least on paper. Naturally, teams often fail to live up to expectations. Yet this unit has a rightful place in the discussion because it excels in the two most important areas: talent and experience.

Not just talent. Not just experience.

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Experienced talent.

The Trojans, who return 10 starters on defense, are loaded at every position. They don’t have a weakness because if one ever does show its face, it’s quickly replaced by a strength that is just below it on the depth chart, waiting to pounce.

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The defensive line is anchored by veteran tackle Sedrick Ellis, who is as strong as fictional counterparts Hercules, the Incredible Hulk and Mongo put together.  At defensive end stands Lawrence Jackson, a supremely gifted player who, like Ellis, passed on a shot at this past April’s NFL draft in order to hone his skills, take another shot at a national title and raise his 2008 draft profile in the process.

Along with defensive tackle Fili Moala and defensive end Kyle Moore — who will share time with super frosh Everson Griffen — the defensive line should be a run-stopping and pass-rushing horde.

But the linebackers may be even better. Outside backers Keith Rivers and Brian Cushing and middle linebacker Rey Maualuga each had been fiercely recruited stars out of high school, and they all have gained a considerable amount of playing time at USC. As a linebacking unit, they’re at least as good as Ohio State’s threesome of A.J. Hawk, Bobby Carpenter and Anthony Schlegel a couple of years ago, and it’s safe to say their backups are in the same ballpark in terms of ability.