LOS ANGELES - The same coach who wrote a blank-verse poem called "Always Compete," and put it in the USC media guide, stood there Thursday and basically said, "Yeah, but not now."

Pete Carroll had built the natural fire of Mark Sanchez and watched his quarterback go 12-1, win the Pac-10 and win the Rose Bowl.

Now Sanchez is burning to test himself in the NFL.

As Vin Scully would say, Carroll was being hoisted on his own petard.

It made for a little more tension than you expected in a good-luck press conference. This one was more like, "I know you'll knock 'em dead, even though you're screwing up."

After all, Sanchez had postponed this session, the one in which he announced he would join the NFL draft, until Carroll could return from vacationing.

"I wanted to do this the right way," he said.

He knew Carroll disagreed with the call, because Carroll had told him so. Now Sanchez sat there in a black sport coat and a gold tie and listened to Carroll sell the media on why Sanchez should have stayed.

Usually you wait until the pitcher gives up the grand slam before you second-guess his pitch selection.

"It's hard to champion the cause," Carroll said. "I don't agree with the assessment of the decision. Mark is going against the grain. He knows that. The statistics don't back up that he will be successful in the way he's going about it."

Sanchez listened stoically, then reminded everyone that Carroll had always urged him to compete. The competition is in some muggy training camp in Michigan or Wisconsin next summer. Not on Howard Jones Field.

"I've been here four years," Sanchez said, smiling. "I've graduated. It's not like I'm not coming back for my senior year. I'm forgoing my fifth year."

Left unsaid: It's not my fault that I only got to play one year.

But Carroll also said this: "This is a competitor, a guy that's willing to take on this challenge and this opportunity. He's going to make it happen."

Sure, it seemed a far-fetched idea in the fall. Sanchez hadn't proven much, other than he could shake off a dislocated kneecap and run around better than John David Booty could. There was gallantry in his emotion, and there was a flip side, too, and most fans thought both Sanchez and the Trojans could use another year together.

But you compete, remember, on Draft Day and beyond. And the list of quarterbacks in the 2010 draft was longer than the one in 2009. At least it was after Oklahoma's Sam Bradford said he was staying. One day later, Sanchez announced.

"That really wasn't a factor," Sanchez said. "I had made up my mind before that."

Georgia's Matthew Stafford and Kansas State's Josh Freeman were the only underclass quarterbacks ranked ahead of Sanchez by Pro Football Weekly in the fall, including Bradford. The senior class has been picked clean. Only Rhett Bomar of Sam Houston State figures to make an active roster in '09.

Has Sanchez played enough? Well, six of his 2008 opponents were ranked in the top 27 nationally in pass defense. Ohio State gave up 12 touchdown passes all seasons, four to Sanchez.

And, of course, Sanchez butted heads with the No. 1 pass defense — No. 2 total defense, actually — four days a week through the season, and throughout the spring.

Sanchez could have profited from more seat time, with a much more experienced offense, with Damian Williams and Ronald Johnson going deep.

But not all the skepticism was about football, and not all of it came from a coach who now plunges into a quarterback competition.

Nick Sanchez, Mark's father, wasn't sure about this.

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"I don't blame Pete, not at all," he said, standing against the wall of a Heritage Hall lounge after his son had left, pausing a moment to gather himself.

"I have mixed emotions. If it were up to me I'd spend 10 years in college, play under a 10-year plan. But Mark has worked so hard for this."

No pantry is bare at USC. Mitch Mustain played nearly a full season at Arkansas and grew up with Williams. Aaron Corp, the Orange Lutheran alum, has sharpened his passing and has the legs of a modern QB. Garrett Green is a gamer who has played everywhere. The mystery guest is Mater Dei's Matt Barkley, who has enrolled early as a freshman and will be on the spring field.

Carroll has options. He was just anticipating Sanchez's next chapter. He didn't know he'd reached the end of the book.

He'll get over it, like every other teacher who learns to deal with the phenomenon of the student who listens too well.

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