SAN FRANCISCO — The University of Southern California will be without three players, and possibly four, for Saturday’s Emerald Bowl because of off-the-field issues. But the Trojans’ field boss said that no matter the circumstances, it all comes back to him.

“When you’re the head coach, you’re responsible for everything,” Pete Carroll said Tuesday after his team’s first bowl-week practice at City College of San Francisco. “That’s just the way it goes. I’ve never backed away from that.
“I take full responsibility for whatever’s gone on. Unfortunately ... things get through. Maybe you don’t see it clearly. Maybe you don’t see it coming.
“(But) whether it’s a kid not making his grades or a kid with the issues we’re talking about right now, it still comes down to the head coach. That’s the structure. That’s the way it’s set up.”
The “kid with the issues” is junior tailback Joe McKnight, whose status for Saturday’s game remained up in the air as of Tuesday evening. McKnight did not accompany the team to San Francisco after a report late last week that he has been driving a car registered to his girlfriend’s boss, a possible breach of NCAA rules.
Carroll said it was USC’s compliance office and general counsel who determined that McKnight shouldn’t make the trip so he could remain in Los Angeles and aid their investigation. Carroll spoke with McKnight extensively before leaving for San Francisco.
“I asked him, sincerely, is this exactly what I need to know? Is this the story? I tried to make sure,” Carroll said. “I gave him a few chances to tell me everything he could tell me, just like you would think I would.”
Without knowing the outcome of the case, Carroll is proceeding as if he won’t have McKnight available against Boston College. Allen Bradford is slated to start, with C.J. Gable having an expanded role.
“Right now we have to go with the guys who are here,” Carroll said. ’We’ve always done it that way. We’re completing the game plan and the process the best we can.
“It’s totally out of our hands right now. Those guys are down there (in L.A.) working on it. Until they tell us something different, Joe’s not available to us.”
Regarding the three players who are academically ineligible for the Emerald Bowl — tight end Anthony McCoy, right tackle Tyron Smith and defensive tackle Averell Spicer — Carroll said “we all lose and we all fail when a guy fails.”
But, Carroll added, there’s only so much coaches, advisers and tutors can do.
“When it comes down to it, they still have to do the work,” he said of the players. “We don’t do the work for them.”
Carroll said Smith, a sophomore, can be reinstated for spring football. Fullback Stanley Havili was ineligible for last season’s Rose Bowl but participated in spring drills. McCoy and Spicer are seniors.
SPAZIANI-SPEAK
Boston College coach Frank Spaziani had the quote of the day.
When asked his reaction when he found out he was facing high-profile USC, Spaziani said: “It was good news, bad news — like your mother-in-law went off the cliff ... in your Cadillac Escalade.”
NOTES
A final decision hasn’t been made yet, but Shareece Wright took most of the first-team reps at cornerback opposite Kevin Thomas and is on track to start. Wright was academically ineligible for the regular season. His replacement, Josh Pinkard, tore a knee ligament Dec. 5. ... Defensive tackle Hebron Fangupo, who suffered a season-ending broken leg Sept. 26, jogged during warmups, a good sign for next season.