USC coach Pete Carroll said Tuesday that he expected junior Mark Sanchez to start Saturday at Virginia:

"Mark practiced full-go yesterday. He looked good. I think he's got to clear through the doctors tonight to get the final OK."

"We're expecting him to play."

Carroll also commented on the preseason of reserves Mitch Mustain and Aaron Corp and how the two reserves sit relative to Sanchez:

"Mitch has made a tremendous amount of progress, as Aaron Corp has. I think this has accelerated their progress, but there is still a distance between those guys' handling of the offense and where Mark is."

Carroll was indecisive when asked which quarterback, Mustain or Corp, should be considered the backup.

"We're going to leave this competition open and see how they continue to develop.
There's nothing to declare yet."

Although those of us who have watched practices consider Corp to be slightly above Mustain at this point.

LOS ANGELES -- The surprising story of the annual Cardinal-versus-White scrimmage Thursday afternoon at the Coliseum was the second stringers.

The Cardinal team, made up of second- and third-string players, was surprisingly effective for most of the scrimmage, which the White-clad starters eventually won, 28-7.

"What was interesting to me was the Cardinal team," said head coach Pete Carroll. "That's a good-looking team out there.

"They played really well and made it tough for the White team. A lot of cool things happened on that side."