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Linebacker-turned-running back Tre Madden is the talk of USC's spring practice and quarterback Max Wittek is having himself a fine second spring as he competes to back up Matt Barkley.

But, together, Madden and Wittek are now creating a small problem. They're both playing offense and they're both wearing the No. 13. Someone's going to have change, and nobody's volunteering.

"It's kind of funny that both of us are wearing the number," Madden said Saturday. "I'm going to try to get him out of it, try to bribe him a little bit and see where it goes."

Both players have their attachments to it -- Wittek's worn it since high school in honor of one of his mother's best friends. Madden, born Curtis Madden III, picked it when he got to USC because he's always had a '3' in his number to symbolize his name. He wore No. 3 at Mission Viejo High, but the Trojans retired that for Carson Palmer in 2003.

The problem has only come up in the last week, since Madden's much-publicized move from the defensive side of the ball. And although they're both second-year players, Wittek has technically had the number longer because he enrolled early last January.

But the quarterback said he'd be open to playing a game of pick-up basketball or something small like that to decide who gets to keep it long term. Other than that, Wittek said, he had "no idea" how it was going to get solved.

He did know one thing, though. Teammates have taken to calling Madden "Baby Stafon" after Stafon Johnson, the last USC running back to wear No. 13.

Wittek said he just didn't want to be called "Baby Marinovich" after troubled Robo-QB Todd Marinovich.

We'll have more coverage looking back at USC's 38-17 win over Syracuse on Sunday and Monday, but this will be for it tonight. Mark Saxon looked at the sometimes-dominant USC defensive line, Arash Markazi handed out some extra points and we also covered the now-routine performance from quarterback Matt Barkley and coach Lane Kiffin's peculiar decisions with his running backs. We also had video of Kiffin's postgame news conference and our postgame grades on the blog.

In the meantime, here are video interviews with two of the most important people from Saturday's game to tide you over until Sunday.

Syracuse defensive end Mikhail Marinovich returned home to Southern California for the first time on the football field Saturday, and he said it meant quite a bit to him. See what Marinovich, the younger brother of former USC quarterback Todd Marinovich, had to say about his first time playing in the Coliseum:

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1. All about USC: The Trojans' head coach said it Thursday: This game isn't about Syracuse, it's about USC. The Trojans are favored to win by two touchdowns or more, but they'll be more focused on the tune-up aspect of the game than anything else. What does that mean, you ask? Fumbles will be severely discouraged. Defensive turnovers will be seriously encouraged. Formal try-outs will be had (See Brown, Anthony and McAllister, Drew). Remember, Arizona State looms in eight days.

2. Tyler to take control? It's not that he didn't unofficially take control of the No. 1 running back job in his 2011 debut last weekend, but Marc Tyler has the opportunity to officially become the Trojans' starter with another dominant performance this Saturday against Syracuse. As USC envisions it, Tyler will probably take the vast majority of the carries in the first half and then give way to D.J. Morgan, Dillon Baxter and Co. once the Trojans establish a comfortable lead. So, in other words, he might not get the chance to wear the Orange defense down -- which, of course, means that this is really another type of test for Tyler, who can prove he's as effective on the second series of a game as he is on the 10th.

3. Marinovich: You thought that name would never again be used to describe an active player, didn't you? Well, you thought wrong. Mikhail Marinovich, the 22-year-old brother of former USC quarterback Todd Marinovich, is in his third year starting at defensive end for the Orange. He's a legitimate player, one with six career sacks and two fumble recoveries. And he'll be even more important than usual this week for Syracuse, as the Orange will be missing perhaps their best defensive player in Marinovich's partner at end, senior Chandler Jones. It will be interesting to see what kind of reaction he receives in the Coliseum.

4. Sacks, sacks, sacks: USC's averaging three of them through two games this season, a respectable number but not quite what the Trojans envisioned. Can they push that average up near four with a four- or five-sack performance against the Orange? Devon Kennard hasn't recorded one yet this year. Neither has Wes Horton. Nick Perry's been great, as expected, and DaJohn Harris has been great too, in a surprise, but there's still a lot of room for growth from the defensive line as a unit. One of the Trojans' two sacks against the Utes was Hayes Pullard's mammoth stop of Jordan Wynn 15 yards behind the line of scrimmage. It's hard to get that kind of distance on a sack by a defensive lineman D-line sack

5. Gelling as a line: It's hard to do, especially with the Trojans auditioning their third different starter at left guard this week in freshman Marcus Martin. But it must happen, especially in a game like this. The hole between Matt Kalil and Khaled Holmes on the line needs to be capably filled, or at least somewhat-capably, and it needs to happen sometime soon, before the bulk of the Pac-12 schedule hits, preferably. Maybe Abe Markowitz will be the answer. It looks like he might be able to play some Saturday as he attempts to return from a mysterious foot injury, and it could be perfect timing as he gets right just in time for the thick of the Trojans' schedule.