The college football season ended just three weeks ago when Wes Byrum's game-winning field goal gave Auburn a 22-19 victory over Oregon in the Tostitos BCS National Championship.

But for the USC football team, it has already been a long offseason. In fact, it will be the longest offseason the Trojans have faced in more than a decade since it was the first time they were not invited to a bowl game since 1999.

Due to NCAA sanctions, USC was forced to sit at home and watch as 70 teams received bowl invites, including 32 with worse regular season records than the Trojans.

But during the two months since USC dismantled its crosstown rival at the Rose Bowl, several events have transpired that could greatly impact the team's 2011 season.

Let's take a look at USC's offseason so far:

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Mere days after the Trojans toppled UCLA 28-14, junior offensive lineman Tyron Smith and junior defensive tackle Jurrell Casey were named to the All-Pac-10 First Team. Both were also honored as the team's top lineman at the team awards banquet. Smith also was the winner on offense of the peer-voted Morris Trophy, which is given to the top lineman in the Pac-10.

However, both players also declared themselves eligible for the NFL draft as early entrants, therefore foregoing their senior seasons.

Most experts expected Casey to leave, but Smith was more of a surprise, especially after he said he was leaning toward returning to the Trojans prior to the UCLA game.

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With the graduation of Butch Lewis and center Kris O'Dowd, USC was already going to be inexperienced on the offensive line after Smith's decision to leave. However, the front line took another hit just after New Year's when Michael Reardon decided not to return for a fifth year.

Reardon started the final five games of the season, taking over for Lewis. He was in line to start next season, but the senior from Orange County has already earned his degree and has a job lined up with his father's construction company. He also said he would likely have needed hip surgery if he wanted to continue playing.

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To fill the void left by the early departures of Smith and Reardon, the USC coaching staff went to the junior college ranks, bringing in a pair of linemen as early enrollees: David Garness, a 6-foot-5, 290-pounder from the City College of San Francisco, and Jeremy Galten, a 6-foot-4, 285-pounder from San Mateo Junior College.

Both will have a chance to compete for a starting position beginning with spring practice.

Fellow junior college transfers Dallas Kelley, a 6-foot, 230-pound linebacker from Chaffey Junior College, and Isiah Wiley, a 6-foot-1, 185-pound cornerback from Arizona Western Junior College, will add depth at defensive positions where USC is thin.

Rounding out USC's group of nine early enrollees are a pair of special teams players and a pair of highly touted quarterbacks, and a potential successor to graduating senior Stanley Havili.

Kicker Andre Heidari is the most likely player of the group to make an immediate impact, given how much the Trojans struggled with kicking last season. He is joined by long snapper Peter McBride, top 15 quarterbacks Max Wittek and Cody Kessler, and fullback Soma Vainuku, who signed last February but did not qualify academically.

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The nine early enrollees helped ease the losses of Smith, Casey and Reardon, but the departures weren't done.

Junior Blake Ayles, a former five-star recruit who was rated as the nation's No. 1 high school tight end by ESPN in 2008, decided to transfer in January after being relegated to third-string duty last season.

The only player the Trojans signed in 2008 that was ranked higher by ESPN than Ayles was receiver Brice Butler. Now a redshirt sophomore, Butler was not happy with his diminished role under Lane Kiffin. He announced last week on Twitter that he would be transferring as well.

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Butler's announcement was just the latest offseason development for what has been a constantly fluid position group. First, there was the announcement that freshman Markeith Ambles, a five-star recruit from Georgia, had rejoined the Trojans after previously leaving the team in November. On the same day, it was officially announced that Thearon Collins, who transferred from Miami in the fall, was leaving the team.

A bigger loss than Butler or Collins could be the departure of John Morton, the receivers coach and passing game coordinator. Morton accepted a position on Jim Harbaugh's staff with the San Francisco 49ers. His successor has yet to be named.

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The offseason event with the potential to have the greatest impact on the 2011 season occurred nowhere near Southern California but instead in the city of Indianapolis.

Athletic director Pat Hayden and the college president Max Nikias met with NCAA officials on Jan. 22 in an effort to get the sanctions levied against the football team lessened. They're hoping for a reduction of scholarship limitations and a halving of the length of USC's postseason bowl ban.

Nikias was upbeat after the appeal, but a decision from the NCAA is not expected to be announced for six to eight weeks.

To reach Shotgun Spratling, click here, or follow him on Twitter @BlueWorkhorse.

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