Mock-game time for Trojans: It’s all in the details

USC football coaches call it a mock game. Trojans players describe it as a scrimmage.

In short, it’s a dress rehearsal.

USC coaches, players and training, video and operations support staff will arrive by bus at the Coliseum this afternoon after spending Wednesday night hunkered down in a hotel. The Trojans will have gone through a minute-by-minute simulation of everything they can expect to encounter before a game.

USC opens its season Aug. 30 at Virginia.

“We think attention to the details of preparation is just as important as anything else we can do at this point,” said Coach Pete Carroll, who has made the mock-game an annual staple of training camp.

The preparation began with Wednesday afternoon’s walk-through, followed by a rally at Heritage Hall with the Trojan marching band and song girls. The team then traveled to a hotel near LAX.

The team and coaches went through a series of special teams, offense and defense meetings before Carroll addressed the entire roster as he would on the night before a game. Then came a team “snack” that was more like a feast.

More meetings this morning and a team meal served as a prelude to the Trojans scheduled departure for the Coliseum today at 1:25 p.m. The scrimmage begins at 3:30 and is open to the public. Admission is free.

“Everything will be exactly like we do at game times, all the time frames and the warm-ups and everything – again so that they can just go through it and remind the older guys and teach the younger guys what it’s all about,” Carroll said.

With quarterbacks Aaron Corp and Mitch Mustain vying to possibly replace Mark Sanchez as the starter for the opener, USC offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian said the night-before routine “is a really big deal for them.”

Corp said the attention to detail should translate in a better performance by the Trojans this afternoon.

“We should be more prepared for this scrimmage than other scrimmages when you just kind of go out there and call plays,” he said.

 gary.klein@latimes.com