Are you old enough to remember those glory years at Tailback U? That 16 year run of John McKay during which time he won 9 conference titles, 5 Rose Bowls, and 4 National Championships. How about John Robinson who came in after McKay to win 4 more Rose Bowls and another National Championship. Then there’s Pete Carroll whose Trojans had a 35 game winning streak at home over six seasons, winning two National Titles and playing for a third. There was always one thing you were able to count on in those days. No matter how poorly your own favorite team in the conference played, USC was going to kick somebody’s ass in a bowl game-and often times a big somebody. For me, USC winning during the bowl season was as traditional as turkey at Thanksgiving and Santa Claus at Christmas.
Before last year it had been 18 years since the Trojans posted a loosing season. Under Clay Helton their 5-7 overall record matched exactly that of Paul Hackett in 2000–his last year. With a 4-5 PAC-12 Conference record USC came in 3rd, not in the conference, but in the PAC-12-South Division! It got so bad that after the loss to UCLA one long time Trojan fan hired a plane to circle the stadium imploring the AD to fire the coach.
How is it that USC was able to take their two Top 10 recruiting classes of 2016 and 2017 as well as their No. 4 nationally ranked recruits of 2018 and come up with a team that was down in the bottom three of almost every statistical category in the conference last year. Maybe it’s as basic as a point made in the article, “The PAC-12 Can’t Recruit . . . Here’s The Fix.” In it the author, Jon Joseph writes, “No matter how much talent a team acquires, poor coaching will inevitably render it useless.” If that’s true, and I think it is, Helton’s best chance of survival–considering that there’s plenty of great talent from those three great recruiting classes still around–rests in the hands of the five new full-time coaches he has hired. Probably most specifically in the hands of his new offensive coordinator, Graham Harrell.
Under Harrell, USC fans are going to have to forget the past and embrace the future, even though that future may only last a year. If you want a clue as to the direction the offense may lean, Harrell loves the spread, is a pass first kind of guy, and worked under Mike Leach for two years. Don’t expect to see a full blown Air Raid Offense, but they’ll be getting a lot of folks involved (especially some really good returning RB’s and WR’s) and as a result you should reasonably expect the Trojans to put more points on the board this year. But if they want to win against the good teams they’ll need to do better on the other side of the ball. As of now there’s not yet a convincing case that they are going to be successful at doing that although it is rumored that Defensive Coordinator Clancy Pendergast will be employing a KISS strategy that should help, especially the younger players.
In spite of those changes and all the talent that USC can put on the field many of the pundits are convinced that it’s all too little too late and that Helton is circling the drain just waiting to crash and burn and suspect that it could come early. Considering their schedule, USC could have an overall loosing record and be 0-3 in the conference by the end of September after facing Stanford and Utah at home and Washington on the road. They’ll get what I suspect will be a much needed bye Saturday, October 5th, but only to pack their bags and head out to face Notre Dame. Would it be exciting to see a miracle happen at USC this year—hell yes—but don’t bet your rent money on it.
USC’s 2019 college football season kicks off at home Saturday August 31st against the Fresno State Bulldogs at 7:30pm on ESPN. Isn’t that the team that former Cal Coach Jeff Tedford took over and has led to a 22-4 record over the last two years, beating Boise State for the Mountain West Conference Title twice as well as winning both bowl games, last year beating PAC-12 South’s Arizona State 31-20 in the Las Vegas Bowl and ending up at No. 21 in the final CFP Poll? Yeah, that team. Fortunately for Helton and the Trojans there’s been a lot of change on the coaching staff at Fresno State in addition to the loss of thirteen starters. That should be enough to get USC off on a positive note, but if they’re smart they won’t be looking past Week 1.