Nepotism Loses Football Games: USC Mid-Season Report

My coverage of USC football has been pretty sparse this season and it dawned on me last week that it's really strange that I've posted waaay more about the Broncos than I have about the Trojans. Considering that I've only watched two Broncos games on tv and get the rest of my information from highlight shows, friends in the Rockies (who get all the games on CBS) and Denver newspapers.

By contrast, every USC home game is a huge day-long event for me that is anticipated for weeks in advance. I arrive at the stadium three hours before the game and never leave until well after the final gun sounds. I talk with fellow fans for hours about each game. So why, I asked myself, have I written almost nothing about the team that carries my largest investment of time, emotion, and thought? I'm best qualified to write about SC, so why don't I do it?

The only answer I've come up with is that I do this blog for fun, and thinking reminiscing on past USC games this season has been anything but fun.

Of course, I'm aware that the team I'm talking about is 6-0 and acknowledged to be among the top five in the nation, but not even that makes me happy.

Watching the other 6-0 SC teams, and even the 4-2 2002 team, I knew I was seeing something special. I knew I was watching a team that could and should win the national championship. Anyone who feels that way about this year's Trojans is delusional. And it's not going to get better, it's going to get worse.

Pete Carroll made the decision to return USC to mediocrity when he ran Offensive Coordinator Norm Chow out of town so he could give the job to his Godson, Lane Kiffen. That whole debacle made my stomach turn a bit, and reminded me of another story that should be making the whole Trojan family sick.

Bobby Bowden got a little big-headed after his national title at Florida State in 2000 and replaced his offensive coordinator with his son too. How's that turned out?

See if this sounds familiar. Mark Richt ran the offense at FSU from 1990 through 1999. During that stretch, Florida State was the best program in college football. They won their conference every season but one; they won two National Championships, and Richt coached two quarterbacks to Heisman Trophies.

Other than the years involved, that's exactly how Norm Chow's resume read at USC.

Mark Richt's last game at FSU capped an undefeated national championship, just like Norm's, and Mark Richt's replacement (using the term loosely) was the son of the Head Coach...Just like Norm's.

So if we want to see where USC is headed, we should look at where Florida State has been.

In 1990, the Seminoles remained strong. Winning 11 games, but losing in the National Championship game. Their offense did not score in the game.

Since then, It has won ten games or more only once and lost 3 or more every season. They've lost that many already this season, and are currently in last place.

Pete Carroll has built a mighty program at Southern Cal, and the team is still loaded with talent. But it is becoming more evident every game that the offense is a boat without a rudder.

Last week's game winning drive in the fourth quarter is being billed by the team as a confidence builder. "We showed there that we can play smashmouth football against anybody" Coach Steve Sarkisian bragged to the media.

What the rest of us saw is a Junior quarterback crapping his pants AT HOME with a 21 point lead against one of the worst defenses in the Pac-10. Booty was playing so bad at that point, he was only allowed to throw one pass on the drive. It was was a four yard screen, which he missed by three yards.

The Trojans have enough talent to run up the middle 12 times on the same drive against ASU, but what's going to happen when Booty assumes the fetal position against Oregon or Notre Dame? What's going to happen when Lane Kiffen's ultra-predictable play calling becomes an easy read for Jeff Tedford's defense?

Lane Kiffen has repeatedly shown an unwillingness to make in-game adjustments, and an inability keep defenses guessing with play calling. His refusal to throw the ball against Texas when it was working cost SC the National Championship last year. This year, the Trojans are running on fumes of former glory, and coasting into mediocrity.