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.

Seperated at Birth?

As a Trojan, choosing sides for the UCLA-Notre Dame game on Saturday I think I felt a little of what Grady Little must have gone through this season when he picked a relief pitcher from the Dodger Bullpen. I didn't particularly like any of my options, and I knew whomever I picked stood an excellent chance of doing something stupid to let me down in the end.

But, cheering for UCLA in the fourth quarter I was continually impressed by their ability to put pressure on Quinn and stifle the Irish offense. I had been equally impressed by Cowan's ability to come off the bench and make big throws against the supposedly much improved (snicker) Notre Dame defense on the road.

So when the UCLA defense forced a punt midway through the fourth quarter and forced the Irish to punt, it felt like UCLA had a good chance to fight its way through the echos and come up with the upset. The Bruins had been averaging almost seven yards per pass attempt, and the Irish we're reeling, so it seemed like the obvious move to run some play action, and have Cowan work the underneath routs the Irish had been giving him all game. All the Bruins needed was one good scoring drive to put the game on ice.

But Karl Dorrell didn't want to mount another scoring drive. He wanted the game to be over right then and there.

UCLA was the unranked team visiting the national powerhouse. UCLA was the team that did not have a national championship, or even a conference victory on the line. UCLA was a team the lead in the fourth quarter with nothing to lose, and a program establishing win to gain. But then in a moment, UCLA ceased to be the hunter, and became the hunted.

UCLA averadged less than one yard per carry on Saturday, but Dorrell ran the ball anyway. Ran it again and again. Terrified of an incomplete pass stopping the clock. Terrified, he would have to play more football. His fear played right into the Irish's hands. UCLA had two possessions the rest of the game. They ran six plays that gained a net seven yards.

On Defense, they went away from the blitz packages that had been effective at forcing Quinn into bad situations the whole game. Instead, they used a prevent defense that allowed for the short passes that Notre Dame's offense thrives on. Begging the Irish to take anything but the endzone on it's last possession, Quinn took everything the Bruins gave him. That was enough.

When Notre Dame Senior Receiver Eddie Vedder caught one of those short passes and stumbled through the Bruin's secondary for the game winning touchdown, you'd have had to have been Dorrel himself to be surprised at the outcome.

UCLA's gameplan had worked for three and a half quarters. Then it was abandoned. By changing gears at the most critical point in the game, Dorrell was assuming his team would fail if he allowed them to continue. He was to afraid to find out if his team was good enough emphatically win game. It was so much easier to find out if the Irish were good enough to steal it.

UCLA's players worked hard and effectively for for 54:30 at Notre Dame Stadium. Dorrell's cowardice stole the last 5:30 from them. And that was all the Irish needed.