Rout of Cal shows USC is not irrelevant

Prior to Saturday’s game, the month of October had not been kind to the Trojans’ status in the collegiate football world.

Between two heartbreaking field goals, a plethora of missed opportunities and all of the lost hype, the Trojans found themselves tied for seventh place in the Pac-10 and sitting on the national media’s back burner with little momentum and even less to play for — at least in a tangible way.

It didn’t help that Saturday’s matchup against California — another team struggling to find its stride — showed little prospect in its own right; a win for the favored Trojans would be expected, and a loss would just continue the downward spiral for a program burdened with seemingly never-ending hardship.

The Trojans not only responded to the adversity, but took their small opportunity against the Golden Bears and turned it into an audible message that had not been heavily broadcast yet this season — “We are still here.”

In a flash of brilliance from both the offense and defense, USC turned Saturday’s matchup into a punishing release of pent-up energy, frustration and desire, pummeling a helpless Cal team so handily that it took two hands to count the Trojans’ first-half touchdowns.

The sophomore quarterback Matt Barkley-led offense, containing one of the most dynamic players in college football in freshman phenom wide receiver Robert Woods, continued to light up the scoreboard, but it was the defensive effort that headlined the performance. The unit held Cal to three first downs in the first half, intercepted Cal quarterback Kevin Riley twice and posted its first first-half shutout of the season.

Even the special teams joined the party, as senior kicker Joe Houston — who has been much maligned through the first six games — nailed both of his field goal attempts from 27 yards, and coverage teams blanketed the field and took away any chance for the Golden Bears to gain momentum.

For Trojan fans, there’s probably no way to sum it up better than USC sophomore linebacker Devon Kennard did: “It felt good.”

But good feelings and a sense of relief are not all that came out of USC’s win Saturday. The game presented a fork in the road for both teams, and the Trojans proved that they were not going to settle for taking the same path to the land of obscurity and five-win seasons as their ailing opponent.

I don’t want to call it a statement win. At a time of absolute turmoil for a football program steeped in tradition and a winning history, this was more than that. It was a game that will help define what the coming years will be like for a team that has hardly looked like the Trojans that won two (one according to the NCAA) national championships since 2000.

You might be thinking I’m putting too much weight on a simple win over our perennial second-in-line punching bag to the north (don’t worry Washington State, you are still No. 1), but to fully understand the situation for the Trojans, an examination of the conference status quo is necessary.

USC is no longer the king of the Pac-10. Even if Trojan fans could still find an argument for that point after going 9-4 last season, it was all but squashed in the first two weeks of October. And with the coup d’état has come a bum-rush of contenders all looking to pounce on the opportunity to find their place at the top.

Add the fact that USC is an ineligible contender for the next two seasons, and it’s easy to see how the guys on College Football Live could forget about the Trojans and the dynasty that once existed in the late 2000s.

Yes, after losing to Washington and Stanford, USC has only a glimmer of hope to take first place in the Pac-10 this season. But the difference between finishing in third place and eighth place is everything the Trojans have left to play for — to prove that, although the style of play has changed, the foundations of a great team have not.

With the new caravan of coaches and players coming in, 2010 represented a potential schism between the Trojans of last decade and the present team. In rebounding from two tough losses to beat conference foe Cal, especially in the manner they did, a connection was established with the success of the past. The Trojans showed that they still have the necessary tools to remain the team they once were, even if they must simultaneously deal with a monumental program shakeup.

It was only one win. Still, a loss Saturday could have sealed a disastrous downfall for USC’s coaching, recruiting and national relevance — the key ingredients that have made Trojan football what it is today.

Fortunately, instead of allowing that to happen, coach Lane Kiffin and the Trojans decided somewhere around 12:30 p.m. Saturday that it was time to pay homage to the last decade of USC football.

“One-Two Punch” runs Mondays. To comment on this article, visit dailytrojan.com or e-mail James at [email protected].