COLUMN: Sarkisian faces an uncertain future

Well that didn’t go as expected. Despite entering the weekend as double-digit favorites, the USC Trojans fell handily to the Stanford Cardinal 41-31 on Saturday night.

All preseason hype came crashing down around a faltering Trojan squad that had no response for a powerful Stanford offense.

Even though the defense is mostly to blame for allowing the Cardinal to amass 474 yards of total offense, the loss will ultimately fall on the shoulders of second-year head coach Steve Sarkisian.

For the second consecutive season, the Trojans lost their third game after looking like national champion contenders in their first two.

Last season’s loss came almost 3,000 miles away from the Coliseum at the hands of Boston College.

This year, the Stanford Cardinal marched into the Coliseum and whipped the Trojans from start to finish. Somehow a team that couldn’t manage a touchdown against its first opponent, Northwestern, exploded for five touchdowns against a Trojan defense that only allowed 15 points in its first two games.

What really decimated the Trojans’ chances of making a comeback in the fourth quarter was Stanford’s ability to convert on third down. The Cardinal went 8-12 (67 percent) on third down and dominated time of possession at almost a 2:1 minute clip.

To put it frankly, the Trojans were completely outcoached for the entire game.

Entering the season, everybody knew this Stanford game would tell us if the Trojans were contenders or pretenders.

As I sat in the press box and watched Stanford consistently line up in a power formation, I kept thinking to myself, how are we not prepared for this?

If you’ve watched Stanford over the past several years under head coach David Shaw, you know they are a run first team. Basically, if you control the line of scrimmage against Stanford you have a strong shot at beating them.

Yet time and time again, the Cardinal would line up with two tight ends and consistently rush for 3-4 yards. The defense simply had no response.

Even worse, when we did hold the Cardinal to passing situations on third and long, we made Kevin Hogan look like the second coming of Andrew Luck. Out of eight third down conversions, Hogan threw for five and ran for two others. The Cardinal ended up scoring on every drive that Hogan converted a third down.

There are numerous other instances where the Trojans were seemingly unprepared for a must-win game.

Now the Trojans will be playing for their Pac-12 lives this Saturday against Arizona State. The last time the Trojans made the trip to Tempe, their head coach was left at the airport.

So I ask the question: could Sarkisian get Kiffined (trademark pending) if the Trojans drop a second consecutive game?

Personally, I believe Sark’s job is safe for this year at least. He managed to bring in the No. 1-ranked recruiting class and is enduring his first year without scholarship reductions.

However, with each loss and public indecency incident, his seat is becoming hotter and hotter.

Sarkisian’s critics will only get louder if the Trojans continue to disappoint this season. After his drunken mishap at an alumni event earlier this year, Sark can’t afford much more to go wrong for the Trojans.

An interesting situation that could arise is if the Trojans are blown out similarly to Kiffin’s last game in charge, a 66-44 thrashing. The Trojans would sit at 2-2 (0-2) on the season and all but surely be out of the national and even Pac-12 conversation.

Sarkisian’s record as head coach would drop to 11-6 with only two of those wins coming against AP Top 25 opponents. While that record might cut it at Washington, it just won’t do in the land of Troy.

An even better question is how safe is Pat Haden’s job if the Trojans struggle this year? He is the one who hand-picked both Kiffin and Sarkisian and has given his public support for the embattled coach.

I believe Haden is undoubtedly safe for now. He helped guide the University through some of the harshest penalties ever given out by the NCAA and has seen numerous NCAA championships under his reign.

Sarkisian, on the other hand, isn’t so safe. It’s not quite a win or go home situation, but the pressure is mounting.

Winning solves everything in college football, and in a month’s time, we could all be raving about Sarkisian. That’s just the nature of sports.

For now all we can look forward to is this Saturday, when the Trojans will be playing to keep their season alive.

Sarkisian’s future could hinge upon a positive result.

Nick Barbarino is a senior majoring in business administration. His column, “Beyond the Arc,” runs Thursdays.