COLUMN: USC needs to finish the story it rewrote
With temperatures expected to be in the 20s by game time, it’s going to be relatively chilly when USC takes on Colorado on Friday the 13th — the first time either team has ever played on the superstitious date.
Currently on a three-game winning streak, you would think that all the Trojans have to do to come away with a win against the Buffs on Friday, in theory, is avoid broken mirrors and black cats. More importantly, though, they need to stay warm in the cold tundra that is Boulder.
It’s going to be tough for the Buffs to simply freeze one of the hottest teams in the Pac-12 right now — unless they have someone that resembles Mr. Freeze from the 1997 Batman and Robin film.
It’s not the weather that’s cooled the Trojans down in the past, however. They’ve been their own greatest downfall and enemy all season long. When they execute Clay Helton’s game plan of stopping the run, running the ball and not turning it over, they appear to be the best team in the Pac-12. That was evident against Utah when the Trojans defense forced four turnovers and held DeVontae Booker to a season-low 62 yards while powering in four touchdowns on the ground.
So what if it is a blueprint for success that derives from David Shaw and the Stanford Cardinal? It’s no wonder that Shaw has been thrown into the mix of the USC coaching search here and there for that reason, but in a very short time, Helton has gotten his team to buy in at last.
It’s really been a long time coming for a team that was nothing but erratic up until its most recent winning streak.
It can be funny to think about on the surface, but, pre-Clay Helton, this USC team could have been perfectly described by Katy Perry’s hit song “Hot N Cold” — in reverse order — similar to the Star Wars epic.
The Trojans were hot, then they were cold; they were yes we’re a good football team, then they were no; they were in the Pac-12 South race, then they were out; they were up, then they were down.
I’m not Shakespeare, but in a drama, the sequence of events in the plot line is everything. Initially, it appeared that the termination of former head coach Steve Sarkisian was going to be the climax of the team’s season and the team’s tough loss at Notre Dame appeared to serve as the falling action.
A loss to Utah would have effectively fulfilled the element of the denouement.
In spite of the fact that so many people wrote them off when they were down, the Trojans have decided to rewrite this story, and they’re fortunate that they have decided to heat up at the right time, heading down the stretch with a legitimate shot to win the South division.
A happy ending is not a guarantee, though. Another tale in recent years comes to mind.
In 2013, Ed Orgeron, best known as “Coach O,” took the Trojans on a 6-2 run to cap off the regular season and reinstalled the spirit of the Trojan Family after the tarmac canning of Lane Kiffin. Orgeron wasn’t offered the head coaching job, however, after losing to UCLA at home in the team’s final game, which ended a five-game winning streak.
If USC is able to take care of business against Colorado and go to Eugene the week after and beat Oregon, it will once again be riding a five-game going into its most important game of the year against its crosstown rivals.
The two stories are very similar in nature, but Helton and his team are hoping to capture a different conclusion.
A win against the Bruins in the Trojans regular season finale to win the Pac-12 South and send them to the conference title game could ensure that Helton and the Trojans live happily ever after.
Darian Nourian is a senior majoring in print and digital journalism. He is also the sports editor of the Daily Trojan. His column, “Persian Persuasion,” runs Fridays.