USC still has issues on offense


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Up until Saturday’s matchup against Notre Dame, the Ed Orgeron era at USC had been all about fun, smiles and desserts. But after watching the Trojans repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot in the final minutes to hand the game to one of their biggest rivals, it was hard for any member of the Trojan […]

USC undergoing slight ‘Tailback U’ revival


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Many of us who have seen USC football in recent years, and many of us who were groaning our displeasure during the Washington State game earlier this semester, have an idea of what USC’s offense “ought” to be. For the past three seasons, to watch USC’s offense was a ritual of the quarterback dropping back […]

Rivalry with Irish is full of prestige


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The Greatest Intersectional Rivalry in College Football. That’s what they like to call the annual showdown between USC and Notre Dame that first took place in 1925. The tale goes that USC was looking for a “rival” from somewhere besides the West Coast, and went after Notre Dame. Legendary Irish coach Knute Rockne didn’t like […]

Orgeron deserves to shed interim tag


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Though I have only been an avid follower of USC football since the Pete Carroll era, I am well-versed enough in Trojan lore to know that our lineage of tremendous running backs extends beyond Reggie Bush and LenDale White to Marcus Allen, Anthony Davis, Ricky Bell and Charles White. Before quarterbacks Matt Leinart and Carson […]

Orgeron has USC living in the now


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It started around 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, roughly two hours before kickoff. USC coaches, players and players’ family members gathered around midfield at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for a pregame prayer and pep talk, led by interim head coach Ed Orgeron. The purpose, players said, was to emphasize the overarching theme that will drive […]

Secondary remains Trojans’ weak spot


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With USC interim head coach Ed Orgeron roaming the sidelines and radiating energy, it certainly felt like the dawn of a new, bright era in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Thursday night. Offensive coordinator Clay Helton helped redshirt sophomore quarterback Cody Kessler turn in arguably the best game of his young career in cardinal […]

USC-ND rivalry might sink into irrelevance


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If we rewound the clock 40 years, and USC’s game next week was between the 1973 Notre Dame Fighting Irish and the 1973 Trojans instead of the 2013 editions of each team, there would be a whole lot more anticipation and excitement heading into the matchup. USC was at the height of the John McKay […]

USC gets fresh start tonight vs. Wildcats


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Exactly six weeks ago, I wrote a column that my editors headlined “First game couldn’t arrive sooner for USC.” It was Aug. 29, the day of the Trojans’ season opener against Hawai’i. The gist, more or less, was this: “This is a team, a fan base and a program all too eager for a fresh […]

Kiffin, O’Neill followed same path


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Though former head coach Lane Kiffin’s high points were ultimately outweighed by his many low points, he was merely the most recent USC coach to follow this downward trajectory. Kiffin’s dismissal concluded a career arc similar to that of another coach who was unceremoniously fired only eight months prior — former USC basketball head coach […]

Pac-12 moving on without Trojans


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Over the better part of the last decade, the national perception among college football fans and media has been that the SEC is the dominant conference. Year in and year out, SEC teams are held on a higher pedestal than teams from other conferences, a sentiment that is reflected in the national rankings. This season […]