Trojans claim a joyless victory

That victory over Arizona is supposed to feel good. Coming off a demoralizing defeat and going on the road to knock off a top-10 team is supposed to feel good. Regaining sole possession of first place in the Pac-12 South is supposed to feel good. Yet I’d be hard-pressed to find a Trojan fan around who felt joy after watching that fourth quarter. Anxiety, sure. Déjà vu, absolutely. Joy, probably not.

Maybe, there was a second or two of celebration when Arizona kicker Casey Skowron missed wide and the Trojans held on to win 28-26. I was worried that the refs were going to buy the flop by Skowron and throw another flag. Thankfully, the only thing worse than Skowron’s accuracy last night was his acting ability.

As the old mantra goes, a win is a win. It is always better to win ugly than to lose pretty. It would be a stretch, however, to say USC really won that game. It’s more like they didn’t lose, which is exactly how the game was coached in the fourth quarter.

When the Wildcats scored in the third quarter to make it 21-13, I was interested to see how the Trojans would react. A mark of a good team is one who responds to adversity and doesn’t wilt away. I was pleased to see USC march down the field and score in Buck Allen’s third touchdown of the game. Maybe this was the identity the Trojans had been searching for all year.

Unfortunately, the rest of the game was more indicative of the Trojans’ true character this year. Right after the touchdown, USC held Arizona to a three-and-out and got the ball back to start the fourth quarter. Instead of going for the jugular up by two scores on the road, the coaches decided to play it safe. They went three-and-out and punted the ball away. There is no drive that better encapsulates this year’s Trojan team than that three-and-out.

Yes, good coaches instill resilience in their teams’ DNA so the players can respond to adversity. That’s not enough, though. Great coaches keep their foot on the gas until the clock strikes zero. Elite teams put their foot on the other teams’ neck and slam the door shut on any notions of a comeback. I hadn’t even considered this until a friend I was watching the game with made that point. If the Trojans are going to be playoff contenders, they need a coach who will adopt this mentality.

One look at this game, and it’s clear that USC is a good team, not a great team. Save for two nice runs by sophomore tailback Justin Davis and one herculean effort by Allen in the fourth quarter, USC would have gone for three straight three-and-outs. On third and six, the coaches dialed up a pass that didn’t go past the line of scrimmage let alone the first down marker.

That’s not the mark of a team with a winning mentality, that’s not a team with swagger. That has nothing to do with the players. Under Eddy O last season, the team oozed confidence. They played with fire and passion; this year they are hesitant, nervously tiptoeing around as if they are a high wire act.

Once Arizona got the ball back after those pitiful calls, they carved up the bent-and-broken Justin Wilcox-led defense to score, and then recovered the ensuing onside kick. Thankfully, icing the kicker worked for the second time during the night, and the Trojans escaped with the win.

In the long run, that win might impede the progress of the team. It acts as a measure of reassurance to the coaching staff. After the game, head coach Steve Sarkisian said something along the lines of USC is a Hail Mary away from being a top-five team. Through that logic, the Trojans are also a couple missed field goals away from being 2-4.

Beating Stanford earlier this year could have the same effect on this season that Lane Kiffin going 10-2 did on his entire tenure — the football version of fool’s gold.

USC didn’t win the Stanford game because of a stellar defensive performance. They got lucky that Stanford made error after error. The same could be said of the Arizona offense and special teams Saturday night.

Some might argue that this is the beauty of the bend-but-don’t-break mentality — it lets teams beat themselves. That argument is beyond flawed, as it would mean USC’s defense is essentially relying on luck to stop other teams.

While it is better to be lucky than good, the problem with luck is that it eventually reverts back to the mean. We saw it happen last week against Arizona State, and it will happen again this year. Eventually, the defense bends enough to break. At this point in the year, the Trojans have found their identity. They are an extremely talented team that is unfortunately handicapped by scheme and philosophy on both sides of the ball.

Eventually, the luck will run out — as it always does — and the coaches will be left with a decision to make. Utilize the skillset of this group: throw the ball between the hashes and down the field, run off tackle and build an attacking defense, or, remain stubborn and stuck in seven-win purgatory. For the long term, maybe what the Trojan football team needs is a little less luck and a strong dose of reality.

 

Jake Davidson is a sophomore majoring in economics. His column, “Davidson’s Direction,” runs Mondays.