So disappointed was Orgeron, he didn’t even coach the Trojans in their big Las Vegas Bowl win against Fresno State. It seemed like every player loved Coach O. Hell, there was scarcely a USC fan who didn’t, for Orgeron bled cardinal and gold, and loved USC football more than pretty much anyone else, and that’s saying something.
Despite a mediocre head coaching record, Orgeron was our guy. People wanted him to coach full-time, including me. Why? Because he seemed to be able to milk every ounce of passion out of the team, which was something Kiffin simply couldn’t achieve. He taught those kids about how much fun football could be, after Lane seemingly did his level best to take all the fun out of it.
I still remember where I was when the Sark hire broke: it was the Monday after Thanksgiving, and I was about to board a train from Chicago to San Francisco. Walking across the Chicago River towards Union Station, my phone beeped. It was a friend from the West Coast. The text said only, “Sark”. That’s all it needed to say.
Talk about mixed emotions. I wasn’t sure how I felt. It felt like, maybe, Haden was destined to repeat the Lane Kiffin error, bringing in another assistant from the Pete Carroll glory days, and that was concerning, given the Kiffin-sized hole Coach O had just brought – no, actually, dragged – the Trojans out of. Had Haden lost his mind? I remember a pit forming in my stomach. 51 hours on a train gave me a lot of time to think about Sark’s new gig, and I didn’t alight in San Francisco feeling any more positive about it than when I’d boarded in the Windy City.
Flipping our calendars forward twelve months – give or take a few days since that Las Vegas Bowl win – and it’s fair to say that I, and many, many others was wrong. Where I had worried the Trojans might stumble and crash some more, the opposite happened. And now, a few hours after an impressive offensive performance in a 45-42 Holiday Bowl win over a motivated Nebraska team, I can honestly say that the trajectory of the University of Southern California’s football program is only headed in one direction – the right direction: upwards.
An assessment of where the program currently sits and what’s to come in the near future, seasons that won’t be plagued by drastically limited scholarships, was provided by the Trojans head coach, Steve Sarkisian, when he gave something of a ‘state of the union’ address following USC”s 49-14 demolition of Notre Dame last month: "Our future is ridiculously bright. We're going to be really good, and we're not going anywhere."
Sarkisian, derided by some as Seven Win Sark until, naturally, he won 9 games with USC this year, is dead-on. Other teams around the Pac-12 conference – and, indeed, the entire college football nation – should be worried, because the Trojans are coming. Yeah, I know we told you that a few years ago when Lane Kiffin ruled the roost, and when USC turned a #1 pre-season ranking into the most disappointing season in recent memory, but we mean it this time.
With major scholarship restrictions coming to an end, the Trojans can build up the defensive depth they’ve been lacking – and depth that might’ve cost USC in those close, last-gasp losses to Utah and Arizona State. A few more battle-tested, scholarship players and things could’ve been really different. Two more wins and suddenly you’re looking at an 11-2 record and, most probably, a spot in the Pac-12 Championship Game. USC’s greatest inability in Season 2014 was being able to close games out late.
Depressingly, the Trojans were blown out by UCLA, never competitive on a disastrous night at the Rose Bowl where the 38-20 score line flattered the Trojans a bunch more than they deserved, but they were right up to their necks in every other game, despite those scholarship restrictions, and that’s enough reason to believe that next year there’ll be more close wins than close losses.
It’s considered fairly likely that star defensive lineman Leonard Williams will depart to the NFL Draft – though, based on some quotes, he hasn’t completely shut the door on a senior year run with the Trojans – and despite that, and the loss of a good crop of senior defensive players, the excellent Hayes Pullard amongst them, the underclass talent should be able to step up.
Offensively, there are even fewer problems. QB Cody Kessler might go, but most believe he won’t, and if RB Javorious ‘Buck’ Allen departs, his understudy, Justin Davis, should slot in nicely. Kessler, the most underappreciated quarterback in the nation this year, threw over 3500 yards, with just five interceptions against 36 touchdowns, completing passes at 70.7%, and will benefit from another year at USC before going pro. He’s considered less likely to graduate than Matt Barkley was at the same time, and Barkley ended up coming back, so we’ll wait and see.
Even if Kessler goes, whoever slots into the quarterback position will have a host of talent to throw to, led by a trio of impressive players, all sophomores next year, in receivers JuJu Smith and Adoree’ Jackson and tight end Bryce Dixon. George Farmer seems set for a break-out year after too many injury-riddled seasons.
Also, there’s a chance Kessler’s favourite target, Nelson Agholor, returns to school for one last roll of the dice, and if he does – as well as Buck Allen – then, watch out world. USC will be red-hot offensively regardless, but the addition of Agholor and Allen will push them to an even higher plane. That’s without accounting whatever talent the 2015 recruiting class will bring in.
For all the derision aimed at Sarkisian, the guy has actually done a good job. It isn’t easy coming from Washington into the pressure-cooker environment that is USC football, and Sarkisian acquitted himself well at all times. He’s certainly been a breath of fresh air compared to Lane Kiffin.
Of course, Sarkisian – like every USC coach before him, and those who will inevitably come after him – will be judged on wins, particularly against UCLA and Notre Dame, and championships, both in the Pac-12 and nationally. The thing is, with the talent and football infrastructure behind him, Sarkisian is well placed to shake that ‘Seven Win Sark’ moniker forever.
Fight On!
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