Josh on USC: Back From The Edge

It’s now Friday, and I have successfully walked myself back from the edge that was last weekends’ debacle (1). That desert out there in the armpit of a town they call “Tempe” can really do some strange stuff to people (2). We managed to keep the game interesting through four quarters despite spotting them 7 on the first drive (3), trading touchdowns for field goals the whole first half (4) before reaching head-scratchingly new heights of ineptitude inside 30 yards after looking all-world for the previous 70 in the second half, and finding a way to kick your whole fanbase in the proverbial groin by failing a 2 point conversion at least 15:00 before you should even think about attempting one, all while starting 6 kids in their first road game ever (5). We lost to a team we probably should have beat, or at the very least, we should have lost to in last-minute, game-ending, heart-breaking fashion on a terribly shanked field goal that I have been promised will not happen anymore now that we have one of those kitcher (6) guys.

Part of me wants to say, “but 6 starters just played their first road game” or “we’re so thin on the o-line that only one of our back-ups was actually recruited out of high school (7)”, but the other part of me knows that a great coach won’t let his kids beat themselves. A few weeks ago, I wrote that I want Kiffin to let them play fast and free, and I’m fully aware of the mistakes that will come. But there’s got to be a balance, especially in Barkley’s “senior” year (8), and there’s nothing balanced about a 4 to zero loss in the turnover battle.

If it sounds like I’m being overly critical of Kiffin, it isn’t because I don’t believe in him. It’s just that there’s always something – the hiding behind the playsheet, the deadpan lack of all enthusiasm or emotion, the HC vs OC struggles you can see all throughout his playcalling as he “tries to do it all”, or what he is or is not to the media – and there will always be “something” because until he’s held that crystal ball, eight and five is simply not good enough. I guess the best way to describe my worry with Kiffin is that I’m not sure if he has the indescribable “it”. Urban, Saban, and Pete have “it”. Tressel had “it”, and Ricky doesn’t know there’s an “it” not to have (9). But Kiffin keeps drawing me back. He keeps showing these glimpses of genius, and deep down I know *if* he makes it and becomes the leader we all want him to be, we could be standing at the beginning of something great (10). He just needs to turn the corner. He needs his '03 at Auburn moment.

I promise, next week I will write about something besides Kiffin. That is, unless he does something worth writing about again this Saturday.

(1) With the help of a lot of this.

(2) Right, Matt?

(3) After five days, that was the nicest way I could describe Starling’s “tackle”.

(4) The anti-Pete Carroll strategy – back in ’04 and ’05, Pete would gladly give up a quick 3 in order to get the ball back to Reggie, Lendale, Matt, Dwayne, Steve, BMW, et. al. And yes, I do understand Pete was a defensive coach, but how else do you explain the Ting’s?

(5) Apparently, MS Word didn’t think this was a run-on – no green squiggles. Redeemer Elementary should be proud. No comment on my use of footnotes though.

(6) chicker? kitzker? kick-or? Can one of you bruins out there help me out with this one? It’s a relatively new word for me.

(7) I know Pete (and since Kiffin and CEO we’re his main recruiters, this includes them) used to say that kids that want to come to SC don’t ask to look at the depth chart, but come on, can’t some of these high school o-linemen look at the depth chart?

(8) He’s been a 3 and out kid since the 9^th grade. Doesn’t mean I won’t start dreaming of what could be the moment we win the UCLA game at the end of this year.

(9) For the umpteenth time.. I’m going to miss that guy.

(10) He’s 36. Saban is 59; Urban is 47; and Joe Pa is 137.