It’s Sad but Very True, USC Isn’t USC Anymore

Alabama lost to Louisiana Tech.

Missouri beat Colorado to establish Larry Smith as the leading candidate for Big 12 coach of the year.

Notre Dame fans booed Navy’s coaches and players for praying on the field.

USC’s Trojans can learn some lessons from one of the most unusual college football Saturdays in recent memory, besides the one they received in humility while going scoreless in Seattle.

1. It can happen to anyone.

USC’s loss to Fresno State in the 1992 Freedom Bowl wasn’t as humiliating as it seemed at the time. Alabama fans might have laughed then, but not now.

2. Smith isn’t as bad as a coach as he seemed at the time.

His mistake was that he didn’t understand the Trojans’ pride, as he proved when he said after the loss to Fresno State that USC wasn’t USC anymore. So they brought in a coach who did understand it.

The result: USC isn’t USC anymore.

Trojans fans will have to deal with it, but they’re not alone. A group therapy session would be overcrowded with fellow sufferers from Notre Dame, Alabama, Miami, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas.

They will be joined in the future by fans from Penn State, Ohio State, Michigan, Florida State, Florida and, maybe, even Nebraska. Trust me. College football is no longer friendly to dynasties.

I don’t mean this as a defense of John Robinson.

It’s possible the Trojans will win their final three games, including one against UCLA, and save his job with a 7-4 record and a bowl invitation.

But that’s not probable. With his mea culpa three weeks ago, Robinson said the Trojans had to progress for him to return next season. They have digressed.

It’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that USC is a poorly coached team.

The only debate after Saturday’s 27-0 loss to Washington was whether Athletic Director Mike Garrett called it embarrassing. He did but said he didn’t.

Mike, it was embarrassing.

3. I’m not sure what the irreverence of Notre Dame’s fans during Navy’s prayer has to do with USC. But I didn’t want to miss an opportunity to mention it.

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It is now open season on Robinson’s job. . . .

In Tempe, Ariz., this week, expect Bruce Snyder to be asked whether he would be a candidate. . . .

Expect him to deny it. He signed a new five-year contract with Arizona State the week before last season’s Rose Bowl game. . . .

In Evanston, Ill., this week, expect Gary Barnett to be asked whether he would be a candidate. . . .

Expect him to deny it. He signed a 12-year contract with Northwestern before last season. . . .

But don’t count anybody out, except Larry Smith. . . .

One name mentioned earlier this season was Rick Neuheisel, better known in Los Angeles as a former UCLA quarterback but also a graduate of USC’s law school. . . .

Once cheered as Colorado’s coach, he is now jeered. . . .

That would never happen at USC. . . .

Another coach whose job security has been in question is the U.S. national soccer team’s Steve Sampson. . . .

That should no longer be the case after the heroic 0-0 victory Sunday in Mexico City. . . .

I know that’s a tie. But earning a World Cup qualifying point in Mexico City, where no U.S. national team has won or tied in a series dating to 1937, is a triumph. . . .

Think Mexico doesn’t take the United States seriously? . . .

At the U.S. training camp last week at Big Bear Lake, an alleged gardener dropped his rake, picked up a video camera and was spotted filming a scrimmage from the roof of a nearby garage. . . .

Sampson stopped short of calling the man a spy, but, hey, he’s read John LeCarre. . . .

Steve Spurrier has been reading “Wooden.” . . .

He’s so inspired by the Westwood wizard’s latest book that he recently ordered 300 copies. . . .

I wonder if Spurrier has read the section titled, “Ego and Arrogance.” . . .

Wooden is not overburdened by either. . . .

He rejected “The Wisdom of Wooden” as a title for the book because he thought it was pretentious. . . .

Wooden’s favorite sport is baseball. . . .

Bill Fitch might say the same thing today. . . .

Fitch said Donald T. Sterling is usually “miserable and distressed” during the basketball season but has turned it around. . . .

“Now, he’s distressed and miserable,” Fitch said. . . .

He said that before the Clippers opened 0-2.

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While wondering when the 49ers are going to play a good team, I was thinking: The Laker captain should come down hard on Shaquille O’Neal, Jim Colbert won even if he didn’t at the Ralphs Senior Classic, Notre Dame’s fans shouldn’t get off with 10 Hail Marys.