USC finds its bearings against Arizona and closes in on Pac-12 South title
It was almost midnight when USC players finally trudged off the field after Saturday’s game at the Coliseum.
There were a few smiles. A few waves to the crowd. And a real sense of relief about what coach Clay Helton called a “good win for our football team.”
Though the 49-35 victory over Arizona was not pretty, not with the Trojans blowing a big lead and needing three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, it nudged them closer to qualifying for the Pac-12 Conference championship game.
In this up-and-down season marked by high expectations and conspicuous stumbles, that meant something.
“I haven’t lost faith,” quarterback Sam Darnold said outside the locker room. “We’re just going to keep pushing and fighting for those wins.”
This is a curious time for the Trojans. Hard to know just how good they are. Or whether they are improving. Hard to decide whether they should be viewed as a success, a disappointment or something in between.
“I feel like we’re heading in the right direction,” tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe said. “We’re just not quite there yet.”
In some very measurable ways, this program has improved over last season.
The Trojans had three losses, including an embarrassing performance against Alabama in the opener, at this time last year. They were nowhere to be found in the College Football Playoff rankings and were trying to make up ground in the chase for the Pac-12 South title.
So fans might take solace that the Trojans’ 8-2 record has them at No. 17 and likely to rise when the CFP selection committee issues its next top-25 list Tuesday.
With a two-game lead, considering tiebreakers, the Trojans can clinch the South Division spot in the Pac-12 title game with one victory in the final two weeks of the regular season.
“It’s great knowing we control our own destiny,” tailback Ronald Jones II said.
But the same metrics that suggest an upward trend can also be used as an argument against the Trojans.
After finishing last season with a nine-game winning streak and an emotional victory over Penn State in the Rose Bowl, they ranked No. 4 in the first AP poll this summer.
Then came an upset loss to Washington State and a 49-14 defeat at third-ranked Notre Dame, both of which proved the Trojans were not ready for prime time. Not even close.
The dreary trip to South Bend, Ind., in particular, raised speculation the team might fold down the stretch.
Two things can be said about the weeks since then.
The players have not quit on Helton, responding with victories over Arizona State and Arizona, their closest competition in the Pac-12 South.
And the team appears to have succeeded in resetting its goals.
“It’s not really in our future, the playoffs,” receiver Michael Pittman Jr. said. “So Pac-12 is the next best thing.”
If that seems like settling for second-best, consider that the Trojans have not won their conference since 2008, the heady days of the Pete Carroll era. They have appeared in the title game, which was established in 2011, only once.
“I know a lot of guys still have a bad taste in their mouths from my freshman year when we lost,” Imatorbhebhe said of USC’s championship defeat to Stanford in 2015. “We really want to bring back a Pac-12 winner.”
After the Arizona game, players talked about ignoring the outside noise from critics who have deemed them a failure. They mentioned the unpredictable nature of this season.
Look at the preseason AP poll.
Third-ranked Florida State has fallen out of the top 25 since losing its starting quarterback to injury. No. 2 Ohio State has lost twice and so has No. 6 Penn State, quieting any talk of the programs heading in opposite directions since their Rose Bowl meeting.
Michigan and Oklahoma State also have struggled, as have Louisiana State, Florida and Louisville.
Helton has suggested that the legacy of this USC team rests on how it responds to falling short of a hoped-for playoff run.
“There’s never a question mark about these kids and how resilient they are and how prideful they are and how much they want to compete,” he said. “They come to the park each and every week and they want to compete at the highest level.”
That assessment will be tested with the Pac-12 title on the line and USC expected to be the favorite in each of its final regular-season games against unranked Colorado and UCLA.
Pittman, a sophomore, wasn’t even a teenager the last time the Trojans ruled the conference. He was surprised to hear the program had never won the title game.
“Really?” he said. “Hopefully this year will be a first.”
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