IMHO Sunday: Sending a message to Salt Lake City

In my humble opinion, cardinal and gold thoughts on what I see, what I hear, and what I think from Los Angeles. The message: One can only wonder after Saturday night what No. 6 USC’s (6-0, 4-0 Pac-12) methodical 30-14 victory over Washington State Cougars in the Coliseum means in terms of a message sent to the No. 11 Utah Utes (5-2, 3-1 Pac-12), who were thoroughly outplayed by a superior UCLA team, 42-32, on Saturday in the Rose Bowl. So, next week’s USC at Utah game may have lost just a bit of its luster, but it becomes a mystery how the Utes loss affects coach Kyle Whittingham’s club and whether it makes the Utes a more dangerous team the Trojans will face next Saturday night in Salt Lake City.  The message – Part 2: As for Washington State (4-2, 1-2 Pac-12) on Saturday afternoon, the Cougars were left wondering where was that shoddy Trojans defense they had watched on film, and where was that matador pass-blocking offensive line that had previously been on display? Okay, maybe the Trojans’ defense isn’t at the Pete Carroll level, but it’s about points on the scoreboard and that only 14 points for men from Pullman, Washington. Most predicted a lot of scoring between the Trojans and the Cougars. Well, it didn’t turn out to be a high-scoring affair, but the Trojans had numerous opportunities to score more points. As it were, most of the scoring came from the team wearing cardinal and gold.