Musings from Arledge: A Perfect Day, Good and Bad of Colorado, and the Coaching Search

Yes, we’ll talk about the Colorado game if you insist. But must we rush? Can’t we just enjoy God’s creation for a minute? The beauty of a sunset over the Pacific. The majesty of towering redwoods. The glory of Notre Dame, Oregon, and UCLA all losing games they were favored to win and wrecking their seasons on the same Saturday. As Mick tells us, you can’t always get what you want; you get what you need. I didn’t get what I wanted yesterday. A comet didn’t take out the Oregon football program, the Stanford band, and that inane tree. But I got what I needed: Oregon gift wrapping a game for Stanford that seemed almost impossible for Oregon to lose. 

Stanford was dead. They couldn’t stop Oregon’s running game. They couldn’t move the ball an inch because they couldn’t block anybody. They were down seven, time was running out, and Oregon had the ball deep in Stanford territory. That game was over. The right analogy for that game wasn’t a boxer getting off the canvas and finding a way to win when he was behind on all the cards. That game was a boxer who had been knocked out and declared dead by the ringside physician getting off the mat and winning the fight. It was like having Lazarus walk out of his tomb and beat you in a wrestling match. Thank you, Oregon. I enjoyed that.

And don’t start with the “it’s terrible for the Pac-12, because the conference will get left out of the playoff again” talk. That doesn’t matter. What matters is the destruction of our enemies. Oregon is trying to take USC’s place as the top program in the Pac-12. They’ve been using Uncle Phil’s money and Clay Helton’s ineptitude to accomplish that goal, and there’s no reason for us to root for it to continue. Right now, what’s good for Oregon is bad for USC, and what’s bad for Oregon is good for USC. So celebrate, people, what happened in Palo Alto yesterday was beautiful.

As was Notre Dame’s destruction at the hands of a bunch of motivated, coached-up two stars. Notre Dame is in a weird position right now. They don’t love the state of their program because they’re not elite, but they’re too good to fire the coach and start over. It’s what I always believed the potential ceiling for a Sark-led USC would be. It’s not the worst place to be. It beats what USC fans have been tolerating the last few years. But it’s frustrating, and losses like yesterday’s keep ND fans in a constant state of discontent. It’s what I want for them: enough success to get their hopes up but at least one soul-crushing loss every year.

And let’s not forget how sweet it is that the best UCLA team in years is now 3-2 and soon-to-be unranked – which means they’re in exactly the same spot as a USC program that is in utter turmoil. The Bruins are better. They’re still going to be a major challenge next month. But, also, UCLA is still UCLA.

So shall we talk about that Colorado game? The most important thing to be gleaned from yesterday’s performance is that USC has not quit on the season. After watching that embarrassing effort against Oregon State, I thought they had. But the team gave an effort yesterday and still wants to compete. This is good. This USC team isn’t one we’ll be talking about 20 years from now. It’s a mediocre team that is going to struggle most weeks. The absolute ceiling is 8-4, most likely, and 7-5 is probably likely. But knowing that changes are on the way, we don’t have to worry about that. We can just enjoy the high points, and yesterday was a high point.

First the good: Kedon Slovis had a bounce-back game, and I love that for him. Kedon is going to have a hard time holding off a healthy Jaxson Dart. Dart is just too gifted. But Kedon has played a lot of good games for the Trojans. He’s taken a lot of big hits over the years and has, it appears, continued to be a good teammate throughout. I want good things for him.

It appears Karl Dorrell does, too. Karl, I didn’t want to tell you before the game, because I didn’t want to be presumptuous. But if you leave your corners in one-on-one coverage against USC’s big receivers, you’re simply giving USC the opportunity to run their favorite play, maybe their only good play: the jump-ball fade. I am, frankly, astounded that you hadn’t picked up on that before yesterday. Crack open just about any film from the last three years and you’d see that USC’s offense struggles if you don’t give them jump balls downfield. So you decided to … give jump balls downfield. Thank you, Karl. Really. The guy that helped author 66-19 doesn’t owe us anything more. You could stand on your laurels. You’ve already given enough, Karl. But thank you. A thousand times, thank you.

Drake London is a monster. We all knew that. But Michael Trigg is going to start posing similar problems. And Kyle Ford will when he’s healthy. Gary Bryant is starting to come into his own. The receiving corps looked good yesterday. It’s a talented group that should look good, and it was fun to watch them yesterday. Good job, guys.

Speaking of fun, how about being able to run the ball? The running game wasn’t dominant. It wasn’t a return to tailback U. But it was effective. It gave the offense balance. It kept Kedon Slovis out of the ER. That was good. I liked that.

The bad? Penalties, of course, especially offensive line penalties. The next USC coach, whoever that is, has some real work to do cleaning up the lack of discipline. So many games with 100+ yards in penalties over the last few years. At some point, the Trojans just need to stop. It probably won’t happen this year. This staff is the same group that has tolerated this nonsense for the last few years, and the inexperienced interim probably doesn’t have the time or experience to fix this discipline problem in the middle of the season. Penalties will continue to be a problem. Against horrible Colorado, those penalties didn’t sink the ship. Against most opponents, they will. You can’t be consistent on offense when you start 1^st and 15 or 1^st and 20 on half your drives.

And that tackling was appalling. The defense didn’t play badly in many respects. The secondary did a solid job. The pass rush was better. The gap control against the run was pretty solid. All of this was aided, of course, by the fact that Colorado’s offense is horrific. Carl Lewis first pitch awful. Or maybe Carl Lewis national anthem awful. I don’t know. Awful. That Colorado group scored only once against Texas A&M, scored 13 points against ASU, and allowed PJ Fleck to row his boat all over their sorry butts in a 30-0 hammering where Colorado had only 63 yards of total offense. The Colorado offense is a grease fire, which makes the Buffs a good team to play if your defense is struggling. Still, the defense did some good things. It was good to see. 

But against a decent offense you just can’t tackle the way the Trojans did yesterday. Guys, can we please try wrapping up? It was dispiriting to see the number of tackle attempts where a Trojan put a shoulder pad into a ball carrier and did nothing else. This isn’t soccer, guys, you can use your hands. I remember a stupid game in elementary school where you have to trap an apple under your chin and pass it to your teammate without either of you using your hands. I sometimes wonder if USC’s defenders play that game at practice. Stop, please. 

So what do we make of the Colorado game? It was a comfortable win. And no matter how bad Colorado is – and they’re bad – comfortable wins are not easy to come by these days for USC. We should savor them when happen.

A comfortable USC win. A UCLA loss. Soul-crushing defeats for Notre Dame and Oregon. Yes, please. That, my friends, is a good Saturday.

Let’s talk coaching search for a minute. No, I’m not making predictions or offering any behind-the-scenes information. I don’t have any. Most of the people talking don’t either. 

Let’s talk, instead, about how you judge candidates.

There is a fundamental truth about college football: some places are far easier to win at than others. If you can’t win 2/3 of your games at USC, you have no business watching football, much less coaching it. Whereas, winning 2/3 of your games at Kentucky or Vanderbilt means you should have a statute made. 

Luke Fickell has done a very good job at Cincinnati. And he brings the right blend of passion and toughness. USC has been soft for a very long time. Super-intense, former wrestling champ Luke Fickell is probably just what the doctor ordered.

But Fickell is not winning somewhere it is impossible to win. Brian Kelly and Butch Jones both landed big-time jobs from Cincinnati. Cincinnati, like Boise and Houston, is a place where coaches can win, and most of them do. Fickell has taken a program that has a history of success and he has elevated them above what came before. At least, I think he has. Brian Kelly went undefeated at Cincinnati, and even beat some ranked teams in the process. So there’s some question about that. But Kelly never beat a top-10, legendary program on their field the way Fickell just did. So Fickell has elevated Cincinnati and deserves credit. He’s a legit candidate if he’s interested in bringing six kids and a skeptical wife to LA.

In many respects, Fickell is similar to Chris Petersen at Boise. Boise is also a place that had success with multiple coaches before Petersen took over. But Petersen elevated Boise above the level of his predecessors, including by beating Bob Stoops, Adrian Peterson, and a good OU team in a major bowl – one of the great bowl games of all time. And Petersen maintained that standard of excellence for many years. 

But you have to be wary of coaches from programs like that. Most Boise coaches flopped when they took their next job. Most Houston coaches, too. Petersen didn’t flop. He was solid at Washington. He’d be a solid hire if he has the fire it takes to rebuild. But there are smaller programs have built-in advantages. Just because a guy succeeds at a place like that doesn’t mean he’s a superstar.

I think Fickell is good. Yesterday’s game certainly helps the resume. It’s just something to keep in mind.

On the opposite end of the spectrum is Matt Campbell’s situation. It is almost impossible to win consistently at Iowa State. The program has no recruiting base, no tradition, no Phil Knight or T. Boone Pickens. It’s in a small, all-white state of no significance, and it is second banana even in that state. People sour on Campbell every time Iowa State loses a football game, and people point to the overall record and express skepticism. I think that’s wrong. What Campbell has done at Iowa State is impressive. He’s been conference coach of the year two times in three years for a reason. Winning eight or nine games at Iowa State and knocking off top-5 teams is really hard.

Matt Campbell would be a good hire, maybe a great hire. What you don’t know with a guy like Campbell is consistency. Can he identify and develop talent? No question. Can he get his guys up for a big game and make them believe? Absolutely. Can he get his team to play consistently and avoid those crushing let downs that ruin a potential championship season at a blue-blood program but don’t ruin anything at an Iowa State? No idea.

One of the other names that we hear a lot – I assume because his agent is talking a lot – is James Franklin. I wouldn’t be thrilled with a Franklin pick. If the rumors are true that USC was wary of hiring Urban Meyer because of the skeletons in his closet, hiring Franklin and his bigger skeletons would make very little sense. And while his teams at Penn State have been good, he hasn’t been spectacular, even though it is possible to win big at Penn State; we’ve all seen it happen.

But I’ll give Franklin this: he had the most impressive run of any of these candidates when he was at Vanderbilt. Going 24-15 at Vandy and going to back-to-back bowl games is insanely difficult. Vandy had a single winning season in the 27 years before Franklin arrived. They haven’t had a single winning season in the seven years since he left. James Franklin can recruit, and he can turn around a culture. Is he going to compete with Nick Saban? Probably not. Would he cement USC as the dominant program in the Pac 12? Yeah, he probably would. 

That’s enough for now. We’ll talk about a few more candidates next week. In the meantime, let’s enjoy the win and savor the pain we knew is being felt deep in the hearts of Duck and Irish fans.