SOUTH BEND, IN – OCTOBER 17: JuJu Smith-Schuster #9 of the USC Trojans makes a 37-yard reception for a first down against KeiVarae Russell #6 of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in the first quarter of the game at Notre Dame Stadium on October 17, 2015 in South Bend, Indiana. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)

USC, a talented tease, can’t stay the course against Notre Dame

We start this story with a general point about the way in which teams lose.

Many fans would rather see their teams lose big than lose by one point in the final seconds. Some fans would have it the other way. I have my own view, and you have yours, and where you stand is not important in any larger sense. It’s meaningful to you, and it should be; it doesn’t have to matter to anyone else.

However, there is a more important point to be made about the way in which teams lose. At the heart of this tension point lies the following question: Does a team show enough talent to suggest (if not outright indicate) that its skills are being wasted, or is the team in a position beyond hope, such that it’s hard to reduce a situation to a simple coaching-and-talent equation?

For the USC Trojans on Saturday night against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the outlook began in hopelessness, but then turned into a bright new day of possibility… only for clouds to abruptly roll in and pour rain on the Men of Troy. This game — a play in three acts — encapsulated all the shortcomings and frustrations of a supremely difficult season.

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The Trojans took the field in South Bend, Indiana, without Steve Sarkisian, at the end of an exhausting week. USC didn’t figure to suffer as a result of being Sark-free, but it did figure to struggle due to the distractions and the uncertainties swirling around the program. The lack of a proven coach, someone who could turn disorder into efficiency and precision, seemed likely to matter, and when Notre Dame grabbed a 21-10 lead and marched inside the USC 5, that line of thought was about to be validated.

Then, however, a funny thing happened on the way to the blowout forum.

Notre Dame fumbled inside the 5, and after a subsequent Notre Dame drive against a reeling USC defense couldn’t score a touchdown, the Trojans — lucky to not trail by a 35-10 score — were still in the conversation. As soon as they struck trick-play lightning on a 75-yard scoring pass, the previous several minutes in which Notre Dame failed to land a knockout punch became a source of great inspiration for the Trojans.

As soon as that 75-yard touchdown made the score 24-17, USC gained something it hadn’t possessed since its first-drive touchdown: namely, a true belief that it could win this game. The Trojans might not have been able to rise on their own in this game, but when Notre Dame gave them a little help, they ran with it quite well, taking a 31-24 lead into the final minutes of the third quarter and driving into Notre Dame’s half of the field. USC wasn’t in a commanding position, but it had a chance to gain substantial leverage.

That rally by USC was and is instructive, regardless of the final outcome, because in that 21-0 burst — turning a 24-10 deficit into a 31-24 lead — the Trojans showed the full measure of their abilities.

This isn’t Texas, limping through a season with a limited playbook and a distinct paucity of game-changing athletes on the perimeter. The Trojans, with JuJu Smith-Schuster and Adoree Jackson, can strike from anywhere on the field, and that’s how they wiped away the first 20 minutes of this game, in which they were thrashed. The next 20 minutes belonged to USC, setting the stage for what could have been one of the more remarkable “us against the world” upsets not just of this season, but recent college football memory.

USC, winning in South Bend six days after its coach spiraled into rock-bottom bleakness and five days after that same coach got canned, would hve made for a great story. The Trojans’ considerable talent put them in a position to prosper.

Yet, if the second 20 minutes undid the first 20 on Saturday, the final 20 minutes brought all of USC’s demons rushing back to the surface. An inability to finish that 31-24 drive began to erode the good vibes which had been coursing through the Trojans’ sideline. Allowing a game-tying 90-yard drive cemented Notre Dame’s revival. Then, consecutive interceptions by USC quarterback Cody Kessler represented the final decisive events of the evening. Notre Dame had doubted itself and danced with danger, but USC made the game’s most important mistakes, the ones which occurred when the drama reached its height.

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USC fans should like the fact that their team got off the mat and made Notre Dame fight for this win. Yet, the Trojan surge which catapulted them into the lead still showed that immense talent is being wasted here — prime years in the careers of gifted players are not translating into results.

Steve Sarkisian might be out of the picture, but the consequences of his tenure were still deeply felt on Saturday night. If USC had lost without putting up any real resistance, it might be easier to feel that the Trojans need a disciplinarian to lead them in 2016 and beyond. However, those middle 20 minutes — and all they represented — point to the even more acute need to hire a coach who will maximize high-end offensive talent. Going with an elite offensive coach — who would bring aboard a top defensive coordinator — would seem to be the best play for USC when this miserable regular season ends in a month and a half.

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About Matt Zemek

Editor, @TrojansWire | CFB writer since 2001 |

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