Musings from Arledge: Can you win the game in the fourth quarter?

Pete Carroll used to lead his team in this chant:

Can you win the game in the first quarter?
No! 
Can you win the game in the second quarter?
No!
Can you win the game in the third quarter?
No!
Can you win the game in the fourth quarter?
Yes!

Taking Pete’s message to heart, this USC team has apparently decided that if you can’t win the game in the first or second quarters, there’s really no reason to show up for those quarters at all. As Hall of Famer Ernie Banks used to say—though I think he meant something different—let’s play two!

I’m not sure this USC program is so good that it needs to artificially increase the game’s level of difficulty. An Olympic diver or gymnast might increase the level of difficulty of a routine by adding an additional twist or somersault. This USC team does it by playing the first half like Paul Hackett is still in charge and then tries to turn it all around after halftime.

It’s amazing USC has won nine games playing like that. They’ll never win any championships playing like that.

But nine wins is nine wins, and while that’s not the goal at USC, it’s clearly a step forward from what we’ve seen of USC in the recent past. And steps forward should be recognized for what they are. This is a USC team that plays through adversity. They don’t always play well. For that matter, they don’t always play hard, especially on the defensive front seven. But they don’t quit, and they don’t let early struggles take away their self belief.

I don’t know whether to pat these guys on the back or scream at them. I think both.

The bottom line is that USC had a fairly comfortable win against an awful UCLA team that came out fired up hoping to salvage its season. It turns out there’s no salvaging that season or that program. The Bruins are the team of misfit toys. You have an offensive coordinator that has never shaved and needs a driver license that says McLovin so he can buy a beer. The interim head coach is a career interim head coach. Seems like a nice guy, though. The roster is full of guys whose finalists on signing day were UCLA, Fresno State, and San Jose State. And then, of course, there’s one famous quarterback who is most famous for quitting on his last team and set his career on fire looking for a little more money. Nico is a walking public service message in the age of NIL.

It’s a motley group, but unencumbered by fan expectations or fan support, they were able to come out with no pressure and play hard for a half while USC slept. I hope they were far-sighted enough to take pictures of the scoreboard at halftime so they can create new banners for the practice facility: First Half City Champs.

I never thought I’d feel sorry for the Bruins, and I was right: I don’t. But I do miss the days when USC-UCLA was a big deal. Now the game draws the same crowd that USC-Northwestern does. UCLA fans no longer leave their seats early for pizza in the parking lot; they just left their UCLA fandom early and are busy making or delivering pizzas on Saturday evenings instead of going to the games. 

And, frankly, without guys like Troy Aikman, Gaston Green, and Ken Norton Jr., it’s hard to blame them. It’s hard to get excited about a program that looks like it belongs in the Mountain West. What we saw last night was not 1967 or 1987 or 1988. The only drama was whether USC would wake up and give a real effort. The Trojans eventually did and therefore they won. It’s a very good thing they did, but USC students who just started going to the games in the last couple of years have no idea what this rivalry used to be. USC-UCLA is like an actress in her late 60’s who used to be the hottest young starlet in Hollywood. If you squint and use some imagination you can almost see who she used to be, but if you never saw her in her prime you probably won’t really get it.

So USC played a Paul Hackett first half and a Pete Carroll second half. The offensive line, though far from perfect, once again overachieved. I don’t know how many programs could be a top-ten offense playing what amounts to a different combination of backup offensive linemen every week, but USC has managed to do it. Credit those players and the best assistant coach on the staff, Zach Hanson, and Lincoln Riley’s scheme, which does a really good job of creating numbers and running room. 

Of course King Miller again added to the legend of The Little Walk-on Who Could. Miller had five games this season with at least one run of 40+ yards. Not bad for a freshman walk-on who didn’t play much for the first half of the season. To put that in perspective, Reggie Bush in 2004 and 2005 had a run of at least 40 yards in 11 of his 26 games. That’s about the same percentage. I’m not saying Miller is Reggie; I say plenty of dumb things, but there are some limits. I am saying I don’t remember any USC player ever who so over-performed expectations. In three months, King went from being a guy no fans even knew was on the roster to a guy who will probably get some votes for the all-conference team. Incredible.

As for the other walk-on star of this team, kicker Ryon Sayeri, I’m starting to wonder if his carriage has turned back into a pumpkin. Sayeri went from the best kicker in the country to a guy who can’t be trusted to make a chip shot. It’s weird, but kickers are weird. It’s always seemed crazy to me that a game that is primarily about brute physicality—tough guys beating each other’s brains out—can so often be decided by fragile little dudes who are both on the team and completely separate from the team at the same time. If you’ve played football you know what I mean. So I won’t try to get in the head of a kicker. I’ll just hope that Sayeri returns to form before the bowl game and that someday, some glorious day in the future, we’ll remove place kicking from the game entirely, the way God intended.

As for the three offensive stars on the team, Jayden Maiava again played well—not perfectly, but solid. He did a nice job distributing the ball to his backs and a tight end group that has become a huge part of the offense. For most of the last decade, USC’s tight ends had their pictures on milk cartons. This year they are making big plays every week. I was not a believer in Lake McRee. I was wrong. That guy is a football player.

As for the other two stars, I’m not sure Makai Lemon or Ja’Kobi Lane wanted to finish their USC careers in that manner. It’s hard to beat Jeremiah Smith for the Biletnikoff Award when you miss the first quarter for disciplinary reasons and then make only one catch. But it was a huge catch, and the punt return—the first of the year?—was big, too. And Ja’Kobi also made some clutch plays, especially the catch across the middle where he almost got cut in half. I think we’ve seen the last of both guys in a Trojan uniform, but if so, both left their mark.

I’ll save big-picture thoughts until later this week when I do a full regular -eason review. I’ll admit that I have some real doubts about whether Lincoln Riley can get USC to the promised land. The program certainly has a long way to go before it can compete with programs like Ohio State and Georgia. But we also have to admit that USC took major steps forward this season. The wins against Michigan and Iowa were important and showed that USC can compete with the Big Ten’s bully boy caucus, and USC goes into bowl season with a shot at 10 wins and even a shot at a top-ten post-season ranking depending on how the bowl game matchups shake out. The program is in a better place than it was last year at this time. If this were a pass-fail course, you’d have to give the season a pass. And there haven’t been a lot of those over the last decade. Progress is progress, I suppose.