USC Football Brand Name Still Carries Weight

Apr 13, 2013; Los Angeles, CA, USA; General view of the Southern California Trojans spring game as quarterback Max Browne (4) takes the snap on the USC logo at midfield at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

USC football is a marketable brand name that still carries bona fides few programs can tout. Each year at this time is a reminder of the Trojan brand’s value, as preseason rankings are released.

The Trojans are ranked No. 24 in both the Associated Press Top 25 and USA Today Coaches Poll. Barely making the cut is certainly a far cry from last August, when USC sat at third in the Coaches Poll and No. 1 according to the AP.

Still, USC earning top 25 status at all is a testament to the program’s perception. USC is one of only two ranked teams to win fewer than eight games in 2012; the other is TCU, which transitioned to a new conference without its returning star quarterback for much of the campaign.

USC is the fourth Pac-12 team ranked, ahead of an Oregon State coming off a 9-4 finish, and the third California team slotted behind UCLA and Stanford. Both beat the Trojans en route to Pac-12 championship game appearances.

Fellow Golden State-based programs Fresno State and San Jose State won nine and 11 games respectively, and return standout quarterbacks — a luxury USC conspicuously lacks. Neither sniffed the 134 voter points their Pac-12 counterpart received.

BCS non-automatic qualifying conference teams checking in behind the Trojans isn’t any kind of surprise. The same logic that has USC ranked applies to these programs, just in reverse. Only when one establishes its own brand name through years of consistency does it gain national clout, as Boise State has accomplished.

Upending USC on Sept. 21 would go a long way in marketing the Utah State brand. The Aggies are coming off an 11-2 finish (and were two scores away from perfection). Moreso though, it would damage a brand to such an extent that it would completely alter the power structure.

“Lane Kiffin” and “hot seat” are inseparable buzzwords this off-season. Expectation drives the rhetoric.

Kiffin inherited the college football brand equivalent of Apple. The tech giant’s stock dipped below $400 in April, a mark that would have most other investors rejoicing. But for Apple, that was cause for concern.

Similarly, seven-and-eight-win seasons would be enough to placate some fan bases, at least for a few years. When attached to the USC football brand name, seven and eight wins bookending 10 is enough to demand significant change.

In Kiffin’s first season as head coach, USC was just 13 games removed from a remarkable seven-year stretch of BCS appearances. No program in the BCS era has had a sustained run approaching this.

This is a remarkably high benchmark to maintain, particularly with the mitigating factors that have hindered USC and will continue to for the next few years.

The head coach is not without blame.

The 2012 Trojans can objectively be called the most overrated team in college football history. No AP preseason No. 1 had ever finished out of the rankings altogether.

Kiffin took a calculated risk last summer when he embraced his team’s top billing. Coaches often downplay praise to keep their players motivated and focused. Nick Saban is the master of spinning his team’s positive outlook into a negative.

Despite finishing the previous season 10-2 and arguably with more momentum than any team in the nation, the 2012 USC football team needed confidence. Regardless of outsider perception, there were numerous hurdles evident before the team ever took the field.

Defensive holes, rushing inconsistency, an especially noticeable gap on the offensinve line: these seemingly apparent flaws may have been more recognizable, were they not behind the cardinal-and-gold icon synonymous with football greatness.
Jul 26, 2013; Culver City, CA, USA; USC football head coach Lane Kiffin speaks to the media during PAC-12 media day held at the Sony Studios Lot. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
Complaining about preseason polls is a futile endeavor. If pollsters see qualities in USC indicative of a turnaround team, voting thusly is their prerogative.

USC is ranked ahead of Pac-12 counterparts Washington and Arizona State, both of which are intriguing breakout contenders. Both lost to USC a season ago, so realistically the Trojans deserve their higher billing.

But that better ranking is a Catch-22. USC still faces limitations that neither ASU nor Washington, nor any other FBS program save Penn State must address. Yet, the Trojans are held to a higher standard more suited to Alabama.

No one in Heritage Hall is going to tout an eight-win season the way PSU was praised a season ago, and Kiffin would certainly not receive the same adulation that was heaped on Bill O’Brien. Perception sets the bar.

The USC football brand name will recover soon, much like Apple, which skyrocketed just four months after its stock market lull. More scholarships in the coming years will turn USC’s highly rated 15-player classes into highly touted 25-player classes.

Who heads the brand when the market turns is going to be dictated this season.