The Trojans are Back as USC Beat Stanford at Its Own Game.
Ball control, tough defense, and limiting mistakes. These are the ingredients Stanford has used to perfection to beat high-powered offenses the last few years. Just ask Oregon.
It was also going to be the formula used to beat USC Saturday night. If you saw that the final score was 13-10, you would have guessed that Stanford pulled out another close defensive game. But this time, it was USC pulling it out.
USC, with 295 yards of total offense while surrendering 413 yards, forced 2 turnovers and watched as Stanford self-destructed multiple times on the Trojans side of the field, including 2 missed field goals. It was enough for a late 53-yard field goal by Andre Heidari to secure an exciting Trojans victory, in the way that Stanford usually secures victories.
But it’s time for the college football world to take notice. USC is not rebuilding this year. USC is already back.
This is still the Trojans. Lane Kiffin recruited very well here, and now Steve Sarkisian is simply tasked with coaching the players up. What a job he has done so far! This is a huge conference win, despite the Trojans being in different divisions. So big, in fact, that USC could be in the driver’s seat of the Pac 12 South now. Oregon is not on the schedule, and Arizona State is at home.
That makes for what could turn into a major USC-UCLA showdown toward the end of the season that everybody will be tuning in to watch.
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How great is it for the college football world with both Southern California major teams thinking about championships and finally some major prestige being put in with the USC-UCLA rivalry? It means something now.
And USC means something to the college football world. How Sarkisian does long-term with the Trojans may be up for debate. But at least for this year, the talent and the team is there. It shouldn’t be a rebuilding year, and nobody should treat it as such.
So on one great Saturday afternoon, we were all reminded who USC is. And don’t forget about it.