WildWest Football Board

When USC played them in 2003 at Auburn. 

Saying USC's great wins this year weren't great because they "could" have lost doesn't work.  USC "could have lost to BYU in 2004 or sao, letting the Cougars hang around till the 4th quarter.  USC WOULD have lost to Fresno State.  At HOME, in 2005 were it not for Reggie Bush and about 550 yards by himself.  USC WOULD have lost to Aaron Rogers and Cal if Rogers completes a pass from the 9 yard line in 4 attempts in LA in what, 2003?

And on and on we go.  The wins against Cal and UCLA, whether the opponents can later be diminished or not, were huge, large, big wins.  Was this team perfect?  Were they 2002?  They wee 10-2.  It was not expected.  They accomplished great things.  They did so under duress and punishment.  I don't see the need to undermine their accomplishment by minimizing wins.  It only serves to buttress predispositions of disapproval toward a coach one had already made up their mind to dislike.  Like him or hate him, they went 10-2.  They beat both their rivals in big wins.  They also beat the top team on their schedule.  They were a Top 5 team.  Historically, that's a great season.  Look up how many 10 win seasonsUSC has.  Especially in the eras of 12 or less games played.  Well done.

I don't see Oregon fans screaming that Whiskey was a fat slow Big Ten team and the close Rose Bowl win minimizes their season.  Or that losing to a team on probation AND getting hammered by LSU (the two best teams on THEIR schedule) makes them suck.  Nope, they had a great year. 

Look, Ted Tollner had a good year.  1984.  USC went 9-3 and won the Rose Bowl.  JR 2 had a good year.  1995.  Same record and result.  Both coaches ultimately were fired for the totality of their work.  The analogy to Tollner is apt, as Ted stepped into a probation adled USC, stripped of bowl and TV as I recall for a year or two.  Ted's first year was year two of that.  USC's first losing record in 20-25 years.  The analogy to Kiffin is salient.  Kiffin's probation is worse.  The penalty longer and more severe.  But both were saddled with scandal they wee not a part of.  Kiffin will not keep or lose his job based on 2011.  2010 was a wash, most of us came away torn about those results.  2011 clearly is improvement.  He's got a tough job, and to hold him to the traditional USC standards with these penalties is unfair.  But going forward, fair or not, the next 3 years will determine his fate.