USC Trojans

Inspired by Florida's "#ComePlayWRFortheJoker" campaign, our recruiting writers looked at other ways schools can sell themselves on the trail. Here's a look at recruiting pitches for the Pac-12:

Arizona Wildcats
What they're selling: Rich Rodriguez's offensive system worked wonders at West Virginia and introduced the nation to Denard Robinson at Michigan. In 2012, the explosive offense scored at least 34 points in 10 of the Wildcats' 13 games.
What they're missing: The Wildcats don't have the Territorial Cup, which went to Arizona State following a 41-34 victory last season. If Arizona is going to climb the Pac-12 ranks, it'll need to win at home and lock up local talent over the Sun Devils.

Arizona State Sun Devils
What they're selling: There's a new attitude at Arizona State, as Todd Graham took the Sun Devils from the most penalized team in the country to one of the least penalized in just one year. Installing that discipline and accountability has been a major selling point for recruits signing up to play with Graham.
What they're missing: The Sun Devils won their final three games of the season for the first time in more than three decades, but losses to UCLA and USC leave them looking up at the Pac-12 South leaders in the battle for national prominence.

California Golden Bears
What they're selling: One of the top public universities in the world, Cal will always be able to pitch its strong academics to recruiting. The new facilities and revamped California Memorial Stadium will help accentuate the package with a pretty bow.
What they're missing: Coach Sonny Dykes has recent Pac-12 experience, but his three years at Louisiana Tech took him completely out of the minds of West region recruits. In-state recruits, essential to Cal's recruiting success, are unfamiliar with what Dykes' systems look like in game action, although the Golden Bears will have a chance to make several statements this fall.

Colorado Buffaloes
What they're selling: The Buffaloes need playmakers at a multitude of position on both sides of the ball. Playing time and the ability to make an instant impact are certainly on the table for Colorado recruits.
What they're missing: Colorado was two points away from a winless season in 2012 and has very little on-field momentum heading into 2013. The Buffs have just four wins in two years in the Pac-12, and until that changes, it'll be difficult to win significant recruiting battles.

Oregon Ducks
What they're selling: The noisy uniforms and noisier Autzen Stadium provide the flash, but there is plenty of substance in the fast-paced offense the Ducks run. It's unlikely that will slow down under new coach Mark Helfrich.
What they're missing: Mostly obviously, they're missing Chip Kelly, which has left a slight cloud over how the program might change direction or continue unaltered under the new staff. But the possibility of looming NCAA sanctions means the Ducks can't sell completely smooth sailing to recruits in this class.

Oregon State Beavers
What they're selling: The Beavers can sell credibility, not just on the field, but with the coaching staff as well. Mike Riley and his staff have proven they can win in Corvallis and year after year, the Beavers' coach comes across as incredibly genuine to recruits.
What they're missing: In state, Oregon State is the decided underdog when it comes to flash and national appeal. The Beavers aren't often referred to as a "dream school" by recruits, so there is rarely a sure-fire commitment for coaches when they go out of state.

Stanford Cardinal
What they're selling: Arguably no school in the country has the combination of academics and athletics of Stanford. When you're recruiting student-athletes, that's a good place to start.
What they're missing: Despite the recent success, Stanford is never going to be able to put together the game-day atmosphere of some of its Pac-12 competition, including Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington.

UCLA Bruins
What they're selling: Jim Mora's staff has Southern California buzzing about the new direction UCLA is headed. That's a good thing for the Bruins, who have climbed out of the shadow of USC.
What they're missing: The Bruins had a chance to completely pass USC, but dropped their final three games of the season. There is still a question about whether they've jumped the Trojans for good and until that is settled on the field this season, the Trojans will likely get the benefit of the doubt, regionally and nationally.

USC Trojans
What they're selling: No Pac-12 program can fall back on tradition like USC. And now with the John McKay Center, old school meets new school in a much-needed facility upgrade.
What they're missing: Rumblings about Lane Kiffin's job security began after a 10-point loss to UCLA, grew louder after a loss to Notre Dame and became deafening after a Sun Bowl loss to Georgia Tech. Despite athletic director Pat Haden throwing his full support behind the coach, recruits and their families are having difficulty believing Kiffin and his staff are there for the long haul.

Utah Utes
What they're selling: Offensively, there is plenty of intrigue as to how co-offensive coordinators Dennis Erickson and Brian Johnson direct the attack. Overall, there is still the memory of what Utah was able to accomplish as a BCS spoiler in 2008, and Kyle Whittingham hopes to spark some of that magic in the Pac-12.
What they're missing: In two years, the Utes are below .500 in the Pac-12 and missed out on a bowl game last season. At this point, it's still an uphill climb in terms of convincing recruits they can cause an upheaval in the conference standings.

Washington Huskies
What they're selling: It's tough to find a coaching staff with more energy on the field or recruiting trail, starting with head coach Steve Sarkisian and moving to every assistant coach on the staff. It's a young group that relates incredibly well to recruits.
What they're missing: The Huskies have yet to win eight games in Sarkisian's three years in Seattle, so hitting that number would be a big step toward proving there is some growing on-field momentum.

Washington State Cougars
What they're selling: Mike Leach is still one of the most interesting personalities in college football, and despite some stumbles in his first year at Washington State, recruits are still interested to see what the Cougars can do this fall in his second year.
What they're missing: The Cougars need wins and they need them now. Washington State hasn't posted a winning record since 2003 and when it comes to on-field performance, it simply can't compete with a majority of Pac-12 teams.

The USC Trojans 2013 schedule has been released with the Trojans playing seven home games, a pair of Thursday night games and one Friday night game.

The Trojans open the season in Hawaii with a road trip to the islands that is always popular with USC fans. The next three games are at home in the Coliseum against Washington State, Boston College and Utah State. For a USC team that will be breaking in a new quarterback, this initial stretch of the season offers a tremendous opportunity to get things started on a good note. Both Hawaii and WSU struggled last year with new coaches, while BC and Utah State will both be breaking in new coaches in 2013.

The Arizona schools are next -- first comes a road game in Tempe against Arizona State and then the Trojans host Arizona before the annual trip to South Bend to face the Fighting Irish. It’s safe to say that the Notre Dame rivalry game will be a high-profile matchup.

The Trojans then come home to face Utah and then hit the road for back-to-back games against Oregon State and California. The game against the Beavers will be a rare Friday night contest, while the Cal game means a continuation of the Northern California weekender experience.

Next up is Stanford at the Coliseum for Homecoming weekend, and that should be quite a setting. The Trojans will then hit the road one final time for a matchup against Colorado before returning home for the regular season finale against UCLA.

The Pac-12 title game will be held on Saturday, December 7 at the stadium of the division winner with the best conference record.

2013 USC FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

Aug. 29 (Thurs.): at Hawaii
Sept. 7: Washington State
Sept. 14: Boston College
Sept. 21: Utah State
Sept. 28: at Arizona State
Oct. 10 (Thurs.): Arizona
Oct. 19: at Notre Dame
Oct. 26: Utah
Nov. 1 (Fri.): at Oregon State
Nov. 9: at California
Nov. 16: Stanford
Nov. 23: at Colorado
Nov. 30: UCLA

.500 -- It's not great. It's not bad. It's just sort of there.

1.000 -- Perfect. As good as it gets.

0.00 --- Doesn't get worse than a Blutarsky.

.667 --- Above average.

A 4-4 final record was lower than expected for the Pac-12 this postseason. A perfect record in the two BCS bowl games was outstanding, yet going 0-3 against other BCS conferences (outside of the BCS games) is disappointing. And the 2-1 mark against non-BCS conference teams is just so-so.

Any way you choose to crunch the numbers and winning percentages (or losing percentages, for that matter) from the Pac-12 bowl season, you're bound to reach the same conclusion. Some good, some bad.

Hopes were high when the bowl matchups were announced -- and there was even some talk of the Pac-12 running the table with a perfect 8-0 mark. After all, Pac-12 teams were favorites in seven of the eight games. But Arizona's New Mexico Miracle should have been a harbinger of things to come. We rejoiced at the final-minute heroics. But in that jubilation, one simple fact got lost: It ain't going to be easy.

From Washington's comeback-turned-fourth-quarter-cough-up to the inadequacies of UCLA, Oregon State and USC (of which there are many that can be debated), the Pac-12 didn't always put its best foot forward.

We saw some of Pac-12 teams out-played, out-coached and out-classed.

And yet we also saw the conference at its best. We saw an explosive Arizona State team cruise to victory over Navy; a punishing Stanford defense doing exactly what it does best in the Rose Bowl; and Oregon's speed in the Fiesta Bowl -- so fast that it proceeds itself when it proceeds itself.

December 2012 through January 2013 saw the Pac-12 at its worst. And its best.

Historically speaking, this actually wasn't a bad bowl season for the Pac-12. Sure, it's not the perfect 5-0 mark of the '08 season. But it's better than the 2-5, 2-2 and 2-5 ledgers of '09, '10 and '11, respectively. Worth noting also that an eligible USC probably would have won a bowl game last season because it was the hottest team in football down the stretch. Even still, 3-5 wouldn't have been a whole lot better.

Since the 1999 bowl season, the Pac-12 is 40-41, including this season, so a .500 record seems to fit the turn-of-the-century trend.

The what-ifs are plentiful. What if play had actually stopped and Boise State had received a measurement? What if Oregon State had made adjustments to account for Alex Okafor -- a few plays in max protect, a tight end helping or a running back chipping? What if UCLA and USC hadn't left their abundance of talent back in the City of Angels instead of taking it to San Diego and El Paso, Texas, respectively?

But what-ifs are pointless. All that matters are the final records.

With that said, it's tough to really declare a "winner" from the bowl season. For all the talk about the Pac-12 and Big 12 rivalry for "Who's No. 2," we're still left with inconclusive data. The Big 12 went 4-5, which included a loss to Conference USA's Tulsa. It went 2-1 against the Pac-12 with a blowout victory by Baylor and a late Christmas present from Oregon State to Texas. But the best it had to offer, Kansas State, was smoked by Oregon. We can call this one a wash.

The almighty SEC saw two of its top-10 teams go down -- LSU and Florida -- and South Carolina needed a miracle against a Michigan team perceived to be wildly overrated.

But the SEC has the crystal ball -- again.

Maybe the ACC is the big winner -- scoring victories over LSU and USC, plus a BCS bowl win. Or is it the Big East after Louisville's stomping of Florida?

You can look for meanings in the numbers and rationalize what was and wasn't good for the conference in the 2012 bowl season. But in end, the result is the same.

Some good. Some bad. Trying to make any more -- or less -- is a wasted exercise.

The Pac-12 was well-represented on the Walter Camp Foundation's 2012 All-America team, released Thursday.

USC sophomore receiver Marqise Lee, Stanford senior tight end Zach Ertz and a pair of running backs, Oregon senior Kenjon Barner and Arizona sophomore Ka'Deem Carey, were named to the first-team offense.

Utah defensive tackle Star Lotulelei and Oregon State cornerback Jordan Poyer, both seniors, earned spots on the first-team defense.

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ESPN 100 running backs Alvin Kamara and Derrick Green can score from anywhere on the field thanks to their breakaway speed, an attribute that makes them very attractive recruits to the Oregon Ducks. Oregon's pursuit of the duo headlines this week’s #BlueChipBattles.

Click through for our list to rank the top 10 recruiting battles.

Some selected quotes from USC coach Lane Kiffin’s Sunday night conference call following the Trojans’ 38-17 victory over Arizona State.

Open:
“The thing we’re most pleased with is our players and where we were at two weeks ago with our penalty issues, last in the country. We’ve played two really good games … We were in a major hole. We’re eighth in the conference now. Obviously, we’d like to be back in first, where we were in the last year, but a lot of progress there.”

“Defense, after a slow start, played really well against a team coming in that was averaging over 450 yards of offense, and [they] only had 250, and seven sacks and four turnovers … It was much needed obviously for our confidence.”

“I thought Curtis [McNeal] had a really good game outside of the fumble – 31 carries, 163 yards and only one negative-yard rush … plus for the second week in a row, [we had] an explosive pass play on a screen situation, so that was good. Both left tackles played really well. Aundrey Walker coming in as backup played the best game he’s ever played which was great to see. And we were more efficient -- 50 percent on third and fourth downs.”

“Negatives -- obviously, the turnovers. We had a chance to really make the game not close. Three times our defense and special teams gives us the ball inside the thirty-yard line and we turn over all three of those.”

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LOS ANGELES -- Notes, quotes and anecdotes from the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum after USC's (7-3, 5-3 Pac-12) 38-17 victory over to Arizona State (5-5, 3-4 Pac-12).

USC coach Lane Kiffin comments:
The storylines: “The storyline was the defense. We really felt like we’ve played good defense for seven-and-a-half weeks and for five-and-a-half quarters we played bad. We were aggressive and got after the ball, and that was great to see. On offense, the story is our offensive line. A really good second half.”

A day for defense: “I thought our front played really good. The linebackers timed up the blitzes. It wasn’t just sacks (seven), we had 56 yards of sacks. We were able to make them not be comfortable with our system. Credit to our defensive staff and players.”

On Marqise Lee: “About 45 minutes before the game, Marqise comes in the locker room freaking out because his face is swollen with an allergic reaction. I’m thinking, ‘This isn’t happening.’ As well as he played (227 all-purpose yards), that long (80-yard) touchdown pass isn’t even contested if he’s feeling himself. He’s arguably the best player in college football.”

ASU coach Todd Graham comments:
On the loss: “We just played poorly offensively. Give their defense credit. They played well, but we were off with our timing, took sacks, threw interceptions and were not good.”

On Marqise Lee: “That guy is special. He’s a great receiver and a great guy. He’s only a sophomore. Still young. He’s good, he’s good.”

More notes and anecdotes
Keys to victory: Curtis McNeal ran for 163 yards and two touchdowns, including a critical 5-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter that helped the Trojans regain the lead, 21-17.

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