The Identity Game

Three full weeks after their last home game, USC took the field under the lights at the Coliseum to face the undefeated Colorado Buffaloes. Led by a career night from Michael Pittman Jr., who tallied 155 yards on 6 acrobatic receptions, USC shut down the Buffs and improved to 4-2 overall. Not only was this an important game for Helton and his staff, it also put us right where we need to be in the Pac 12 South. Looking beyond the stats and plays from Saturday, I think there was something to be learned about this team and program from watching the game. The overarching question during the Helton era has been; what is our identity?

Our identity is this. We are a team of incredibly athletic and smart football players. We are a team that one week will dominate the run game, and the next week will have zero rushing yards at the half, but win on the ability to throw the deep ball. We are a defense that can be trusted to perform in critical moments. We are a defense that has managed to keep us in games despite injury after injury, and has some young players who have made an immediate impact. We are a team that is highly penalized. We are a team that struggles with play-calling. We are a team that cannot put teams away and extend leads into blowouts. We are a team who makes youthful mistakes. We are a team that will make you yell in frustration one play, and yell for joy the next. We are a team that wins. We might win ugly but we are a team that wins.

A lot of my frustrations come from two places. First is that we keep expecting our identity to change. I’m not sure it will after 2.5 years. I hope so but I’m not sure. Second is that I can see how talented our athletes are, and I wonder just what this program could be with a different person at the helm. Is the grass really that much greener? Could a different staff make this team an unquestioned top 5 team? It’s becoming a game of “careful what you wish for” because as Helton piles up the wins, it becomes harder and harder to justify making a change just because I don’t like the look of how we got the W each week. It should not be understated that Helton just notched his 19^th straight home win, and has never lost at home as our head coach. There would be a long list of schools ready to take that along with 10 win seasons, conference title berths, and Rose bowl appearances if the only agreement they had to make was that fans had to watch 60 minutes of sometimes ugly and confusing football each week. It’s not any less frustrating, but it’s important to recognize and appreciate what we have at the moment.

A huge test lies ahead for us this weekend as we put the white jerseys on in Salt Lake for a game against the Utes. Utah is our nearest threat in the division and just handled Stanford and Arizona so this is a big one for us as we move into the heart of our schedule. With Porter Gustin sidelined for the rest of the campaign, it’s once again time for our youth to answer the call, coaches to clean up the mistakes, and leaders to execute the game plan. Here is to returning home 5-2 and feeling a lot better about the second half of the year.
FIGHT ON