USC's Lane Kiffin Starts His Era off with a Different Kind of Schedule

Unlike recent years when Pete Carroll was at the helm of Trojan football, Lane Kiffin will not have the luxury of two byes in the 2010 football schedule.

Typically, one of the two byes that Carroll would use to game-plan and heal up injured players would occur in the month of September when Carroll was still trying to determine his team's identity.

The closest Lane Kiffin will get to that is the week following the Trojans' opener at Hawaii when the Trojans host Virginia in their home opener at the coliseum.

That game against the Cavaliers comes nine days after the opener with the Rainbow Warriors.

The 2010 Trojans' only bye will come the week of Oct. 24 when the men of Troy prepare to meet the Oregon Ducks on Oct. 30.

For the Trojans, when this schedule was released, it must have appeared to be a Godsend, given the 2009 debacle against the Ducks in Eugene, Oregon.

After last year's nightmare against Oregon, when Jeremiah Masoli and his fellow Ducks ran roughshod over the hapless Trojan defense, the thought of an extra week of preparation must have been viewed as manna from heaven.

However, given the tattered remains of what was supposed to be a very tough Ducks team in 2010, that bye may not be as advantageous as originally thought.

Once the 2009 season ended for Oregon with an ignoble loss to the Ohio State Buckeyes in the Rose Bowl, the Duck implosion began.

After numerous players committed silly crimes and broke team rules, including quarterback Masoli, who stole a laptop and was suspended for the season, the Ducks are trying to regroup with serious questions that must be answered by head coach Chip Kelly.

Only time will tell how disrupted Oregon will be by the time their game with the Trojans rolls around, but suffice to say that chances are the Ducks would be much better with Masoli than without him.

Given last year's disaster against Stanford, who welcomes back a healthy Andrew Luck, wouldn't the Trojans rather have an extra week to prepare for the Cardinal?

Of course, this is a moot point since the schedule is, as they say, "etched in stone."

The Trojans' away schedule, featuring tough games against the aforementioned Stanford, also includes roadies against Oregon State and Arizona.

A bye before any of those games would have been as equally welcomed by the Trojans as well.

Nonetheless, Coach Kiffin and the Trojans will be there when they roll the ball onto the field and you won't hear him complain about how many or when USC's byes are scheduled.

In the past, Pete Carroll seemed to appreciate a well timed Trojan bye, and for the most part, they worked to USC's advantage.

Now we usher in a new era with Lane Kiffin and his celebrated staff attempting to exceed the lofty record and expectations of the former regime.

Coach Kiffin, who unapologetically says he is trying to exceed the legacy left by Carroll, will have to do it with a schedule that is markedly different from those that Carroll dealt with.

And what better way to do it than with a schedule that is devoid of the byes that 'ol Pete so enjoyed?

Somehow, I don't think Coach Kiffin would want it any other way.