Is Steve Sarkisian the Next Pete Carroll or the Next Lane Kiffin?

We've been here before with USC football, with Heisman Trophy candidates and with top 10 rankings. The fans can feel it. The media wants it. History always seems to be repeating itself with the Trojans. But the question is this: Which moment in history is this?

Is it the Pete Carroll national title era USC is so desperate to re-create? Or is it the Lane Kiffin era of baseless high hopes, of being set up to fail and doing it masterfully.

This is the year we find out if USC's current coach, Steve Sarkisian, is the next Carroll or the next Kiffin.

USC fans know this is true. They aren't stupid. What they don't know is that their expectations are too high for Sarkisian, or "Seven-Win Sark," as they were calling him at Washington. In no time, he took the Huskies from terrible to solid. And then they stayed right there.

USC isn't going to accept solid.

"We came here to win championships," Sarkisian told reporters at Pac-12 media day recently. "At some point, those expectations were going to be what they were. How quickly, we didn't know. But if the expectations were going to be too big, this wasn't going to be the place for you."

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

Everything is set up so well, from star quarterback Cody Kessler to the hype, from the depth that had been missing through the years of probation to questions about the top Pac-12 opponents.

Still, these expectations aren't forward-looking. They are looking back at Carroll. And they aren't fair to Sarkisian, just like they weren't fair to Kiffin. We've been here before with USC.

It was ranked No. 1 in 2012. No. 1! For a team that was on probation! That team had a handful of stars, such as QB Matt Barkley, but hardly enough players to fill out the rest of the roster. Kiffin told me a few years ago that he was so worried about the lack of depth that year that he didn't have the players hit each other in practice. They couldn't afford the injuries.

As a result, the team wasn't tough enough, so he started having them hit. Then injuries depleted the roster more. So yes, when you're expected to win the national title and you go 7-6, that's disappointment.

NICK UT/Associated Press

Kiffin talked about it with me that day on the little terrace area at the football offices. He pointed to a huge picture of Carroll hovering over him on the wall, saying that he could never have Carroll's flair.

Carroll is hovering over Sarkisian, too. If it works out, then eight or nine weeks from now, Sarkisian might be the hottest coach in the country. This year might be the re-emergence. But the truth is that it might be a setup, too. It's about fans—and the media, frankly—remembering how great the Pete Carroll party was and trying to recreate it, like all those Woodstock re-incarnations they kept putting on. (Really? Rage Against the Machine to recreate Peace, Love and Music?)

Kiffin told me that day that Carroll would go surfing in the morning, come back to his office, shower and then show up at a press conference in flip-flops. How cool is that? Kiffin never had that relaxed air. He always seemed to be bickering with the media. Sarkisian is likable, but is he Carroll?

We've been here before with USC. It's lined up better now, if only because the Trojans won't take the field with just 48 players on scholarship, as they did a few times last year. Now, they're up into the 70s.

And USC did win nine games last year under Seven-Win Sark, the most he's ever won as a head coach. And he did run some of those high-powered USC offenses under Carroll.

But Sarkisian said something so telling during Pac-12 media day, according to Dan Wolken of USA Today:

It was a shot at Oregon and all of its wild attire. At the feeling that a team that wears glow-in-the-dark uniforms can't be permanent. Not like USC.

The Pac-12 media even picked USC to be conference champs this year over Oregon.

The conference does line up right for Sarkisian. Stanford had an off year last season. UCLA lost quarterback Brett Hundley. And Oregon, coming off a national title game loss to Ohio State, has lost QB Marcus Mariota.

But it's incredible that some people still aren't sure that Oregon is real, that there are people who still think it's just a fluke. It beat Florida State in the national semifinal game with its hurry-up, wacky offense. But with Mariota gone, with QB replacement Vernon Adams struggling to remain eligible, and with questions apparently still unanswered about coach Mark Helfrich's ability, some people seem to think the Ducks' ride is over.

Momentum is an underrated thing in college football. Notre Dame had it a few years ago until Alabama stuffed it in the national title game, and the Irish haven't been the same since. Oregon has it now, unless you think Ohio State beat it out of the Ducks.

KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/Associated Press

And USC simply doesn't have it, not after Carroll left the place on fire, with Reggie Bush's agent and Kiffin just stomping around in the ashes.

But maybe it's about to get the momentum back. The setup is ready for a Kessler Heisman run. The coaches poll has USC ranked No. 10, meaning it is situated well for a dash toward the College Football Playoff.

It's on Sarkisian now to be Carroll or to flame out.

This is going to be a repeat of history, all right. But which version of history?

Greg Couch covers college football for Bleacher Report.