USC Football Holds on at Hawaii: It's a New Era

It was sticking out like a black eye after the first quarter—Pete Carroll is no longer the boss at Southern Cal.

The old epoch of run-it-up football was lost at USC when Carroll departed for the NFL, and a new era of mediocrity seems to have arrived on campus along with new head coach Lane Kiffin, who may need a set of training wheels to handle the high expectations.

That much can be understood from a mere 13-point win over the Rainbow Warriors on Thursday night. Sure, the Trojans put up 49 points with relative ease, but when was the last time the cardinal and gold looked so depleted on defense?

A program of such magnitude and recruiting prowess giving up 36 points to a mediocre WAC team will not translate cleanly come the more competitive programs on the schedule.

Never mind that it was the first game of the season, but under Carroll, USC no doubt would have put up 50 points by halftime, second string on the field by the third quarter and already looking ahead to the beat down Virginia would be getting the following weekend.

Not this time.

Apart from a lopsided first quarter that looked to be a forecast of the remainder of the game, Hawaii kept the status quo up until the final seconds.

Face it Trojans, status quo is unacceptable for the program, and it is not what the supporters were looking for in Kiffin’s first game back in USC colors.

To be honest, Hawaii is likely the weakest team on USC’s schedule in 2010. Road games against Minnesota, Washington State, Stanford, Arizona, Oregon State, and UCLA are all hostile territories. Those teams will be longing to take a big chunk out of the sinking prestige that USC once boasted.

And while Hawaii’s performance wasn’t exactly a shot in the gut to USC, the punch they gave to Kiffin’s crew left a mark that the entire country got to witness.

The usual offensive supremacy came in bundles, but allowing three touchdown receptions of 30, 65, and 56 yards is simply deplorable for a program used to dishing out the most embarrassing of defeats with lockdown defense.

Teams can now score on the men from Troy.

Brace for impact because the Carroll defense that headlined multiple championship seasons is gone.

That isn’t to say the Trojans are destined for a 6-7 campaign, but the sun is setting over the days of alienating 50-point blowouts and the baskets of Pac-10 championships.

Kiffin will have to be very creative and fine tune multiple looks on defense if he plans to have any sort of formidable success this season. Of the three things from the final score, it isn’t the win or the 49 points on offense that shines.

If Hawaii can rack up 36 points, a mark they’ve reached just five times in the last two seasons, Trojan nation must fear what lies ahead.

Kiffin should be preparing for the worst because it could turn into a very long and ugly season. 

No longer will teams tremble when USC walks onto the field. A new era of football has arrived in Los Angeles, and it did not kick off very well.

The Trojans have a huge target on their backs, and it may have gotten a little bit bigger after Thursday evening.