USC Trojans Football: The Team Fans Love to Hate

Not counting USC or Cal fans, how many college football fans across the nation do you think are rooting for Cal on Saturday?

They may not like their uniforms.  They may not know who Shane Vereen is.  Many have never even heard of Kevin Riley.  Even fewer probably know who Jeff Tedford is.

But make no mistake about it, the overwhelming majority of college football fans across the nation will be rooting for the Cal Bears.

Not because they like Cal but because fans from coast to coast love to hate USC.

Nothing would make them happier than to see the Trojans lose three in a row and sink to the bottom of the Pac-10.

It’s not necessarily a Lane Kiffin thing. 

Sure a lot of fans around the country have a misperception of the Trojans head coach as being an underhanded recruiter and an arrogant loser.

Much of that has been dramatically painted by the media and a very vocal contingent of SEC fans.

But to what degree that picture is true or false, the fact of the matter is that fans hated USC even before Kiffin became head coach.

Many will say that Kiffin’s predecessor, Pete Carroll, had a very unorthodox and energetic style that offended some overly righteous this-is-the-way-things-should-be-done types.

Some resent the fact that USC is in Los Angeles, and Pete Carroll always allowed Hollywood icons to hang on the sidelines and around the program in general.

Others may simply dislike anything at all that has to do with the classics such as Troy, the Trojans or the fact that they play in a stadium that was designed and named after one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the Colesseum in Rome.

Of course, success simply has a way of breeding contempt. 

Call it jealousy if you will, but seven consecutive Pac-10 titles, seven consecutive BCS bowls, seven consecutive Top Four finishes and sending numerous first round draft choices to the NFL can embitter more than a just a few fans of rival schools.

If there is any doubt, just look at the way the media and fans heaped kudos upon the NCAA for imposing such severe sanctions on USC that would cripple the program for years to come and eliminate it from the national rankings.

Even though only one football player was involved in the findings that led to the sanctions, the media and rival fans enjoy pointing the finger at USC and ridiculing it as the “University of Spoiled Cheaters.”

But that phrase shows more jealousy and bitterness at work.  A private institution, other than Notre Dame, should never rise to the top and remain there in a domain normally dominated by state-supported, public schools

But be that as it may, USC supporters now stand on an island by themselves surrounded by the jeers and sneers of the rest of college football.

A loss to Cal on Saturday, the first time since 2001 that the Trojans would have lost three in a row, will be like a tidal wave washing across that island, wiping USC from landscape of ranked programs for some years to come.

But it won’t be necessary to take a head count of the surviving fans and supporters if the Trojans can reach inside and find the will to finish.

That is truly the “Sacred Ground” that Matt Barkley has alluded to.  Not the Coliseum turf but the sacred ground inside each and every player, fan and supporter.