The State of the USC Trojans

USC had to cross out its January plans for a fun-filled time in Miami abruptly last night. Sometimes, early planning can be a killer.

Instead of planning to circle Jan. 8 on their calendars, the Trojans go back home to the bright (albeit now glaring) lights of Los Angeles, circling their wagons instead.

It was a late night game for East Coast viewers, but if you didn't watch it and opened up your newspapers this morning, you probably spewed your coffee all over the sports page.

The game wasn't even as close as the score indicated. It was all Beavers from the get-go. The Trojans lost again in Corvallis, and all of a sudden, there's a few Big XII and SEC teams that are going into this Saturday with more giddy in their giddy-up.

For USC fans, it's not a shock, but it is a surprise. Again. They've been here before, haven't they?

Although the 25-point spread was indicative of the huge gap perceived between the teams, in the back of Trojans' fans minds was that small, uncomfortable feeling.

Kind of the way Georgia fans feel when they play Vanderbilt.

They won't lose again, will they? This can't happen again, can it? Is Oregon State USC's daddy? (Answer: yes.)

While SC fans can point their fingers at everything that went wrong, really, nothing went wrong.

It wasn't your television's color button not working; the best team wore orange, not cardinal.

The best running back was named Quizz, not Joe. A Beaver made a famous white horse whinny in his stall. Thank God Traveler wasn't there to suffer the humiliation of it all.

The Beavers played with more intensity, had better schemes, and dominated in the trenches. USC tried to run the ball, but the line wasn't opening up the holes. The Beavers had them dammed up.

The Trojans had better recover quickly to get them over this huge pothole that detoured them before they even hit the so-called minor speed bumps later on: Oregon and Arizona State. And UCLA.

Suddenly, Pasadena looks like a tough goal. Suddenly, the Holiday Bowl looks a little more realistic if they can't right themselves from this loss.

San Diego is so nice in December, isn't it?

Want to feel better, USC fans? Watch UCLA football. Things could be worse. Or could it?

Right now, the Bruins are 0-1 in Pac-10 play and the Trojans are 0-1. Tied with a team who lost their two starting quarterbacks. Gulp. That's a big piece of humble pie to swallow.

While the USC faithful may be depressed, had they ended up with a win, wouldn't it still have been just as bad?

Beating the Beavs by one point would still have resulted in the Trojans dropping in the rankings.

All the loss did was prevent more BCS controversy if the Trojans had won; one side would have claimed that a win is still a win, while the other side would claim a one-point win over a 25-point underdog is as good as a loss.

While Oklahoma, Mizzou, Georgia and Florida can thank the Trojans for kindly removing themselves from the BCS carousel, Buckeyes fans can take respite in the fact that they are no longer sitting in the lap of despair alone.

Misery loves company. Maybe misery will meet together again on Jan. 1? Maybe.

A true champion doesn't just win the big games.

It has to win the games where complacency can set in: the perceived "little" games.

USC has failed to win those games and give credit where credit is due; the underdogs had more resolve.

The underdogs weren't ready to roll over after reading the much-hyped press about the men of Troy.

The Trojans have two options at this point: fall apart and limp their way to an Emerald or Holiday Bowl, or come out guns blazing, angry and fired up.

Time to fight, or flee.

Time to take stock of what went wrong, and fix it.

Time for a gut check.

Time for Oregon next Saturday.