The future looks bright for USC football. By Bobak Ha’Eri (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

After an extremely disappointing season in 2012, not many people projected the USC football to do much of anything in 2013. Starting off the season 3-2 with losses to Washington State in the Coliseum and a blowout loss to Arizona State, USC’s season looked like it was going nowhere. The Trojans struggled mightily with play calling and leadership and it showed on the field. The offense looked pathetic and the defense looked tired from having to bail the offense out so often.

So Pat Haden decided that it was time to cut ties with coach Lane Kiffin, a move that was a long time coming.

The school promoted assistant coach Ed Orgeron to Interim Head Coach and all of a sudden, the entire atmosphere of the program changed. USC went 6-2 over the last eight games, only losing to Notre Dame on the road and UCLA in the final game of the season. USC even knocked off Stanford, which was ranked fourth in the nation at the time. Led by quarterback Cody Kessler and Marqise Lee on offense, the Trojans under showed how good they really could be. It’s clear that getting a new leader into the locker room (Orgeron) was the right move by management.

Prior to the bowl game, it was announced that USC would not be retaining Coach Orgeron and that they had hired Washington coach Steve Sarkisian. Upon hearing that he would not return as head coach, Coach O resigned from his position did not coach in the Las Vegas Bowl. Without Coach O, and with Sarkisian looking-on from a box, USC took on a tough Fresno State team but easily defeated them 45-20 to become the Las Vegas Bowl champions. It may have not been the bowl game they had hoped for but it was a good win nonetheless. After losing Coach Orgeron, the team could have laid down and had nothing to play for but they came out fighting and dominated from the start.

Trojan fans should be encouraged. The future looks bright for the USC program and hopefully they can regain their position as one of the top teams in college football where they belong.