USC Back Home vs Arizona State

The Arizona State Sun Devils are in complete disarray. The program has been investigated for NCAA infractions during the COVID epidemic, and the list continues. Staff was let go, and then Head Coach Herm Edwards was shown the door. Fans of the Trojans know all too well that they are just at the beginning of their journey back to normal. For their sake, let's hope it's not a 12-year trip.

Normally I would look at this game as a trap game scenario but no more. They are emotionally at rock bottom, and no real leader is in sight to shore up the player's confidence and future recruits, assuming a lot there. For all of this, ASU has a history of being a good football program, and their time will come again, but they need to get through round one of

their actions.

USC is coming off a great victory over the Beavers of Oregon State. For some of you, I'm sure you noticed that I didn't write a blog article pre-game for OSU. It was deliberate. Every time we headed to Corvalis in the past with a good team, bad things happened, and I chose to stand down on trying to convince myself that this year was different. This year we would dominate them as they did to us last year. As we all saw that didn't happen, we all saw yet another proof point of USC Culture going in the right direction. USC's defense was lights out from the opening kick-off to the game's last play. They played as a swarming group to the ball and never let the offensive struggles that USC was going through weaken their hold on the game.

One of my favorite observations of this year's team is their mental awareness and preparation. Gone are the senseless pre-snap penalties (OSU would have been a good excuse as it was loud). The defensive holding and interference calls are under control. This year's team has not given up a single turnover. Starting at 4-0, I would have been excited and relieved while looking at the month back in August. I really didn't know what to expect as we were variable rich in the unknown.

Back home in the Coliseum for the Saturday night game should be another large crowd regardless of ASU's record. Trojan fans need to unite now and show their support as Coach Riley and staff have held up their end of the bargain. Win Now is clearly in the hearts of the players, and they show it pre and post-game when they talk about the game or practice. This week's game should be a 3-TD win for the Trojans and lots of time for the 2nd and 3rd teams to get live game action.

I am looking forward to seeing Miller Moss get some valuable time under center this week.

Fight On Beat the Sun Devils