ShareThisLOS ANGELES - The University of Southern California was barely into its August practices when new coach Lane Kiffin revealed that prize freshman tailback Dillon Baxter would miss the opening game at Hawaii for breaking team rules.
"I've made some mistakes," Baxter conceded contritely then in his first meeting with reporters. "Now I've got to pay for it."
Words an entire program can relate to.
Quite by accident, Baxter begins the season as the living, breathing symbol of a USC program that is paying for its rule-breaking mistakes under former coach Pete Carroll.
No bowl game. No chance at a Bowl Championship Series title. A shrunken roster that has kept the vulnerable Trojans from full physical contact in practices.
Too bad, so bad. And if fans and alumni feel that way, the sentiment better not leak its way into the locker room.
USC's best shot, of course, is to resist the temptation to feel sorry for itself and to use the crippling restrictions as motivation.
Obviously, I'm not the first one to think of it.
"This is the hardest camp we've been through," said junior running back Marc Tyler after Tuesday's practice, just hours before the team left for Thursday's opener in Honolulu. "Coach wants to show everybody that 'SC is still 'SC."
That shouldn't be as difficult as some people seem to believe. The Trojans still have a ton of football talent to rely on, a fact that Associated Press voters remembered when they ranked USC No. 14 in the country in that preseason poll. Kiffin has assembled a coaching cadre that is arguably stronger than any of Carroll's last several staffs. And, not incidentally, the team has a returning quarterback who won nine games as a true freshman.
So maybe Matt Barkley wasn't quite the Carson Palmer-Matt Leinart-Mark Sanchez amalgam that Carroll tried to sell even as the teenager racked up 14 interceptions to go with his 15 touchdown passes last year. He still returns as one of the Pac-10's top leaders.
"I'm so much better prepared this year," said Barkley Tuesday. "I know the offense backwards and forwards. You'll definitely see an improvement in me and in the team's performance."
It would be a mistake to underestimate the Trojans this year.
While TV and radio talking heads prattle on about NCAA punishments and the demise of Troy, the reality is that not much has changed where it counts, on the field and on the sidelines.
Kiffin, for sure, is acutely aware that this is his last, best chance to prove that he has matured and can keep this elite program in the national championship hunt year after year.
He has described USC as his dream job, which makes him a lot like his counterpart across town, Rick Neuheisel.
UCLA's coach also was a young, energetic go-getter who had early success, and trouble, in his first couple of tries as boss at Colorado and Washington. Neuheisel's mistakes began to define him, before UCLA came calling, offering him a chance at redemption, at his own favorite place to be.
Like Neuheisel, Kiffin knows not to mess this one up after his own Oakland and Tennessee mulligans. This one counts, and he barely cracked a smile before leaving USC's practice field, refusing to set a bar for this unusual first season.
"I never talk about numbers," he said. "Too many variables -- injuries, a couple of missed kicks. We just want to establish toughness and discipline, and show that we are a detail-oriented team."
When a reporter tried to pry a Hawaii-as-fun answer from him, Kiffin didn't bite.
"This isn't a pleasure trip," he said. "We haven't won a game, yet. We don't deserve a vacation."
His solemnity brought to mind his freshman tailback, a couple of weeks ago.
"I've definitely grown up since I've been here," said Baxter in mid-August.
For Troy's sake, all of them better have.
(Reach Gregg Patton at gpatton(at)PE.com.)
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
columnMust credit The Press-Enterprise of Riverside, Calif.
