Fight On For Sark

USC Trojans rose from the dead this season after losing two of their first four games with an embarrassing loss at home to Washington State and Arizona State put up 62 points on them causing Lane Kiffin to lose his head coaching job. Ed Oregron grabbed the keys to USC's car, and they completely revert the culture back to the days of Pete Carroll where it seemed fun to play in Southern California again. It seemed like Coach O might get the interim tag removed, but it did not happen as the Trojans hired Washington's head coach Steve Sarkisian, a former USC coach, whom might be a more obvious choice than people are believing right now and how the Pac-12 chips could fall into place.

People will look at Washington and see nothing really too impressive there for Sarkisian. He won seven games a year for the last four years and finally got over the hump by winning their eighth game this season. Washington has not made a Rose Bowl appearance nor a January bowl trip meaning there is nothing real flashy especially since the Huskies had the likes of Jake Locker and Keith Price running things at quarterback. There is a reason when Mitch Pratt and I did a Tapping The Keg college football preview podcast we called Washington the Milwaukee Bucks of college football. But let's peel back the onion a bit there.

Before Sarkisian, the Huskies hired Tyrone Willingham after he was ousted at Notre Dame. People believed Willingham would continue what Rick Neuheisal did in the late 90's and early 2000's. Willingham did nothing of the such leading Washington only 12 wins in five seasons including a winless season, which was rock bottom for Huskies football. Let's not forget, this team won a National Championship in the early 90's. They had a history here and it was completely blown up by Willingham. Sarkisian brought this school back to revelancy and Washington had a ground swell going with their recruiting in the last couple of years. He now has a somewhat similar task with USC. 

 The Trojans had a strong finish and they will be playing in a bowl game yet USC wants to get back to the Pete Carroll days. Hell, they seem desperate to want that feeling again with bringing back old coach after old coach who worked with Carroll. Sarkisian is the next one. People forget he is only 39 years old meaning he could be build a true foundation where USC is consistently playing for Rose Bowls and National Championship appearances. Sark does not have to build from the bottom, but he needs to push this team past an eight or nine win level. It all starts and ends with recruiting and for the time being, it seems like USC will carry a major edge. 

From the looks of it, Tosh Lupoi and Justin Wilcox will be joining Sarkisian at USC which is massive for the program getting off on the right foot. Many people believe Lupoi is one of, if not, the best recruiter in the county leading Washington to get a haul of players when he moved from California to Washington late in the recruiting process. Wilcox is also a strong recruiter plus he will have a defense chalked full of athletes on it. The future looks very bright for the Trojans. 

As for Washington, Football Scoop pointed out their targets and one interests me more than others, Jim Mora. He is UCLA's head coach and someone who has done a wonderful job there. Mora is a Washington grad with a love for the city of Seattle where he coached with the Seahawks. It also should be noted the Huskies have brand new facilities compared to the Bruins. As of print time, Mora has not made up his mind, but if he were to leave, it creates madness with who takes the reigns at UCLA, Lane Kiffin?  Washington will be able to get a big fish and Mora would be a marlin for this university. 

The greatest thing about Kiffin is he became universally disliked by media, players, cats and dogs. It does not seem like Sarkisian will have the same problem even if he is a little more tight-lipped than a Coach O. USC has their coach now we will see if they can get their championships. 

Charlie.