USC vs. Hawaii: Trojans win, but look hilarious and awful

In the record book, the Trojans did their job this week. They beat Hawaii, and did so with room to spare, winning 30-13.

But the final score tells little about what happened on the islands on the first night of the college football season, a game in which Lane Kiffin’s squad looked positively inept on offense, incapable of exploiting a Warriors defense that finished in the bottom 25 in the country in virtually every category.

For a more indicative score, we should look to the middle of the second quarter, when this was the tally:

This year, with no star quarterback but an elite wide receiver, they are inexplicably ranked 24th, and at one point in the second quarter, they trailed 5-3, having given up a safety and allowed a field goal.

This raises the question: if a USC team ranked No. 1 that blew the doors of Hawaii ended up 7-6, where does a team ranked No. 24 that was losing 5-3 to Hawaii end up? A 5-8 record? In the very bowels of hell?

We should give credit to USC’s defense, which absolutely dominated the Rainbow Warriors. Hawaii started Ohio State transfer Taylor Graham, who ended up going a brutal 16-for-41 with four interceptions. Some of this was Graham’s fault: he perpetually missed targets, overthrowing and hitting behind them on easy interceptions. (Isn’t Norm Chow a QB guru?) But the Trojans deserve some credit for capitalizing and running one back for a score. Graham had virtually no time behind a strong USC pass rush, and was sacked seven times, and when those sacks are included the Warriors had just 22 yards on 31 rushing attempts. The Trojans’ defense did its job.

The Trojans’ offense? Well, not so much.

After not revealing his starter for weeks and weeks and weeks before naming Cody Kessler in the hours before the game, it sorta became clear why. Kessler routinely struggled with throwing simple passes like screens, lofting one in between three Warriors defenders for a pick and tossing another practically into the arms of a Hawaii lineman who couldn’t hold on to the floater. He finished an uninspiring 10-for-19 with 95 yards with a touchdown and a pick.

The Trojans put 30 points on the board, which is more than a few. But that doesn’t mean this was a good effort. Hawaii allowed 35.7 points per game on average last season, and those stats are skewed by a 54-2 win over Lamar and a 23-7 win over transitioning FBS school South Alabama. In 10 games against FBS teams, they allowed under 40 points three times: against a brutal UNLV team, against Air Force, and against an equally brutal New Mexico team that put up 35 points anyway.

And with four turnovers, you’d expect USC to do even better than that. They started four drives in enemy territory, and scored seven points off of a pick-six. But given prime field position against an awful defense, the offense only managed two touchdown drives: one of 30 yards and one ending in the game’s final minute with the result well in hand.

I guess I could’ve also showed you this screengrab:

Considering Lane Kiffin’s precipitously toasty seat -- yup, he’s on our hot seat watch -- this game was fun to watch.

Oh, and Hawaii’s touchdown with 30 seconds left got them the cover, because college football.

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