COLLEGE FOOTBALL NEWS

Pac-12 Media Days: USC in the midst of resurgence

The Sports Xchange

July 31, 2015 at 3:14 pm.

Quarterback Cody Kessler (6) is back to lead an experienced USC offense. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Quarterback Cody Kessler (6) is back to lead an experienced USC offense. Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

The biggest theme of Pac-12 Media Days was that USC, presumably, is back.

“You voted us to be the conference champions,” Trojans coach Steve Sarkisian said Friday on the second and final day of the event, held at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, Calif. “We’re appreciative of that, but the reality is we need to put our best foot forward every time we take the field.”

USC hasn’t been conference champ since coach Pete Carroll’s final season in 2008, and it hasn’t won the Pac-12 South division since the league expanded in 2011. The program’s last national championship — later vacated by the BCS because of NCAA sanctions — came in 2004.

But the Trojans’ talent flashes back to the good ol’ days following its re-emergence from NCAA sanctions and scholarship limitations: A Heisman candidate quarterback (Cody Kessler), some of the most elite athletes in the country (linebacker/safety Su’a Cravens, cornerback/receiver/returner Adoree’ Jackson, receiver JuJu Smith) and an offensive line that has once again turned into a strength.

All of this five-star talent apparently has a chip on its shoulder, too.

“Me, personally, I haven’t done anything,” Kessler said. “Neither have any of these guys. All this stuff that is out there is cool and all, but I’m a 10-4 and 9-4 quarterback.”

The message is that those USC records from the past two seasons haven’t been — and won’t be — good enough.

“Nobody is going to look back go, ‘Oh, they went 9-4; that’s awesome,'” Kessler said. “The most important thing to me is winning every game.”

USC, which added arguably the nation’s top recruiting class, lost three games last season by less than a touchdown and also fell to crosstown rival UCLA for the third consecutive season. Kessler was one of the most accurate quarterbacks in the country as a junior, completing 69.7 percent of his passes, with 39 touchdowns and five interceptions.

The offense often played it safe last season but has the horses to attempt more downfield throws, which is one of the teaching points to Kessler.

“I coach quarterbacks harder than any player on the team,” Sarkisian said, relating a story about Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs.

“Duncan gets ripped by Gregg Popovich after one game, and he goes, ‘If Pop can’t coach me that hard, how is he going to expect to coach everybody else that hard?’ So, I coach Cody harder than anybody else. I expect Cody to be better at the most critical moments in the biggest games than he was a year ago. That is what is going to define him.”

While USC has a Heisman candidate at quarterback, Oregon has to replace one.

Jeff Lockie was the backup to Marcus Mariota last season, but much of the offseason hype has been about Eastern Washington graduate transfer Vernon Adams, who isn’t expected to arrive until a few days into fall camp, needing to complete one more summer class. Oregon coach Mark Helfrich said Friday he was only going to talk about quarterbacks currently in the program, an effective “no comment” about Adams.

Lockie, a junior who attempted 28 passes last season, doesn’t have the same athletic profile as Mariota.

“From an analogy standpoint, he’s a point guard,” Helfrich said. “He knows everything about our system. He executed it almost flawlessly in the spring. He had a great spring. … I have total confidence in Jeff. Our players do, too.”

The Ducks, who lost to Ohio State in last season’s national championship game, were picked to win the Pac-12 North in a vote of league media. Oregon received 37 first-place votes; the eight others went to Stanford.

NOTES: Arizona coach Rich Rodriguez rambled when asked if it was “refreshing” to have a returning starting quarterback (sophomore Anu Solomon) for the first time in his four years with the Wildcats. “Refreshing? I think a nice, cold beer or a Bacardi and Coke or maybe even a nice ice tea, sweetened, is more refreshing. What was the question again?” … USC coach Steve Sarkisian presumably took a little shot at the sartorial splendor of Oregon when asked about his recruiting approach. “We fall back on our rich tradition,” he said. “We’re not going to take the field in 13 different uniforms.” Ducks fans quickly noted on Twitter that Sarkisian is 0-6 against Oregon as a head coach, losing by an average of 25.8 points. USC plays at Oregon on Nov. 21. … Cal junior QB Jared Goff was listed as a top-10 pick in an early NFL mock draft by ESPN’s Todd McShay. “It hasn’t changed him a bit,” Cal coach Sonny Dykes said of the expectations. “If anything, it’s made him more focused on improving our team and our program. He’s very unselfish. He gets it.”