Sunday’s Takeaway: Wave Goodbye, USC And Enjoy The Journey

2023’s college football season just wrapped up its second week but the Trojans find themselves 3-0. So of course that must mean USC earned a vacation since they’ve played 3 games to almost everyone else’s two games. And with a few key members still trying to get close to 100%, maybe an early vacation isn’t such a bad idea.

It’s often said, that life’s journey means more than the destination.

Okay, so USC’s 2023 journey is now 25% complete which includes the first leg of their farewell to the Pac-12.

At least for me, watching the way Lincoln Riley, Caleb Williams, and the parade of Trojan skill players pile on Stanford leading to a 56-10 win over Stanford was a near-perfect ending to their long-storied rivalry. Hey look, I’m not going to sugarcoat this because USC’s defense still gave up 10 points.

I mean seriously, what’s your deal Alex Grinch!?

The Trojans are guaranteed 12 games during this part of their life’s journey and before taking up their new residency in the B1G Conference next season. But before they get there, Caleb wants to extend their road to destiny another 3 more games.

After the way the Trojans took care of its business against Stanford, the Trojan Bandwagon might be picking up more passengers along the journey.

For now, though, let’s look forward to USC’s bye week.

Let’s pull over, take a break, stretch our legs, and remember what we saw before hitting the road.

USC fans take a few moments and enjoy the smell of victory over a team that John McKay once said he wanted to beat 2000-0.

And for half of the 69,000+ fans in attendance who left at halftime leading 49-3, did you wave goodbye to the school whose band has probably had more of its members suspended than its football team in their entire history of playing football?

I’m not sure if that last part was accurate or not.

However, Stanford’s dancing tree mascot and the bullhorn for a band are gone. And hopefully forever. So this is me overstating the obvious. The Trojans are 1-0 in the Pac-12 and now have unforeseeable bragging rights over their former rival Stanford.

Lincoln Riley did the classy thing when you’re beating your rival. He didn’t go for a 2-point conversion. Instead, USC’s coach showed respect for the rivalry by making sure that the Trojans scored the rivalry’s last points when he called Miller Moss’s number leading 49-10 and just over 2 minutes left in the game.

I understand losing a relationship oftentimes is painful. So while we remember the sentimental days and listen to sad songs, others like me are saying c’est la vie.–Change the station on the car radio if the farewell to Stanford song is making you cry.

Don’t be sad that USC is losing a rival that they’ve dominated since it started back in 1905. Just accept that part of life’s journey comes with change and owning Stanford for Infinity.

Who knows, maybe a change of scenery will make everyone feel better.

USC’s 2023 journey is ready to hit the road. Their first stop will be in Tempe playing Arizona St. before stopping in Boulder Colorado for some Prime Time BBQ’d Buffalo. The loser has to eat a plate of Rocky Mountain Oysters.

All kidding aside, the upcoming road games are business trips. The next two games aren’t about closing out long-storied rivalries and waving goodbye. The next two games are about making sure USC is ready to extend its journey from 12 games to 13 games, and eventually into 15.

Once USC takes care of the aforementioned business, they’ll look forward to some home cooking before hitting the road for a very important meeting that could play a role in where the Trojans’ journey takes them.

The post Sunday’s Takeaway: Wave Goodbye, USC And Enjoy The Journey appeared first on On3.