Countdown to Kickoff: 48 Days

As we continue on our daily countdown towards the 2007 season, we are now at 48. The feature of this post will be new offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who will assume full play-calling duties this season after fellow co-offensive coordinator Lane Kiffin accepted the head coaching job with the Oakland Raiders...

Sarkisian, age 33, has rapidly risen up the coaching ladder during his young career. Coach Carroll has always spoken highly of Sarkisian, and I'm anxious to see how he handles the USC offense. He has spent the past two seasons as co-offensive coordinator, along with Kiffin, but it was Kiffin who called the plays. However, both men, along with Carroll, were heavily involved in the game-planning for each game. Sark is more than capable though, and I strongly believe that he will excel in his new role. Sark played for former USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow at BYU and had great success there. He then worked alongside Chow at USC, so he has a pretty good grasp on the offensive system and philosohpy that has been kept intact following Chow's departure 2 years ago. Sark also got the chance to work under NFL offensive mastermind Norv Turner when he was the QB Coach with the Oakland Raiders in 2004. Clearly he has the credentials, now it's time to see him apply what he has learned.

It's no secret here at USC Sports Talk that I was not very fond of Kiffin's style or play-calling. I was quite happy to hear that he was leaving to coach the Raiders. I have nothing against the man personally, he seems like a honorable person, but I'm glad Sarkisian is in charge of the offense now. Maybe Kiff was spoiled in 2005 by having all-world talent and quite possibly the greatest offense in college football history. It seemed that he could just pick a play out of a hat and then Bush and Leinart would do the rest. When 2006 rolled around, USC was breaking in a new backfield, but the offense still had big time players like Dwayne Jarrett, Steve Smith, Ryan Kalil, and Sam Baker. Yes they were inexperienced, but there was no reason for the offense to sputter the way it did last year. Kiffin's substitutions and personnel groupings would often tip his hand to the opponent and made USC's offense often times predictable. If you don't believe me, just look at last season. When Jarrett and Smith exited the game for a play and were replaced by Patrick Turner and Brad Walker, 99 times out 100, the ensuing play was a run. I can go on forever, but let us not forget the worst substitution in the history of sports, when back in the dreaded Rose Bowl versus Texas, Reggie Bush was watching from the sidelines when LenDale White was stuffed on the infamous 4th and 2 play. Kiffin's lack of creativity made it easy for teams to pick up our offense and made it seem that opposing defenses were in the USC huddle as John David Booty called the play (e.g., ucla game). That's just how I feel, but an 11-2 season and a victory in the Rose Bowl is still quite an accomplishment. Looking forward the 2007 Sark...

Fight On!