PROVO — It might have been the beginning of the end for fourth-year BYU football coach Gary Crowton.
Fifteen years ago, powered by Heisman Trophy candidate Matt Leinart and the sensational one-two rushing punch of Reggie Bush and LenDale White, No. 1-ranked USC invaded LaVell Edwards Stadium the third week of the 2004 college football season and routed the 1-1 Cougars 42-10 in front of a sellout crowd of more than 63,000 and a national television audience.
Saturday, the 2-0 Trojans, having claimed a No. 24 ranking on the strength of their freshman quarterback-led 45-20 drubbing of Stanford last week, make their first visit to Provo since that fateful Sept. 18 night, while BYU is again 1-1 after dropping its opener 30-12 to Utah and bouncing back with a 29-26 double-overtime win at Tennessee.
In 2004, BYU had opened with a 20-17 win over Notre Dame and a 37-10 loss at Stanford. But the Cougars would win only four more games that year and Crowton was forced out at season’s end.
Will BYU coach Kalani Sitake, who is 21-20 in his fourth year, suffer the same fate?
A win, or at least a competitive showing, against one of college football’s blue bloods in the 1:30 p.m. matinee on national television (ABC) could go a long way in assuring the likable Sitake gets that longed-for contract extension. Another blowout loss to a nationally ranked Pac-12 team at home? That won’t go over well.
For his part, Sitake refuses to assign that much importance to one game — just as he downplayed archrival Utah’s visit two weeks ago — but these kind of opportunities this season against ranked, name-brand opponents will end after Washington comes calling next week, and he knows it.
“It is awesome to have them here, and that they are ranked. For me, as a head coach, it is about making sure that we perform at our best.” — BYU coach Kalani Sitake, on facing USC
“It is awesome to have them here, and that they are ranked,” Sitake said. “For me, as a head coach, it is about making sure that we perform at our best. That’s the key. I don’t think we have done it yet. … We are getting better, but this would be a really good time to play at our best in all three phases and give our fans something to remember.”
Problem is, USC looks to have recovered nicely from starting quarterback J.T. Daniels’ season-ending knee injury in its 31-23 opening-night win over Fresno State. True freshman Kedon Slovis played like a poised veteran in throwing for 377 yards and three touchdowns against the Cardinal and is suddenly the toast of Troy.
“Yeah, talented team, man,” said BYU sophomore quarterback Zach Wilson. “Shoot, that’s how USC has always been. Whether they had a bad year last year, or are struggling this year, or playing well or whatever, they are always the same USC that has got all those athletes. So we can’t take a team like that lightly, and they aren’t going to take us lightly, either.”
Actually, that might be BYU’s best hope — that the Trojans get caught looking past them to Friday’s Pac-12 clash with the Utes at the Coliseum. In a six-minute, 40-second interview with reporters in L.A. Thursday after practice, USC coach Clay Helton didn’t field a single question about BYU, other than general inquiries about Slovis’ first road game.
“I would just like (Slovis) to duplicate last Saturday — play within yourself, don’t make the critical errors, find the one-on-one situations, give your guys chances to make plays,” Helton said.
Meanwhile, BYU’s players and coaches have spent the week heaping praise on USC, including how the Trojans look when they step off the bus.
“It is one of those teams where in pregame warmups you look over there and go, ‘wow, look at those guys,’” said BYU passing game coordinator Aaron Roderick, who faced USC six times when he was an assistant at Utah. “There are a few games a year where it is like that. They are at the top of the list for me. Maybe the one year we played Alabama in the Sugar Bowl, it was a similar experience. You look over there and go, ‘man, how are we going to beat those guys?’ That’s USC. They are like that.”
Offensively, BYU will try to get Wilson going after a subpar outing against Utah and a so-so performance against Tennessee — until his 64-yard pass to Micah Simon that set up the game-tying field goal and his 14-yard touchdown strike to Talon Shumway in the first overtime.
“They play aggressively on defense,” said BYU offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes. “It will be a significant challenge for us, because of the style they play with and the talent that they have.”
Defensively, BYU has to figure out how to stop the run, after giving up 256 yards on the ground to Utah and 242 to Tennessee. The Trojans have rushed for 290 yards in two games.
“They are going to do their deal, and we have to stop them,” said BYU defensive coordinator Ilaisa Tuiaki. The Air Raid offense “is different than the first two offenses we’ve faced, with the spread they run and throwing the ball a lot. They definitely present a lot of challenges.”
Just like in 2004.