USC coaches, players credit 'culture' for 5-0 start, Pac-12 title shot

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At halftime last Saturday against rival UCLA, USC was down 11 points. The Trojans would go behind by as many as 18 points in the third quarter.

None of that mattered, just like it didn't matter when they were down 13 in the final minutes against Arizona State or when they were trailing steep underdog Arizona in the final minute on the road.

Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell said he had a simple message for the players at halftime last weekend.

"I told them at halftime, I think in the second half our culture is going to be exposed because we’ve talked about it so much. We’ve preached it so much, and the guys have bought in so much, there’s never a sense of panic on the sideline," he shared this week. "Those guys don’t get worried, and they just keep believing and keep fighting for each other. I know that at times and on different teams and probably even last year at times, when things go bad or things aren’t going our way early, there’s going to be some finger-pointing. There’s probably going to be some complaining that don’t give you the chance to go win the football game. This year there isn’t any of that. Honestly, I really do think that’s been our biggest difference."

USC is 5-0 despite seeming in dire peril in more than half of those games. The Trojans are back in the Pac-12 championship game for the first time since 2017. It was just two years ago that they needed an entire 12-game season to reach 5 wins.

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A number of the key players on this team -- wide receivers Tyler Vaughns and Amon-Ra St. Brown, safeties Talanoa Hufanga and Isaiah Pola-Mao, linebacker Kana'i Mauga, defensive linemen Brandon Pili and Marlon Tuipulotu. among others -- were in the program during that 5-7 nadir in 2018 (and the 8-5 campaign last fall).

Does that make the success this fall all the more meaningful?

"Definitely," Hufanga said. "You’ve got to keep moving forward. We’ve had some rough seasons in the past, but we just want to continue to build off of that. We’re trying to establish a culture here, and I think we’ve done a great job of just trying to change that around."

That word again -- culture. It would come up often this week.

"It was tough these last two seasons, but I think we’re finally getting to show what we’re capable of," Tuipulotu said. "Coach TO (Todd Orlando) bringing his culture and having that run and hit mentality, we’ve been showing that all year. We’re just going to try and go out and show that again this week."

Culture is a nebulous term. It's certainly pretty clear to see when it's lacking -- it's still a vivid memory two years later watching then-Trojans linebacker Cam Smith stand outside the locker room after the final loss of that 2018 season and pretty bluntly acknowledge a divide in the locker room and a frustration that the team as a whole couldn't buy into the same cause.

It also seems fair to assume that it's no coincidence these Trojans have been able to respond to late-game adversity repeatedly this fall. So there's certainly something to the "culture" comments.

Identity is another often-used catchphrase when talking about college football teams, and that seems kin to culture but perhaps a little easier to pinpoint.

Let's start with the defense and the new defensive staff. While the primary numbers are only modestly better than last year -- USC is giving up 395 yards per game (down from 408.5 last year) and 25.0 points per game (down from 29.4 last year), the Trojans are leading college football with an average of 3 forced turnovers per game. They have 15 turnovers in five games (8 interceptions and 7 recovered fumbles), and of the teams with more turnovers forced, two have played 7 games, three have played 8 and the rest have played 9 or more games to get to their totals.

It's not just the traditional turnovers, though, but the repeated fourth-down stands, the consistent QB pressures that force punts, etc.

"We have two words: Run and hit," Hufanga reiterated. "When you run and hit the whole time during games, things will work in your favor. When we establish that kind of culture, things go in our favor."

On the offensive side, everyone knows USC is as talented at the skill positions as any team in the country. But the Trojans are a different offense late in games when their backs are against the wall.

Certainly, a lot of that has to start with the quarterback, and sophomore Kedon Slovis has proven it time and time and time again in those situations.

Against UCLA, much was made about Slovis checking into different calls on the final two plays of the game -- the 35-yard shot down the right sideline to Vaughns and the 8-yard precision touchdown to St. Brown in the left side of the end zone for the go-ahead score.

On the final two drives at Arizona, Slovis was 13-of-14 passing for 143 yards and a TD with the only miss coming on a dropped pass.

And against Arizona State he connected on clutch fourth-down touchdown passes on each of the last two drives (one was a free play created by an offsides penalty) to pull off that improbable comeback, after ESPN's analytics team had given the Sun Devils a 99.8 percent win probability.

"It’s not ideal, obviously. We’d like to not get behind. That’d be the better situation," Harrell said this week. "I think that’s one place we’ve really grown as an offense and really as an entire football team, the last two years I’ve been here. Amon-Ra could probably speak to this, because he’s an example of it. But just how we’ve grown culturally, you know what I mean? I think that’s just a sign of our culture."

Said St. Brown: "I think our culture is something that really helped us win that game. If you look at how we came back for the third time this season, I think it’s huge for us. We don’t go into any game thinking we never have a shot, even if we’re down. Like Graham said, in that UCLA halftime, we got in the locker room, and Graham told us, 'Our culture is what’s going to help us win this game.' We went out there and scored a few points, and I remember UCLA scoring again, and it was going to be on the offense to win the game and we went out there and made plays."

St. Brown referenced the seemingly critical third-down pass that went off his hands and for a UCLA interception, as the Bruins followed on the next play with a 69-yard touchdown push their lead to 12 with 1:16 left in the third quarter.

"Everyone came to the sideline and said, 'Don’t worry about it. We got them.' And we went out there and kept playing and won the game. As a team, it shows us how strong we are, how much we’ve grown from last year," St. Brown continued. "I think you guys can see it. I have people telling me, 'You guys come back all the time. How do you guys do it?' I think as a team we just believe. We trust each other. We trust our coaches, and we know we can get the job done."

Maybe it's as simple as that -- USC has defined strengths on each side of the ball it can lean on in big moments, and as a result it has fostered a collective confidence that has been reinforced and emboldened through the tensest of moments.

Head coach Clay Helton, meanwhile, has consistently referenced the adversity of the pandemic, having spring football shut down after one practice, not knowing when the team would get to return to campus, reconvening in July only to have the Pac-12 season cancelled, USC players then taking the lead in September on getting the season relaunched with an open letter to the California Gov. Gavin Newsom, etc.

"To see those kids battle through each and every step, those games that were close may not be won last year," Helton said this week. "Those kids have gotten older. They’ve hardened. They’ve gotten so close and bonded together that this is one of those years they’ll never forget. They’ll be 80 years old, looking back at this and say, ‘I was a part of a team, a part of a family that fought through every possible situation that you can imagine in 2020 and put themselves in a place to play a championship.' Hopefully we can do our job one more time and carry a Pac-12 title home."

It's a hard team to judge. There's the fact that USC has put itself in those jams and deficits in the first place, but then, yeah, it's hard to ignore the relentless resilience. Call it culture, call it whatever, but that doesn't just happen three times in five games.

The Trojans are only No. 13 in the College Football Playoff rankings because they haven't played a team that currently has a winning record -- UCLA was 3-2 entering that game last week and Oregon is 3-2 entering kickoff tonight -- but they've won two lopsided games out of five while doing what they had to in the others.

What would this Trojans team do over a full 12-game schedule -- one that was initially supposed to include undefeated Alabama (the No. 1 team in the country) and unbeaten Notre Dame (No. 2 in the CFP rankings)? Fans and critics may have their opinions, but it will never be truly known.

Could USC have kept up this pace, winning this way enough times over a full season to get to double-digit wins, or was this merely a small sample size that played out in the Trojans' favor? More unknowns.

But maybe it doesn't matter -- shouldn't matter. A program badly needing a resurgence this year is 5-0 and playing for a conference championship Friday night. If the Trojans beat Oregon -- even if this isn't the same Ducks team that raced them off the field a year ago -- it's hard to nitpick.

Especially when, by all accounts, there is a difference within the locker room, within the "culture" of the program, which many critics questioned could happen after the last couple years.

Whatever this season is, it's been an overwhelming net positive for the Trojans to this point, but it's not done yet.

"We’ve got a bond that we’ve built," Hufanga said. "... You have to throw it back into the quarantine. When you have coaches that are willing to put in the time during meetings, on the Zoom, and really focus and try to build that relationship, that’s trust. When you have that kind of trust in a coach and they have the trust in you to go out there and make plays and put you in the right positions, the opportunities are endless. I really appreciate everything they’ve done. That’s the kind of culture you want in a championship team. For us just to go out there and build off of that is an incredible opportunity for us."

Add Tuipulotu: "I think our coaches have done a great job since quarantine, keeping at us, telling us to keep working and keep working, and it’s finally here. This is what we’ve been working for."