5 Key Story Lines Going into the USC vs Colorado Game

The Measuring Stick

There is only one fact that truly matters when it comes to football — scoreboard. And right now, the scoreboard on USC’s 2016 reads a harsh 2-3.

The Trojans have the opportunity to draw things back to even on Saturday against Colorado, but the game will be about more than just getting back to .500.

September in Troy was a nightmare but the promise of an October turnaround remains.

USC took care of business against the Sun Devils, a game cornerback Jonathan Lockett called “a momentum booster.” If that’s the case, the Trojans can’t afford to let it slip.

“The thing that you hope as a head coach, is each unit is progressing, each unit is getting better and we move forward and I think you’ve seen that from Game 1 to right now,” Clay Helton said. “Now our goal is, we’ve got to keep going.”

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Keeping it going will involve maintaining the aggressive stance, offensively, defensively and on special teams, that USC took when facing ASU.

The Trojans definitely aren’t taking this one lightly.

“This is probably the most exciting game I’ve ever had this year because they’re a good team, they’re blowing everybody out,” defensive lineman Stevie Tu’ikolovatu said this week. “It’s another good measuring stick for us to see where we’re at.”

Where USC is at could be good news, or bad news. A loss would all but end the Trojans aspirations for a repeat division title — and put USC’s bowl eligibility hopes in serious jeopardy.

A win, on the other hand, would affirm the visual progress seemingly made by the team over the past two weeks. It would be another step on the path towards salvaging a season that looked lost.

“You’ve got to be playing your best football in November when it counts the most,” said Helton. “We played good ball last week, we’ve got to even improve on that.”