Kiffin to be on the hot seat in 2013 if he stays as the Trojans head coach

By Anthony Caruso III The Capital Sports Report Owner/Managing Editor/Sr. Writer The Southern California Trojans were among the top teams in the country to begin the season. USC Trojans But as the season progressed, the Trojans would go from being No. 1 ranked overall to being unranked. And to make matters worse, head coach Lane Kiffin is now on the hot seat with the chance he’ll lose his job. The Trojans should reevaluate his job status after his team did not show up to the Bruit Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets wanted to be at the game more than the Trojans did. Georgia Tech was able to beat Southern California, 21-7, in yesterday’s game. With the loss, the Trojans fell to 7-6 on the season. They started the season 6-1, before losing going 1-5 in the rest of their season. And they are the first school to start the season No. 1 overall, and then lose six games. Senior quarterback Matt Barkeley missed the game against Georgia Tech with an injury and was not cleared to play. He injured his shoulder after Thanksgiving against UCLA – a game in which UCLA won. The Trojans could not contain the Ramblin’ Wrecks triple-option attack. The Yellow Jackets had 294 rushing yards. The Trojans could only muster 205 total yards, while Georgia Tech had 369 total yards. Trojans quarterback Max Wittek had 107 passing yards. Wittek threw a 9-yard touchdown to Silas Reed for their lone score. Reed had three receptions for 14 yards and the touchdown. And he also had 17 carries for 88 yards. This is the second 7-6 record that Kiffin has had in his college coaching career. In 2009, in his long season with the Tennessee Volunteers, he had a 7-6 record and lost in the Chick-fil-A bowl. He is now 0-2 in Bowl games in the college ranks, and many coaches are judged on what have you done for me lately. Lately, Kiffin hasn’t proved that he could win a bowl game. In 2010 and 2011, the Trojans were ineligible for a bowl game due to NCAA sanctions. In 2010, the team went 8-5, and then last year, the team went 10-2. The Trojans were first in the South Division in the Pac-12 last year, but that is not important since they were not eligible to play for a conference championship or a bowl game. Yet, even with the 10 wins last season, Kiffin is only 25-13 in the college ranks. Kiffin will have to prove to the Trojans management he is worth keeping around for another year. If they keep him, he will go into next season on the hot seat. He would have to build this team back up to prominence again since they haven’t been this bad since the 2001 season. In that year, the team finished 6-6 and lost to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl. © 2007-2013 The Capital Sports Report. All rights reserved. All the articles and photos contained on the website are protected by the US Copyright law and may not be re-produced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcasted without the prior written permission. The Capital Sports Report and its logo are official trademarks of Anthony Caruso III and Anthony Caruso Enterprises.