Midway through the season and during a USC idle week, it’s the perfect time to take stock of not just where USC stands, but how the rest of the football world is shaping up as well.
Let’s take a look around the college and pro games. Let’s see how former Trojan head coaches and their teams are faring so far this season.
Pete Carroll, Raiders
It’s been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster in Las Vegas.
The Raiders were always going to face a tough road to the playoffs given the talent on the other teams in the AFC West. But when Carroll came to town, he brought promises that he would waste no time trying to win, and made the offseason moves to match.
Instead, Geno Smith has thrown more interceptions (10) than touchdowns (7), Ashton Jeanty has gotten off to a slow start to his NFL career, Brock Bowers has been limited by injury and the Raiders just lost 31-0 against the Kansas City Chiefs to sink their record to 2-5. There is already talks of trading all the veterans and starting over, again. Not ideal for a very, very exhausted Raiders fanbase.
Clay Helton, Georgia Southern
Trojan fans remember well when USC sent Clay Helton and Georgia Southern packing in Week 2 to the tune of a 59-20 beatdown. But how have the Eagles fared since then?
To put it simply, they’ve seen mixed results. The Eagles won their remaining two non-conference matchups and then opened conference play with two losses against the two best teams in the SBC, James Madison and Southern Miss. But they handled business against last place Georgia State and their record now sits at 3-4.
Unsurprisingly, the Eagles have put up some impressive point totals even in their losses, but are losing games because they are weak on defense.
They have a pretty good chance of winning 3 of their last 5 games and making a bowl, but probably won’t make much noise other than that. They’re not horrible by SBC standards, just mediocre.
Steve Sarkisian, Texas
It’s been a mostly disappointing season in Austin, given the Longhorns were the preseason No. 1 team and Arch Manning was the preseason favorite to win the Heisman trophy.
With that context, the Longhorn’s loss to a Florida team that later fired Billy Napier is enough to call this season a disappointment thus far, and that doesn’t even touch on some of their struggles against even worse opponents.
But the Longhorns are still somehow kind of in contention? It’s been a lot more stressful than people imagined, and a lot worse on offense, but Texas is 5-2, ranked No. 22 in the AP Poll and very well within reach of making the SEC championship game if they win out.
They probably won’t win out though, with games against Vanderbilt, Georgia and Texas A&M. And Sark is going to keep facing calls to give up his play calling duties all along the way.
Lane Kiffin, Ole Miss
The Rebels are another confusing team. They beat LSU but struggled against…Washington State? And of course, they are coming off a 43-35 loss to Georgia.
Trinidad Chambliss is one of the best stories in college football, and the Rebels have a somewhat easy path to the college football playoff as a one loss team if they beat No. 13 Oklahoma this weekend. Their final four games come against South Carolina, Citadel, Florida and Mississippi State, all teams that Ole Miss should beat on paper.
Kiffin and the Rebels continue to be a match made in heaven, and it seems like their tradition of being borderline elite isn’t going anywhere anytime season. Unless, of course, Kiffin leaves for the Florida job. But the Rebels can’t afford to think about those rumors right now.
Ed Orgeron
Coach O hasn’t had a gig since he left LSU in 2021. But he recenly made it clear that he wants to return to coaching very soon.
““I’m not gonna take anything, and not everybody’s gonna take me,” Orgeron said in an interview with On3. “So, it may be a head coach job. It may be a defensive line job with someone that I believe can win a championship.”
“I’m a championship coach and I’m gonna bring a winning program to their university.”
Orgeron also said that he still feels young at 64 years of age and wants a team that’s as excited about him as he would be about them.
It will be interesting to see where he ends up in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: A look at how former USC coaches are faring midway through the football season
Reporting by Ethan Inman, Trojans Wire / Trojans Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
