USC Trojans And Lane Kiffin Still Have Convincing To Do

How much has the first half of conference play told you about USC? Obviously they haven't played the most challenging teams so far, but have the first five conference games showed you anything?

For me, the jury is still out on this team. At times, they've looked really, really good. At other times, they've left me scratching my head. The game against Colorado surely was a confidence booster, even if it was against Colorado, and it showed how dynamic this team can really be. The team's strength clearly lies in its defense, which I've been saying has been underrated all year long. If the Trojans' offense can continue to build on their performance against the Buffaloes, and if the defense can continue to play at its current level, this team has a shot at running the table in the second half of the season and making a serious run at a BCS title game bid.

Assess Lane Kiffin's job performance so far this season.

I'll give a little credit to Lane Kiffin for weathering the so-called storm of criticism and bickering by the fans thus far, considering the heap of expectations placed on this team. Yes, he's right in the fact that the team is just trying to win games. But let's be real: Fans don't want to see boring football here in Los Angeles. People wanted flashiness, they wanted exciting games, they wanted to see a dynamic offense. Not until last weekend did we see that with the no huddle offense and Kiffin opening up the playbook a little bit more. If I had to give him a grade, it'd be a B. I still think they could have prepared a bit better for Stanford, regardless if they had Khaled Holmes or not.