First things first: Yes, Stanford is a bad, bad football team in 2023. The Cardinal’s win over Hawaii one week ago doesn’t look nearly as impressive now as it did then. Maybe Stanford’s easy 37-24 victory on the island allowed for the possibility that the Cardinal could pose a little bit of a test to the Trojans on Saturday night in the Los Angeles Coliseum.
Nope. Not so. Not even close. Stanford is atrocious. No one should get too excited about beating a terrible team.
However: If you’re an elite team and you’re playing a terrible team, this is how it should look, right? This is how a top-tier team with grand ambitions should play against a bottom feeder. This is how a national championship contender should treat a cellar-dwelling opponent.
Play like you’re supposed to play. Act like you’re supposed to act. Perform the way you are coached and trained to do when you take the field for a live game.
This is what it is all supposed to look like. USC’s defense didn’t allow a touchdown in the first 56 minutes. Not until 3:35 remained on the clock did USC allow its only touchdown of the night.
Let’s go inside the reactions and game details for the USC defense, plus a few other elements of the atmosphere inside the Coliseum on a fun night for the Trojans: