Saving the Trojan Empire Is All On Lane

The Trojan Empire is in trouble. The NCAA took about the same time we had in between World Cups to make their decision (4 years) and the hammer they dropped on the USC Trojan football program was like taking a penalty kick right in the face.

USC was hit with a two-year bowl ban, the loss of more than 20 scholarships and perhaps forfeiture of wins from the 2004 season, when the team won the BCS National Championship. (Ok, Maalox moment for me begins now)

So where does this leave the once 'Tiffany program' of college football? That will all depend on the man who claims to have a plan, that left Tennessee in a van for the West Coast to get a tan. (Sorry for that. Clearly I'm not thinking straight, as a proud Trojan Alum). Lane Kiffin has shown he can be as good a recruiter as any coach in America. Prior to today's news from the NCAA, he has been. However, coach Kiffin is now faced with the daunting task of convincing 17 and 18 year old kids that the USC football brand will remain as strong as ever.

Coach Kiffin has been called slimy, unfaithful and nothing more than a used car salesman. 'Slimy and unfaithful'...that's a Tennessee fan's issue. 'Used car salesman', that might be just the elixir the USC football program needs right about now. Think about it. Coach Kiffin has to walk into high school kid's living rooms for the next few years and convince them that this dented and beatup car (the USC program) is still a great buy and will get you from point A (college) to point B (the NFL).

Coach Kiffin will also have to be the ultimate motivator to the current roster of student athletes. This penalty delivered by the NCAA could be used as a rallying-cry. The 2010 USC Trojans, who are guilty of doing absolutely nothing wrong, should have plenty of motivation to run the table with an undefeated season and sit atop the polls smiling at the BCS, the AP voters and Pete Carroll, who clearly believes the program is sinking fast. Coach Kiffin can continue to recruit kids that believe in the USC brand and make a statement to all the haters that are reveling in these sanctions that we will not fall from grace. We will not become irrelevant for a decade. In other words - we will not become UCLA.

As incoming prize recruit Markeith Ambles stated on Twitter (@MA_DaNextillWR) late last night: "Yes I'm still going to attend 'SC. I don't care about two little bowl games even if that happens...Let's Go Trojans. We still goin 12-0" With kids like this, the Trojan Empire will survive this bump in the road.