The Times' college football countdown: USC is No. 1

In June 2010, the NCAA hit USC with sanctions that included a two-year bowl ban and the loss of 30 scholarships. Two Junes later, one of the "Flying Wallendas" crossed Niagara Falls on a tightrope.

Two great balancing acts.

USC, metaphorically, is only halfway across Sanctions Gorge. The wind is still whipping the "Flying Kiffins," but they can see the other side.

The fact USC football hasn't toppled is remarkable.

The NCAA didn't sideswipe USC with the idea the Trojans might win the national title three seasons later — but it could happen.

The NCAA hoped to make a case study of Reggie Bush and O.J. Mayo. "High-profile athletes demand high-profile compliance," Paul Dee, chair of the infractions committee, intoned at the time.

The book the NCAA threw at USC — literally three feet thick — should have put the Trojans six feet under. And it still might.

"People think we're through it," USC Athletic Director Pat Haden said recently from his second-story office inside Heritage Hall. "We're just starting. It is punitive. We haven't seen the net result yet."

But what if, in the miserable midst of it all, USC could pickpocket a national title?

The Trojans' quest is one of this season's most intriguing story lines. USC hasn't earned a first down yet, but is in a very non-punitive poll position: The Trojans debuted at No. 3 in the USA Today coaches' poll, No. 1 in the Associated Press media poll, and opens at No. 1 in the Times' preseason poll.

We repeat: This was not the NCAA's plan.

USC has managed the sanctions with uncanny deftness. It's been like a Rube Goldberg experiment where one foul-up along the way ruins everything. Hard work, meticulous planning and a little luck have provided USC a glimmer at glamour.

The nonconference openers are Hawaii and Syracuse; later, USC plays Oregon and Notre Dame at home.

USC also could not have fathomed a year ago that a scandal at Penn State would aid the Trojans' title cause.

USC Coach Lane Kiffin calls it "the perfect storm."

Let's chart the course:

USC hires Kiffin

Mike Garrett, in his last important act as athletic director, went outside the box in naming Kiffin to replace Pete Carroll. It was January 2010. Carroll, after a fairly spectacular run, left USC for the Seattle Seahawks.

With NCAA sanctions looming, Kiffin seemed an odd choice given that he was under NCAA investigation for alleged improprieties at Tennessee.

Source: Los Angeles Times