Steve Sarkisian's Seat is Heating Up After Stanford Upsets USC

It’s been a rough start to the 2015 season for USC head coach Steve Sarkisian. First, he embarrassed himself by going on a drunken rant at a booster-filled event, forcing athletic director Pat Haden to forcibly remove him from the stage. Now, his No. 2 USC Trojans dropped the ball against Pac-12 rival Stanford, which doesn’t bode well for his future with the school.

There have already been cries for his job, leading many folks to hypothesize that Sarkisian would get the ax before the 2015 campaign even began. However, dominant early-season wins against Arkansas State and Idaho lowered the temperature on his seat. Sarkisian will certainly be feeling the heat of this Stanford loss, though.

Although the Trojans certainly had their fair share of success against the Cardinal, the defense was a mess — giving up 474 total yards to the Stanford offense and watching quarterback Kevin Hogan have one of the best outings of his college career. The Cardinal were also able to get the running game going, allowing them to dominate time of possession and keep the opposing offense at bay. It looked at one point as though the Trojans would pull away midway through the second quarter, but the tide turned from there and USC couldn’t regain their traction.

To make matters worse, the Trojans turned away from the running game from there on out after dominating in the first quarter and a half. Although that partly had to do with Stanford’s time of possession dominance, the ineffectiveness on the ground and reliance on the passing game — and the Cardinal defense’s ability to hone in on the pass — helped do them in.

Now, after a disappointing performance against a team that historic enjoys bursting USC’s bubble, the pressure is certainly back on Sarkisian. His defense wasn’t prepared, and the offense failed to stick with what worked. Obviously, a big hunk of the blame has to fall on the head coach. And for a Top 10 team with College Football Playoff expectations, the weight of the loss can be crippling.

Don’t expect Sarkisian to get the ax tomorrow, but the temperature has been turned up. If the Trojans don’t bounce back in a big hurry, he could be looking for a new job in 2016.