USC football mailbag: What happened to Tailback U?

There was a palpable sense of relief from USC’s players after last week’s 39-36 win over Washington State.
Before a 13-point, second-half comeback to defeat the Cougars, they were staring at a potential 1-3 start.
Had the Trojans been 1-3 before? Yes. As recently as two years ago in a season in which they reached the Rose Bowl.
But as easy as it might be to draw parallels between the recent seasons, I hadn’t viewed the situations as particularly similar. That’s mostly bec