USC began the season with expectations of playing for a BCS title. No one anticipated the Trojans would be 6-3 heading into their final three regular-season games. Fans aren't the only ones disappointed; so is the head coach.
Lane Kiffin could not escape the noise. After USC's 22-13 loss to Notre Dame on Saturday night, cheers and other boisterous shouts from the Fighting Irish locker room reverberated through the walls during Kiffin's postgame news conference. Later, when Kiffin was readying to leave the stadium in his car, Notre Dame's massive equipment truck sat nearby idling and rumbling in the Coliseum tunnel.
TUCSON, Ariz. - Marqise Lee dropped to the desert floor as if deliriously parched, covering his head with his hands and kicking his legs. He eventually stood up and walked slowly across the Arizona Stadium field with tears steaming down his cheeks.