The Times of Troy: Why canceling the spring football game isn’t as bad as you might think

Hi, everyone! Welcome back for another week of The Times of Troy newsletter. This time, it’s a special birthday edition. I’m Ryan Kartje, your USC beat writer with the Times, and today, I turn — gulp — 36. Ancient compared to the likes of USC’s new football front office. But after shaking off a bout with norovirus, not to mention side-stepping an untold number of other daycare-spawned illnesses, things are looking up! I’ve got high hopes for 36, starting first with the fresh pasta my wife and I are planning to eat at Funke in Beverly Hills tonight.

Change is inevitable. That much, at least, I’ve learned in my first 35 years. But when it comes to college football, more has evolved in the last few years of college football than the three decades before it. It can be difficult to decipher which of those changes are actually good for players, for fans and for the game overall.

Last week, when USC announced that it wouldn’t hold a spring football game, quite a few fans reached out to me to share their dismay with the decision. They were frustrated not to get some kind of glimpse of what’s to come in the fall for the football team. And I can understand why they feel that way. USC is, after all, asking for your faith — and your money — to support the program. The least they could do is give you a peek.

But while there are plenty of changes made to college sports that deserve your derision — many of which I am happy to complain about — this isn’t one of them.

Spring games, in recent years, have devolved into a product that was barely more than a televised practice. And a horribly predictable practice at that. Lincoln Riley, or any coach for that matter, wasn’t about to unleash anything of note in a meaningless exhibition. Now, with tampering rampant across college football and the transfer portal opening again soon after spring football closes, there’s even less reason to show what you’re working with.

And if there’s nothing to actually see here, then why would fans stomach paying for parking and concessions and whatever other costs come with the experience, only to be told the watered-down product is worth the investment? I think it’s far more respectful to your fans to do away with the game than put on some half-speed, make-shift “game” that only patronizes the true fans of your program.

Soon enough, every other big-time football program will end up at this conclusion. Nebraska was first to make the leap. Texas followed right after USC. Both attracted far more fans to their spring games than USC ever did. Though, those games were still a waste of time, too!

The traditional spring football schedule will soon look a lot different. At USC and elsewhere, the calendar is likely to become something more like the NFL’s slate of offseason training activities, with multiple weeklong stretches spread out through the spring and summer.

While that should make Riley happy, it doesn’t solve the problem of giving fans a glimpse of their favorite team months before the season. But the reality is that world, the one where Pete Carroll invited everyone and their grandmother into USC practice, is long gone.

At least in canceling the spring game, USC is being honest about the fact with their fans. Here’s hoping they still find a way to make it up to them somehow.

Still taking mailbag questions …

Ask me anything, USC or otherwise, at [email protected].

Extra points

Kiki Iriafen is key to USC’s title hopes.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

—Soon enough, the Big Ten and SEC will both have four automatic qualifiers in a 14-team College Football Playoff. That would leave just one at-large bid up for grabs every year, with two bids going to ACC and Big 12 and one last bid going to the best Group of Five team. It would also presumably make conference championships far less valuable. The power conferences don’t necessarily love that last part, since conference title games are major moneymakers. So you can expect them to hatch some harebrained concept for keeping them intact in spite of the new format. Their first idea? Play-in games between the Nos. 3 and 6 teams and Nos. 4 and 5 teams, with a Playoff bid on the line. Sigh. This is what we’ve become.

—Kiki Iriafen is the key to USC making a long March run. JuJu Watkins followed up her unreal performance in the win over UCLA with another stat-stuffing stunner against Michigan State that included 28 points, eight rebounds, three assists, three steals and three blocks. She’ll always be central to USC’s success. But it’s Iriafen who makes the Trojans nearly unstoppable at her best. Outside of a quiet first three quarters against UCLA, she has been playing at that level as of late. She had 22 on Sunday in a win over Illinois. Watkins said it best: “Who wouldn’t want to play with Kiki? She can create her own shot. All you’ve really got to do is get it to her on the post. It makes my life and everybody else’s life a lot easier.”

—USC might not make the tournament in Eric Musselman’s first season, but the future looks bright as soon as next season. In the Trojans’ loss to Maryland, we got a glimpse of a few players who will factor in heavily next season. Of course, freshman Wesley Yates will be a centerpiece going forward. But young wings Jalen Shelley and Kevin Patton Jr. also flashed their potential in spurts. Shelley, in particular, played 33 minutes and pulled down eight rebounds. They’ll be joined by five-star recruit Alijah Arenas to give USC a strong young core. Muss will need to find a big man in the transfer portal, and we’ll see what Desmond Claude decides on his future. But the team building should be much easier and more targeted this upcoming offseason.

—USC now has the No. 1 recruiting class for 2026, according to 247 and Rivals. Can they retain it? That will be easier said than done — it is only February 2025, after all — but there’s no denying how scorching hot USC has been on the recruiting trail. Flipping the commitment of four-star quarterback Jonah Williams from Oregon was especially a coup. And having that position shored up will allow USC to train its attention elsewhere in this class. It was already doing really well in that regard, with six top-120 prospects committed, five of which are on defense. The most encouraging reason to think USC can keep this up? Seven of its 11 commits so far are from Southern California. It’s a lot easier to get them to stay home, when it comes down to the wire.

—USC baseball is rolling to open the season. The Trojans opened the season 6-0 for the first time since 2015, which also happens to be the last time they made the NCAA tournament. When Andy Stankiewicz took over, he inherited a downtrodden powerhouse that needed to be rebuilt from top to bottom. It looks like that rebuild may be ahead of schedule, and could arrive before USC’s stadium is done being built. Ethan Hedges has paced the team to this point. He’s batting .414 and has three homers in seven games, while also delivering two saves as USC’s closer.

Top 5 … Karaoke songs

Elton John receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1975.

(Los Angeles Times)

Karaoke is a passion of mine and a Kartje birthday staple. Some of my most memorable birthdays were spent in a private karaoke room at the Line Hotel. This past weekend, I dusted off the mic with some friends after a long hiatus and belted a few of these …

(Note: This is a personal list, not some feeble attempt at ranking all-time karaoke songs. But wow was it hard to narrow down!)

5. “Valerie” by Amy Winehouse

4. “Space Oddity” by David Bowie

3. “Semi-Charmed Life” by Third Eye Blind

2. “Don’t Look Back in Anger” by Oasis

1. “Tiny Dancer” by Elton John

Honorable mention … “Folsom Prison Blues” by Johnny Cash; “All These Things That I’ve Done” by the Killers; “You Get What You Give” by the New Radicals

In case you missed it

Desmond Claude’s 30 points can’t save USC from third consecutive loss

Rayah Marshall sets the tone for No. 4 USC in win over No. 25 Illinois

USC can’t pull off second-half comeback in loss to No. 20 Maryland

JuJu Watkins leads No. 4 USC past No. 22 Michigan State

USC joins Nebraska and Ohio State calling off its annual spring football game

What I’m Watching This Week

Adrien Brody in “The Brutalist”

(A24)

The Oscars are just a week away, which means I can’t keep putting it off any longer. It’s time to watch “The Brutalist,” a 3½-hour epic about a Hungarian Jewish Holocaust survivor and architect who emigrated to the U.S. and struggles to find the American dream he’s looking for. Adrien Brody currently leads the way in the odds for best actor. But I’m getting vibes of “The Revenant,” which won best picture in 2016, despite being a pretty tough watch all around. At least this one has an intermission.