USC, despite only 75 scholarship players, sits atop our preseason top 25 -- meaning the Trojans’ title chances are officially set up for failure -- and earned a No. 3 preseason ranking in the first USA Today coaches’ poll.
The whole idea of preseason rankings, let alone one from SIDs coaches everywhere, is absurd. But, it’s also mostly harmless.
That is until USC coach Lane Kiffin caused a bit of voting brouhaha last week when the USA Today ran a story that Kiffin, who previously said he would not give the Trojans his first-place vote, actually did vote his team atop the coaches’ poll. The story gained traction because OMG Lane Kiffin lied, you guys! This confirms my previous belief that he’s a good-for-nothing cheater #GOVAWLS!
It was Kffin’s first-ever ballot as a voter in the poll. It will also apparently be his last. In a letter to the USA Today and the American Football Coaches Association, Kiffin said he would give up his poll vote for good.
“It is an opportunity and responsibility that I do not take lightly,” Kiffin said. “However, I find it necessary to relinquish my voting status.”
Something tells me Kiffin’s not losing sleep over this. Just a hunch. Besides, worse things have been said in the city of LA recently.