Kiffin Takes the Blame

Call me skeptical.

But Lane Kiffin taking the blame for the teams disappointing 2012 campaign really only does one thing....

It defuses his detractors in their further complaints of him. If he doesn't take the blame it lights a fire under those who have an axe to grind. Taking the blame is no different than water being wet so there really isn't a story here.

We all saw it.

Here is an excerpt...

Kiffin's mistakes don't seem to have an expiration date. People tend to love him or loathe him. If an LA Times readers poll is to be believed, he's trending high on the loathe-a-meter. When asked if USC should keep Kiffin, 76 percent of the respondents answered, "No."

"When you're a sports figure and people dislike you, they're going to look for the negatives," Kiffin said. "Once you start rooting against somebody, you're always going to look for the negative in everything they do."

Negatives aren't difficult to find in the Trojans' 2012 season. In August they were the Associated Press' preseason No. 1. In January, they were unranked and failed to receive even a single mercy vote in the final poll. North Dakota State did, but not mighty USC.

Kiffin blames himself for this -- this being a 6-1 start, but a 1-5 finish. He blames himself for losses to rivals UCLA and Notre Dame, and a grotesque Hyundai Sun Bowl defeat to Georgia Tech, which entered the game with a 6-7 record.

In the end, it was a season of the wrong kinds of firsts for USC. It was the first time since 1964 that an AP preseason No. 1 finished unranked. It was the first time since 2001 that a USC team finished with six losses.

Kiffin squandered all of 2011's praise with his pigheadedness in number of areas last season. His admission here is a bit of a yawn for me...like he is the last one to the party to know it.

I mean, who else is he going to blame??

Still, accepting the blame merely closes this chapter.

Next season is a whole new chapter.

It's also not a tough story to do.

Then again, Woj lost what little credit he ever had with me when he passed on his journalistic integrity in the whole Te'o mess. So going back to the basics is a fresh start.

You be the judge...