PASADENA – For all the questions a devastating Saturday night at the Rose Bowl continued to raise about the direction of the USC program it really comes down to this:

Are the Trojans any closer to national prominence than they were under Lane Kiffin?

Is USC any closer to reclaiming Los Angeles than it was with Ed Orgeron?

Are the Trojans better off under Seven Win Steve than they were a year ago?

The answer provided in No. 11 UCLA’s 38-20 rout of No. 24 USC was a resounding “NO!”

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When Brett Hundley and the Bruins were done rolling over the Trojans in a third consecutive romp the gap between Los Angeles’ two Pac-12 schools, the gap between USC and college football’s elite tier, the Oregons and Alabamas, was just as large as it was when Athletic Director Pat Haden handed over the Trojan program to Steve Sarkisian last December.

UCLA simply embarrassed USC on Saturday. The Trojans were outplayed.

The Bruins rolled up 461 yards of total offense, and on the other side of the ball sacked USC quarterback Cody Kessler six times.

The Trojans were outcoached.

Seven Win Steve never figured out how to spring All-America candidate wideout Nelson Agholor against UCLA’s defensive scheme. Agholor came into the game averaging 107.9 receiving yards per game. He was held to three receptions for 24 yards Saturday. Trojan defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox was just as clueless in trying to stop UCLA’s passing game.

Sarkisian and his supporters will continue to claim the Trojans (7-4, 6-3 Pac-12) are three plays away from being 10-1. In reality USC is a missed Arizona field goal and a Stanford offensive coordinator away from being 5-6 and needing an upset next Saturday against Notre Dame just to become bowl eligible.

Haden insisted in hiring Sarkisian that he believed the former Pete Carroll aide was “uniquely positioned to have the smoothest, fastest and cleanest transition for our program.”

Instead, the Trojans have too often been a mess under Seven Win, stumbling from one distraction to another off the field, maddeningly inconsistent on the field.

On Saturday, USC jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead on Anthony Sarao’s pick-six and then tied the game, 14-14, in the second half. But then it all unraveled. A Bruin field goal was followed by an Eric Kendricks interception, setting up an 11-play UCLA scoring drive that resulted in a Brett Hundley touchdown pass to a Eldridge Massington late in the first half.

The Bruins then opened the second half with an 84-yard scoring drive. USC’s response? A three-and-out ending in Owa Odighizuwa’s sack of Kessler. Trojan All-America candidate defensive end Leonard Williams was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the second play of UCLA’s ensuing possession, jump-starting a drive that resulted in Hundley cruising into the end zone untouched from 15 yards out five plays later, making it 38-14.

“Real swing of the game with the turnover in the second quarter,” Sarkisian said. “It was a real bang-bang play if it was or wasn’t. They took advantage of it and the score right at the end of the first half and they come right back out and got another seven to start the second half, and then we go three and out and then they (get) seven more … really that was the entire ball game.”

Life Under Seven Win Steve should come as no surprise. Well at least to anyone other than Haden. He lured Seven Win away from Washington, where folks were lining up to hold the door open for him after 5-7, 7-6, 7-6, 7-6, 8-4 seasons. Saturday’s Bruin romp dropped Seven Win to 5-15 in his last 20 games against top-25 teams.

It is a measure of just how far USC has fallen that about the only thing Seven Win Steve could find solace in was that the blowout didn’t result in a post-game meltdown in the Trojan locker room, a Sun Bowl II.

“They were really good in the locker room, they were a team in the locker room and which again I commend them for,” Sarkisian said. “They came together and hung as a team.”

Whether the Trojan faithful are still hanging with Seven Win Steve is another matter.

A Trojan fan wearing a retro Heisman Trophy-winner jersey was among the thousands of USC fans rushing to the exits before the fourth quarter had even started.

O.J. had left the building.

Contact the writer: sreid@ocregister.com