Alexander: The best college football team in L.A. is … from San Diego?

Isn’t it astir insulting that the champion assemblage shot squad playing successful L.A. County these days isn’t adjacent from here? Or should we beryllium thankful that we astatine slightest person a Top 25 squad successful our midst adjacent arsenic a impermanent boarder?

USC’s players by each appearances person packed it in, and it volition beryllium nary astonishment if their fans – ample numbers of whom person departed the Coliseum aboriginal from the past 3 discouraging location games – bash likewise. UCLA’s early-season triumph implicit LSU turns retired to person been fool’s golden since Ed Orgeron present is coaching for his occupation successful Baton Rouge, and each clip you deliberation Chip Kelly’s Bruins person turned the country different obstacle trips them up.

Meanwhile, the impermanent transplants from San Diego State, utilizing the Galaxy’s location successful Carson portion their ain stadium task rises from the ashes of the erstwhile Jack Murphy/Qualcomm Stadium successful Mission Valley, support beating radical and pushing their mode up the rankings. Can we follow them?

Saturday’s results were typical.

USC suffered different discouraging, dispiriting nonaccomplishment to a squad to which it hadn’t mislaid astatine location successful decades. This clip it was much than a period successful the making, to a Utah squad that hadn’t beaten the Trojans successful Los Angeles since 1916. The Utes embarrassed the Trojans with a flea-flicker for a wide-open touchdown close earlier the extremity of the fractional and past crushed their tone connected the opening thrust of the 2nd half.

And erstwhile bushed writer Adam Grosbard noted successful the crippled communicative that “it was wide determination was nary combat near successful this USC team,” that mightiness arsenic good person been the last nail hammered into this Trojan season. You could person blamed Clay Helton for the conditions that led up to his firing aft the Stanford loss, but the embarrassments against Oregon State and present Utah, erstwhile the Trojan defence looked listless and borderline disinterested successful the 2nd fractional each time? Those are connected the players.

The thought that a midseason coaching alteration mightiness drawback the athletes to attention? These Trojans didn’t get the memo. But possibly this clarifies what diversion manager Mike Bohn volition question successful a imperishable replacement, due to the fact that determination are issues connected 2 fronts. The caller manager not lone volition request to reconstruct the assurance of the instrumentality basal (or astatine slightest support them successful their seats), he’ll request to beryllium a hard-nosed disciplinarian to revise the mindset of those players who return.

And no, coaches who can’t signifier self-discipline request not apply, for those who inactive worship astatine the altar of Urban Meyer.

As for UCLA? The Bruins beat up connected overmatched Arizona precocious Saturday nighttime successful Tucson, and the Wildcats are present winless successful 17 games dating backmost to 2019. The Bruins are 4-2 overall, and astatine 2-1 successful league they’re inactive somewhat amended positioned than USC to get to the Pac-12 title game, but those antiaircraft breakdowns against Fresno State (40-37 loss) and South Division person Arizona State (42-23 loss) are superior blemishes that warrant skepticism.

The LSU triumph looks little important the deeper we get into the season. At this point, each it whitethorn mean is that Kelly’s occupation information is somewhat little tenuous than that of Orgeron, since the Tigers are 3-3 aft getting blown retired 42-21 by No. 16 Kentucky connected Saturday. (Then again, the existent winners from that UCLA-LSU crippled whitethorn beryllium the feline selling the “Sissy Blue” T-shirts – inspired by erstwhile USC manager Orgeron’s insult – and the athletes earning NIL wealth by endorsing them.)

Meanwhile, erstwhile this week’s Associated Press writers’ canvass and the AFCA coaches’ canvass came retired Sunday, San Diego State was No. 24 successful both, arsenic 1 of lone 14 unbeaten teams successful the state astatine 5-0. The Aztecs dominated New Mexico 31-7 successful Carson, and portion New Mexico is present 2-4 – and 1 of SDSU’s earlier victories was implicit Towson, which is 2-3 and besides mislaid to New Hampshire and North Dakota State – 5-0 is 5-0.

When’s the past clip the Aztecs’ instrumentality basal could boast their squad had a amended grounds than Alabama? (Answer: Until now, not since Nick Saban got to Tuscaloosa successful 2007, though some were 7-2 aft the games of Nov. 6, 2010.) Still, since 2015 SDSU is 53-22 with 4 seasons of double-digit wins and 3 vessel victories.

“We’ve got large goals,” SDSU manager Brady Hoke said aft Saturday’s game. “Look astatine (fellow Mountain West team) Nevada. They bushed Boise State past week. Then Boise beats (previously unbeaten) BYU. That tells you however bully this league is and what benignant of shot teams we’re going to look present successful the future.”

All coaches accidental those kinds of things, truthful instrumentality it with a atom of salt.

But consider: San Diego State has 3 much “home” games successful Carson, against Nevada, Fresno State and Boise State, the past a 9 a.m. crippled the time aft Thanksgiving. I mean, what other is determination to bash connected Black Friday?

And the Aztecs’ roster includes 28 players from L.A., Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. That includes their third-leading rusher successful Chance Bell (Burbank Burroughs High), their second-leading receiver successful BJ Busbee (Long Beach St. Anthony), and 5 of their 10 apical tacklers: Patrick McMorris (Santa Ana High), Segun Olubi (Corona Centennial), Tayler Hawkins (Palm Springs High), Trenton Thompson (ditto) and Noah Avinger (Anaheim Servite, by mode of Cerritos).

So if we can’t follow the Aztecs outright, we should astatine slightest wage attraction to them until they instrumentality home. Who knows? The contention for attraction mightiness sharpen our ain teams.

jalexander@scng.com

@Jim_Alexander connected Twitter