SAN ANTONIO, Texas — For a nine-win team like USC, once again on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff, the bowl season can feel a bit like purgatory. One foot in the past season, the other in the future, your team trapped somewhere in between.
There were glimpses of each Tuesday night for USC, in a brutal 30-27 Alamo Bowl overtime defeat at the hands of Texas Christian. Equal reminders both of what could have been this season, had USC ever played at its best for long, and also flashes of why it never managed to come together.