Confident chants of "Fire Kiffin" and an even louder chorus of boos ushered the USC Trojans off the Coliseum field Saturday night after suffering a humiliating loss to the Washington State Cougars, 10-7.

Although the Trojan defense stifled WSU head coach Mike Leach's Air Raid offense for most of the evening, a blown coverage and missed tackles on a 50-yard reception by Cougar wideout Dom Williams with around five minutes to go in the fourth quarter gave the Cougars the rare opportunity to steal one from USC.

And unlike their lacking counterparts, the Cougars took advantage of the great opportunity, knocking in a 41-yard field goal with a little over three minutes to go in the game and putting Washington State up for good.

Those three points were the only offensive scores that Washington State could muster all night, but they were all the Cougars needed to best an inept and predictable Trojan offense.

"Obviously a disappointing day today for USC football," Kiffin murmured following the game. "We had three things to do and we did one of the three things, and that's why we lost."

Apparently, it's that simple. The head coach noted that one of the things they did not do well was maintain consistency on offense. Part of that is due to the messy, unimpressive quarterback situation.

"I've never seen stats as bad as we did today," Kiffin admitted. "That's very discouraging and obviously that falls on me, so we're going to fix it."

Cody Kessler and Max Wittek once again split time at quarterback with Kessler playing the first half and Wittek playing the second. Kessler finished  8-for-13 with 41 yards, one rushing touchdown (the only USC touchdown) and one ghastly interception at the close of the first half.

With the Trojans driving into Cougar territory with less than a minute to go in the second quarter, Kessler threw a ball behind a cutting Nelson Agholor and into the arms of corner Damante Hornton, who took the rock 70 yards to the house. The pick-six, which tied the game at 7-7, provided Washington State with its only touchdown of the game and a surge in momentum heading into the second half.

"I felt a guy coming," Kessler said simply. "I felt like I had to get rid of it."

He wasn't the only quarterback to struggle for the Trojans as Wittek proved to be a disappointing alternative in the second half.

Though many fans welcomed the entry of Wittek into the game in the third quarter, they were equally distressed and irritated by his play by the end of the first drive. Wittek finished a sickly 3-for-8 for just 13 yards passing - he didn't record his first official pass until three minutes into the fourth quarter - including a game-sealing interception intended for the curling Darreus Rogers on the far side with 2:18 to go in the fourth.

Despite inspiring play from tailback Tre Madden (35 car, 151 yds), who was the lone consistent star for USC in his first start at the Coliseum, there was zero explosiveness or separation from any of the offensive skill players, a result of both ineffective and predictable play-calling and uninspired play.

Marqise Lee, the supposed Heisman-hopeful, was reduced to a bit player Saturday night, finishing with a pedestrian seven receptions and 27 yards. Darreus Rogers and Xavier Grimble were the only two receiving members of the Trojans to record receptions with one each. 

"I knew it was gonna be like this this season," Lee explained. "I'm doing the same thing I did my freshman year and my sophomore year. But when they always got help over the top, this is gonna happen."

Madden, who described himself as "banged up" after a tiring evening said of the offense, "We didn't have any consistency on offense…I think the offense as a whole needs to come together and build off each other. We didn't have any sync and that falls on everybody."

The much-maligned offense, which is led by Kiffin, repeatedly returned to ineffective bubble screen passes that reached the receivers with zip lacking and safe third-down runs up the middle, to much disdain from the Trojan "faithful". The offensive failures are reminiscent of the same that have plagued USC for the past three years: a ineffective short passing game and a low third-down conversion rate.

"The plan was, if we were able to hold up on defense, to make sure we didn't screw up on offense," Kiffin said plainly. "As boring as it was, that was the plan." 

Kessler may have hinted at Kiffin's questionable play-calling when he offered following the game, "I did good with the plays I got."

The head coach explained that the struggles in the vertical passing game were a result of Washington State dropping eight into coverage throughout the night, which closed up passing lanes for Lee and Nelson Agholor.

Lee said that Kiffin was "trying to the get the passing game situated before we go vertical." Though he appeared frustrated on the sidelines, the wideout was calm in admitting, "It just takes time. We don't got [Matt] Barkley." 

That much is clear. Though the team is taking this heavy loss to heart.

Kessler showed an attempted sign at leadership despite his split role at QB, assuring, "We won't play like that ever again. We won't have that negative energy. I take 100% responsibility."

Lee also promised that the team would come into work Sunday, even though they aren't necessarily supposed to. 

Whatever the Trojans need to do, they better do it fast because the irritated Coliseum crowd, and most USC fans around the world, are calling out the underachieving team and head coach without pause. Trojan fans are notoriously impatient, but now they have some just cause for heckling their beloved boys. 

There is no doubt that Kiffin's club has underachieved mightily so far, and if the USC offense doesn't start performing even slightly like the dominant defense and the masses have their way, then Kiffin, the self-appointed offensive play caller, may not live to see the end of this already dreary 2013 campaign.

USC (1-1, 0-1) will play Boston College (2-0, 1-0) at the LA Memorial Coliseum at noon PT next Saturday. 

GAME NOTES

* USC finished with 193 total yards and 54 passing yards, its lowest total since gaining 189 yards and throwing for just 23 yards against Florida State in 1998.

* Tre Madden went over 100 yards for the second game in a row, making him the first Trojan to start a season with two consecutive 100+ yard games to open a season since Marcus Allen in 1981. 

* Torin Harris and Dion Bailey both recorded interceptions for the Trojans. Bailey also finished with a team-high 10 tackles.

* Morgan Breslin returned to the lineup from injury and made his presence heard immediately, recording two sack for 16 yards. George Uko, Lamar Dawson and Devon Kennard also recorded sacks.