Coach O makes his Trojan head coaching debut Thursday night. (Shotgun Spratling/Neon Tommy)

Are you having fun yet?

Because, finally, the Trojans are.

After a weekend of turmoil between a 62-41 blowout at Arizona State and the dismissal of head coach Lane Kiffin, USC’s bye week certainly could have taken a somber turn. Instead, under the watch of interim head coach Ed Orgeron, they’re all smiles.

"[He told us] ‘We're going to have fun. We're going to make this a fun team.’” said running back Silas Redd. “So far, it's been exactly that."

“It feels real different,” said linebacker Hayes Pullard. “The team is forgetting about situations, forgetting about how Arizona State even happened, forgetting about the Kiffin situation. We miss him and thank him for everything he did, but I'm just happy to be part of Coach O's era now and to play for him.”

SEE MORE: Orgeron Faces Tough Task As Trojans Enter Bye

Some of the changes have come on the practice field. The doors to Howard Jones Field are once again open and the media have been treated to sessions that, according to Pullard, feature increased team versus team drills and noticeably more music. Thursday’s session featured the debut of Trojan Bowl, a concept Orgeron pulled from his days coaching at the University of Miami that saw the first and second stringers coaching the third string in a physical, high energy scrimmage. It was an unqualified hit among the players, who relished a day off spent firing up some of the team’s less-heralded players.

“Usually those guys don't get as many snaps because we're all out there playing and getting ready for games, but it was all about them today and it was a lot of fun seeing them make plays,” said defensive end Devon Kennard. “[I told them to] have fun and bring.”

The most popular changes, though, have come at the dinner table. The post-Trojan Bowl meal was Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles, while a frozen yogurt machine was replaced with ice cream. Most notably, cookies are back on the menu after Kiffin had them removed.

“Give a lineman a cookie, he’s happy,” shrugged Orgeron on Wednesday. “Feed a line coach a cookie, he’s happy.”

By and large, the Trojans are quite happy, and more at ease, too. It’s part of a strategy Orgeron lined up in his introductory press conference Sunday, saying that he wanted, “us to have some fun over these next eight games and let the chips fall where they may."

So far, so good.

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