We're usually convinced by now.
Shoot, we're usually convinced before the first hamstring of spring ball is stretched.
But here it is, Halloween week, and we're still trying to figure out just how good USC's football team is this season.
Good enough to go 6-1 with road victories over a ranked Ohio State and a ranked Notre Dame? To be sure.
Good enough to get strangely pushed around by Notre Dame late and Oregon State throughout? To be sure.
Good enough to go up to Oregon and beat one of the hottest teams in the country? To be determined.
There is, however, no doubt just how driven USC's football team is this season. It was written right there on the black patches Allen Bradford wore under his eyes.
"I PROMISE."
A message. To his father. About a future in the NFL.
Bradford, understand, doesn't even start for the Trojans, had rushed for just 228 yards entering Saturday and played as much as he did in this 42-36 victory only because of the injury to Stafon Johnson.
Yet, his drive is high and so is his goal. Just like the rest of the Trojans, regardless of where they might or might not be at the moment.
"I promised my dad (Keith, a janitor) that he wouldn't have to work as hard as he does or live where he does forever," said Bradford, a junior from San Bernardino. "He works so hard all the time. That's why he can't make it to the games."
Dad missed a good one Saturday. His son rushed for 147 yards - tops for the Trojans this season - and two touchdowns as the offense rallied to the aid of a defense that was stumped repeatedly by Oregon State.
Bradford, averaging 9.8 yards on his 15 carries, proved tough to tackle, impossible even on a 43-yard scoring run in the third quarter.
Just as impressive was a run in the fourth quarter - when he tackled himself. Moving toward the sideline in the closing seconds, he was wise enough to slide onto his seat to stay inbounds and help drain the clock.
"You never know when your time will come," said Bradford, who has been waiting for an opportunity like this one while standing in the middle of USC's tailback train. "You just gotta answer when it does."
College is all about learning, about beginning to grasp the vastness of the world and finding your place in it.
So is college football.
The horizon certainly is broader today for the Trojans than it was in the late afternoon of Sept. 19, when that field goal passed through the heavy air of Seattle and through the uprights.
Four consecutive, somewhat convincing victories later, USC now has a chance to expand its tomorrow even more, against another ranked opponent and on the road. As tests go, the Ducks should be mighty.
"We're a nice looking team right now," said Coach Pete Carroll, sounding certain in a room pocked with doubters. "I think we're OK. We're up for every challenge."
Still, the Trojans continue to be called for penalties that are major - by definition and timing. And they are struggling in the apparently underappreciated art of recovering the other guys' fumbles.
Their offense remains a sum lesser than its parts. They grunt and grind for stretches, and then Matt Barkley suddenly passes 30 yards to Damian Williams or Anthony McCoy or Ronald Johnson. Then they grunt and grind some more.
Their defense keeps looking oddly vulnerable, the Beavers following Notre Dame's fourth-quarter example and finding seams and pockets of green grass in this game.
And yet, the Trojans remain in control of their Pac-10 fortunes and just a few upsets - and there will be more upsets - away from being large BCS movers again.
This is what happens when 11-victory seasons and conference titles become the starting point for expectations.
"It's frustrating," senior safety Taylor Mays said of the defense's troubles. "It's disappointing. Putting up 36 points, you can lose a lot of games. The guys on offense came through for us big time."
None bigger than Bradford, whose role against the Beavers increased as his roll increased. As Carroll put it, the Trojans "leaned on" him. Or, in the words of Mays, "He's a monster."
Before the game, before Bradford moved his teammates, one of them moved him. Johnson, recovering from a weight-lifting accident that crushed his throat, visited USC's locker room.
"When I saw him, I almost cried," Bradford said. "It hurt for me to see him like that. I just wanted to run hard for him. That's my man right there."
So the Trojans march on, a good team certainly, but just how good? We don't know yet. But we do know, like always, they're a good story.
