After nearly losing to Cal, USC Trojans enter Colorado week limping

USC’s poor performance against Cal is an encouraging good sign for Colorado

Based on how USC performed against Cal last week, there may be some reason for optimism when the Colorado Buffaloes face the Trojans on Friday night.

Colorado has only one win, and the Trojans have just one loss — to Utah. These two teams are trending in completely opposite directions. Mike Sanford is Colorado’s interim head coach, and Lincoln Riley is showing everybody why he is one of the best coaches in college football.

But, this game could be closer than expected. USC narrowly escaped a pretty bad Cal team, which the Buffs have beaten, on Saturday in a game where the Trojans’ defense didn’t show up at all. Trojans Wire managing editor Matt Zemek was plenty displeased with how USC played in what should’ve been a blowout:

This was as close to a loss as a victory can possibly feel like. Yes, we know that Eric Gentry and Ralen Goforth are important defensive players, and that Shane Lee still isn’t 100-percent healthy, and that Korey Foreman still isn’t making big contributions, and Romello Height is out for the season, but this Cal offense scored only 13 points at Colorado, only nine at Washington State. The offensive line is not very good at all.

Alex Grinch, the Trojans’ defensive coordinator, has injuries everywhere, and that could be good news for a Colorado team desperate for some points.

Ceyair Wright is one of those injuries, but there are plenty of them. Who knows, maybe Colorado makes this more of a game than we think.

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