The USC Trojans football team is a legitimate College Football Playoff candidate this season. Caleb Williams is back, Dorian Singer transferred from Arizona, and the Trojans are loaded on both sides of the ball.
They ended the season with a frustrating Cotton Bowl loss to Tulane, a loss they have likely thought a lot about since January. So, what are the big questions heading into the 2023 campaign for Lincoln Riley’s team?
Chip Patterson of CBS Sports identified some of the primary questions on some of the more puzzling teams, and the USC defense was unsurprisingly the biggest one:
“Lincoln Riley had USC inside the top four of the CFP rankings heading into the Pac-12 Championship Game, seemingly needing just a win against Utah to punch a ticket. But what would have been Lincoln Riley’s fourth (and USC’s first) playoff appearance slipped away in part because of Caleb Williams’ hamstring injury and the inability to stop a late flurry from Utah’s offense,” Patterson wrote. “Williams is back and the offense looks absolutely loaded once again, but USC’s preseason positioning in several places is a few spots down from that top-four status the Trojans briefly occupied late last year. Athlon has USC at No. 4 in its preseason rankings, but Phil Steele (No. 7), Lindy’s (No. 10) and Bill Connelly’s SP+ ratings (No. 7) all have the Trojans outside the top six. The burning question clearly is whether or not you believe the defense will take a step forward, either with development or even more key transfer portal additions. If so, a team that was one win away from the playoff a year ago is certainly worth top five consideration.”
The Trojans and Alex Grinch brought in Mason Cobb from Oklahoma State, Bear Alexander from Georgia, and many others as the defense aims to improve.
Let’s see if it works out.
[lawrence-auto-related count=1 tag=696092235]