It’s time for USC football to act like a blue-blood program again

USC football needs to live up to its heritage.

The USC Trojans have been more up-and-down over the past 15 years than other college football blue-blood programs, including Alabama, Ohio State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Georgia, Texas and Penn State.

Between the Howard Jones, John McKay and Pete Carroll eras, the Trojans have displayed the dominance of a blue-blood school. Carroll’s tenure is recent enough to keep them as a blue-blood, but Lincoln Riley does need to compete for national titles at some point to ensure USC stays among the elite.

USC has an all-time record of 875-368-54 and a bowl record of 35-20 with 11 national titles and eight Heisman Trophy winners, including Caleb Williams, Matt Leinart and Reggie Bush.

The Trojans boast 14 inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the most of any school, including Junior Seau, Tony Boseilli, Bruce Matthews, OJ Simpson and Marcus Allen.

Ducks Wire offers this view of USC heading into 2024:

USC is a difficult team to project. The Trojans could easily go 9-3 or with some luck 10-2 and a shot at the playoffs. On the other hand, they could just as easily go 6-6 with Lincoln Riley having a lot of explaining to do. Moss looks like a capable quarterback and if he develops chemistry with his young receivers, who have a ton of talent, a nine-win season is more likely.

It’s time for USC to get back to being a team which sets the bar high every year. The Trojans aren’t there, and they need a huge 2024 to move the needle in the right direction.

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