Ranking USC No. 14 or 15 is not unfair to the Trojans. Of course this is not a complete team. It’s a team which does figure to lose at least two games this coming season. Lincoln Riley hasn’t yet assembled the depth he needs to compete at the highest level. The defense certainly is not a national championship-caliber unit, at least not right now. The effects of the Clay Helton reign of error will be felt to a degree. Ranking USC outside the top 10 is not a sign of disrespect. Let’s be very clear on that point.
However, USC is being disrespected in a few very obvious ways in preseason polls.
First, an Oregon team quarterbacked by Bo Nix is consistently rated ahead of the Trojans — in the Pac-12 media poll, in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, and in the Associated Press Poll.
I’m sorry, but the gap in quality between Bo Nix and Caleb Williams is so great that an Oregon-over-USC preseason placement just isn’t very credible.
The other real eye-grabber in preseason polls, particularly the AP poll, is that Pittsburgh — with Kedon Slovis at quarterback and Jordan Addison no longer on the roster (now at USC!) — is just three spots behind the Trojans. Poll voters clearly think Pitt is roughly as good as USC despite losing its best offensive player to the Trojans. Pitt lost a first-round NFL draft pick at quarterback. Pitt endured a downgrade at offensive coordinator, and yet is being accorded a lot of respect. Yet, skepticism persists toward USC.
Other programs seem to be receiving the benefit of the doubt, but USC isn’t. The Trojans’ actual ranking isn’t the problem; the rankings of other programs show why the Trojans aren’t being respected.
The Men of Troy can change that conversation on the football field in a few weeks.
We talked about all of this with Mark Rogers at The Voice of College Football.
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