We discussed the roller-coaster ride that USC Trojan fans have been on since the nadir at the end of the Clay Helton regime. We then pivoted to the excitement of the 2022 11-win season which carried USC to the Pac-12 Championship Game and within a few quarters of the College Football Playoff, only to come up short and then lose the Cotton Bowl to Tulane. We talked about the frustrations of the 2023 season and all its failures, and then moved to our current anticipation of the new USC defense heading into Lincoln Riley’s third season as the Trojans enter their first year in the Big Ten.
USC was unexpectedly strong in Year 1 under Lincoln Riley. USC was unexpectedly weak in Year 2 under Riley. One year was a study in overachievement, the next year a classic case of underachieving. What will Year 3 bring, as USC faces a crossroads moment in a new conference with one of the nation’s toughest college football schedules? Get more from our discussion on our USC show at The Voice of College Football:
https://www.youtube.com/live/ec1FoKT_GXo?si=pq4xkmu6fY8L379M&t=2670
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