Technically, the USC Trojans are not done in the College Football Playoff race. Technically, USC can still win out and finish 12-1.
Technically, I could win the lottery next week and retire. That doesn’t mean the odds of it happening are worth taking seriously.
Real talk: USC is not a College Football Playoff team. Let’s be clear: The Trojans are still in the Pac-12 race and can still win the conference championship, which would be a big deal. That’s something to play for. However, the playoff standard is far away from the Trojans, who are almost certain to lose at least one more game on the schedule in the next month and a half. That one loss, when it comes, will formally and officially eliminate the Trojans, who do not appear to be as good as Washington or Oregon.
Let’s discuss some of the aspects of this Notre Dame loss and conduct a postmortem on USC’s playoff chances for 2023: