Eddie Timanus of USA TODAY Sports is not part of the USC football coaching staff … but he could be, in the sense that he’s telling all of us to not be overconfident.
Timanus identifies several overreactions to Week 2 in the college football season. One of those overreactions is the idea that USC is a College Football Playoff team. That definitely qualifies as an overreaction to a team which just beat Stanford.
Make no mistake: That’s a good win. It’s an important win.
It’s not a high-end win, however. If USC can beat Fresno State and Oregon State these next two weeks, then we’ll have more of a basis for elevating USC as a playoff contender. Then USC would need to make sure to beat Washington State and arrive at November with no more than one loss. Then a playoff discussion would get serious.
Not now.
Here’s Eddie Timanus on overreacting to USC’s early start:
But don’t be distracted by the shiny objects. The USC defense isn’t exactly airtight, surrendering 360.5 yards a game with 183.5 of those on the ground. They’ve done well to capitalize on mistakes, but a team that minimizes passing errors while pounding the ball between the tackles will give USC problems. Can you think of any such teams in the Pac-12? We can, and the Trojans will have to go to Salt Lake City to face them in a month.
Oregon State on Sept. 24 also fits the bill.
USC has potential. We can all see it. Just don’t think the Trojans have done anything yet — as Eddie Timanus and Lincoln Riley could tell you.
[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz8sj88pxak7gd player_id=01f5k5y2jb3twsvdg4 image=https://trojanswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
[listicle id=47516]