In Week 4 of the 2022 college football season, USC played a not-very-good road game. The Trojans scored just 17 points and barely escaped Oregon State. Caleb Williams was far from his best and USC was rattled by a road environment.
In Week 4 of the 2023 college football season, USC played a not-very-good road game at Arizona State. Caleb Williams made two throws which could have been intercepted, but weren’t. The offensive line committed a number of false-start penalties and allowed Caleb to get hit hard on a few occasions. Mario Williams dropped three passes. Arizona State scored 28 points one week after getting shut out by Fresno State.
Both games were clunkers. USC won them. The Trojans were able to prevail on a night when they were well below their best. One could say that good teams win when they play poorly, and that this ASU game really isn’t that much of a cause for concern.
However: 2022 Oregon State was a good team. The 2022 Beavers won 10 games. They were good. That game in Corvallis last year was always expected to be tough.
2023 Arizona State, on the other hand, was missing 10 starters and four offensive line starters. This is a team in Year 1 under its new coach, Kenny Dillingham. ASU was nowhere close to last year’s Oregon State team in terms of quality, depth, or experience.
A clunker against 2022 Oregon State is very different from a clunker versus 2023 Arizona State. Keep that in mind when evaluating USC.
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