The USC Trojans won the Pac-12 South Division last year, and yet their season was a failure on a larger level. USC expects to play in the Rose Bowl or other big bowl games, and the Trojans had to settle for the Holiday Bowl after they lost to Stanford in the Pac-12 Championship Game. USC is widely acknowledged as the team with the most raw talent in the Pac-12. Is this going to translate into a conference championship and an appearance in the New Year’s Six? Let’s see.
Biggest Team Weakness
The Trojans’ weakest spot is not a player. It’s the coach. Clay Helton is loved by his players. He’s very popular in the USC Trojans locker room, and the affection Helton has was a big reason why he was kept on as the team’s head coach after former coach Steve Sarkisian was forced out due to health problems related to ongoing struggles with alcoholism. However, there’s a reason that assistant coaches who are loved by players ordinarily don’t make good permanent head coaches: They were assistants for a reason. They also coached teams without the full pressure and responsibility of being a full-time head coach. The circumstances are so different, and all the players need to do is consider their own talent. USC has fallen short of its talent over the past several years. Helton is familiar with his program, but he’s totally unfamiliar with being the man in charge of a college football team through an offseason and into August. He faces an overwhelming challenge. Some people might rise to that challenge, but most don’t. Being a first-year coach at USC is something best undertaken by a head coaching veteran. That’s not something the USC Trojans have here in this case.
Biggest Team Strength
The Trojans’ biggest strength is their offensive line. JuJu Smith-Schuster is one of the elite wide receivers in the country, but if new quarterback Max Browne can’t throw the ball to him, it won’t matter. The offensive line will give Browne a reasonable amount of time in which to find Smith-Schuster down the field. The line can also clear out holes for running back Ronald Jones in the running game. Browne is something of a question mark at quarterback, but if this line – which is comprised of five returning starters from last season – maxes out, the USC Trojans will have a chance to be a great team, not merely a good team.
Schedule
The Trojans probably have one of the most challenging schedules in the country. It’s hard to think of a team that will have a more demanding month of September than them. They’ll start with a neutral-site contest against the defending champion Alabama Crimson Tide. Then they’ll host Utah State in what should be a win, but the Aggies aren’t the easiest of non-conference opponents. From there, USC has to go to Stanford and the Utah in back-to-back weeks. And keep in mind that the Utah matchup is on a short week (they play on Friday). If you thought that was it, there’s more. The Trojans have to go to Arizona, Washington and UCLA later in the year, and then they also host California, Oregon and Notre Dame. This one heck of a difficult schedule.
In terms of the Pac-12 play, the Trojans have to go to Stanford, the team which beat them in the L.A. Coliseum last year and immediately changed the trajectory of the 2015 season. USC has better talent than Stanford, but the Cardinal have better discipline. USC has to learn how to play low-mistake football. A season opener against Alabama will be hard to win, but if that game enables the Trojans to play at a higher level in Pac-12 play, it might be worth it in the end. This team could end up with four or five losses and still have a good year.
Outlook
The Trojans are a flawed team with a shaky coach, but they have so much offensive firepower that they might be able to win a balanced yet unimposing Pac-12 South division, anyway. Beating Stanford, though, might be beyond this team’s capabilities.
Projection: 1st In Pac-12 South
