USC Trojans, Lincoln Riley Receive Discouraging Prediction

For college football analyst Joel Klatt, who has shown confidence in the Trojans upcoming season, he left USC out of his recent CFP predictions.

Klatt does not disregard the fact that USC does have the talent prove they can compete and deliver a much better performance than 2024. He especially likes the quarterback situation, and is pleased by the late but consistent progress of Jayden Maiava.

"(USC) has a quarterback that played really well late in the season,” Klatt said on The Joel Klatt Show. “Now, I hear a lot of the fans talking about ‘I don’t know if I like this quarterback.’ The bottom line is they played decent last year late. They also showed the ability to beat LSU early and beat Texas A&M late. So, hey, if you’re talking about momentum and the ability to play at the top level, they have that.”

The Trojans started and ended their season on high notes, but faltered multiple times in the middle. USC boasts two wins over SEC opponents in LSU and Texas A&M, a fact that helps support the powerful program the Trojans have the potenial to be. However, their losses against Maryland, Minnesota and Washington do not prove their dominance.

Strength of Schedule Will Make-or-Break Trojans Season

Although it was their first season in the Big Ten, a blue-blood program like USC should be just fine no matter the competition level. As for Klatt's reasoning behind why he strayed away from the Trojans making a postseason run, was their strength of schedule.

"Now, what do I not love? I think the schedule is very tough for USC. I think that’s a bar that’s a bar that’s a bit too high for them to get over for that 10-win or 11-win mark. They have games at Illinois, they host Michigan, and they have to go to Notre Dame. They’ve got to go to Nebraska, they host Iowa and they’ve got to go to Oregon.”

Klatt also emphasized the Trojans most difficult games on the schedule that will give USC a difficult time.

“If you just look at Illinois, at Notre Dame and at Oregon, those are all teams I have ranked in the top-15 in the preseason. So that’s gonna be very difficult. The schedule is why I didn’t pick them.”

Illinois has emerged as a CFP dark horse and could potentially boast a postseason run with their 16 returning starters. While Illinois' Memorial Stadium is not known as a difficult environment, Oregon's Autzen Stadium and Notre Dame Stadium are two of the most difficult atmospheres for an away team, a narrative that USC must shake off in order to gain their college football dominance once again.

There's hope for USC: New roster, new coaches same conference and same goal, win a National Championship under Lincoln Riley.