USC's Surprising Standing Among Teams With Best Future

J.D PicKell revealed on On3’s YouTube channel the top 10 teams he believes are set up the best for the next three years. He dove into what criteria he was looking at. It starts with stability at head coach and the roster. 

“To define what we’re looking at here in this list…one is stability,” PicKell said. “Is your head coach who’s there right now going to be there over the course of the next three years? Is your roster in a good place stability wise?”

The next factor PicKell brought up was the available resources to the program to get players. 

“Everyone wants to talk about buying players and everyone’s got a take on NIL. If you don’t have resources, you’re not competing for anything,” PicKell said. “Your trends when it comes to adding talent. Stars aren’t everything, but they matter a lot.”

His final bit of criteria was the team’s accessibility to the playoff, which varies depending on conferences with more difficult teams in them.

“There’s a couple of teams on this list that maybe I think more of certain rosters behind them, but I feel better about them for the next three years because they got a pretty good path to the College Football Playoff,” PicKell said. 

Here were his top 10:

1. Oregon Ducks
2. Ohio State Buckeyes
3. Miami Hurricanes
4. Georgia Bulldogs
5. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
6. Texas Tech Red Raiders
7. Indiana Hoosiers
8. Texas Longhorns
9. Texas A&M Aggies
10. LSU Tigers

Was USC Snubbed?

Was USC snubbed by this ranking? Let’s dive into the criteria starting with the stability. 

USC coach Lincoln Riley is entering his fifth year with the Trojans. It’s not a stretch to say if they miss the College Football Playoff again this season, there will be a large contingency thinking it would be a time for a change.

Riley signed a massive 10-year, $110 million contact with USC prior to the 2022 season. In his four seasons, the Trojans have an overall record of 35-18. USC’s football program has a decorated history of winning conference titles and competing for national championships. Neither of those have been accomplished in the Riley era to this point.

Riley can silence the doubters if USC can make the playoff and be in the running for a Big Ten conference title, but until then, it’s hard to say his long-term standing with USC is “stable.”

When it comes to resources, USC is right up there with the best of them. The Trojans are one of the bigger spenders in the Big Ten. That not only includes spending for players, but also the football facilities. USC’s 2026 recruiting class is ranked as the best in the country. USC will also be opening a brand new, state of the art facility this summer called the “Bloom Football Performance Center.”

PicKell’s final criteria was the accessibly to the playoff. For USC, they have a gauntlet in a loaded Big Ten with teams like the Indiana Hoosiers, Oregon Ducks, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Michigan Wolverines. That a difficult path to the conference title and auto-bid. Also, if they picked up just three loses, that could leave them on the outside looking in at the playoff even if all were to top 10 teams. 

Overall, USC's path to the playoff is a difficult one with the amount of elite teams in the Big Ten. Then, there is the Riley question marks on if he is the right person to get them to the top. They should be ranked right around the outside of the top 10 for now.