Where USC's Offense Ranks Among College Football's Best

PicKell ranks the USC offense as the fifth best in the country for the 2026 season.

The four teams with offenses ranked above USC are the Miami Hurricanes, Oregon Ducks, Ohio State Buckeyes, and Texas Longhorns.

PicKell's reasoning for USC's ranking starts with the return of Jayden Maiava as the team’s starting quarterback. Additionally, the Trojans will have most of their offensive line and backfield from last season returning. 

“You have a year three quarterback in the system. Year two as the starter in Jayden Maiava. You bring back the whole gang up front on the offensive line. You have not one, but two proven studs in that running back room in King Miller and Waymond Jordan,” PicKell said. “This team averaged 35 points per game and it’s mostly the same cast of characters.”

USC got great news this offseason when Maiava announced that he would be returning to Los Angeles for another year in college instead of declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft.

For the Trojans in 2025, Maiava threw for 3,711 yards with 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. He helped lead USC to a record of 9-3 in the regular season and an appearance in the Alamo Bowl. Maiava was named Third-team All-Big Ten.

USC’s backfield will be led by running backs Waymond Jordan and King Miller. Jordan was USC’s lead back through the first six games last season. He rushed for 576 yards and five touchdowns with an average of 6.5 yards per carry before suffering a season ending injury in mid-October. This season, he’ll look to pick up where he left off when he was healthy.

Miller was the most pleasant surprise on the USC offense last season. The walk-on stepped in for the injured Jordan following backup running back Eli Sanders’ injury and thrived. Miller rushed for 972 yards and eight touchdowns with an average of 6.2 yards per carry. He also had 16 receptions for 111 yards. 

When it comes to the wide receiver room , USC will need some players to fill the void left by wide receivers Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane. Lemon and Lane were USC’s top two targets the past two seasons. Lemon was named the 2025 Biletnikoff Award winner. Both ended up being selected in the 2026 NFL Draft. 

Even with their departures, their is still talent at this position for USC and it starts with sophomore wide receiver Tanook Hines. As a freshman in 2025, Hines was third in receiving for the Trojans with 34 receptions for 561 yards and two touchdowns. Will he step into the role of being the go-to No. 1 option for Maiava?