By: Roy Kapoor and Jacob Cho
“Williams LOOKING, TOUCHDOWN Trojans!”
After a toe-to-toe victory against the UCLA Bruins for the “Battle of L.A”, the University of Southern California Trojans have clinched a Pac-12 playoff berth. This comes after a horrendous 4-8 season that ensued following the firing of Coach Clay Helton in 2021. Now, new head coach Lincoln Riley has led the Trojans to a 10-1 season so far and has made miraculous changes in both the culture and performance of the USC football program.
As long as the Trojans are able to win out the remaining games in the season and win a Pac-12 title, they are projected by analysts to be guaranteed a College Football Playoff seat. Since its introduction in the 2014 season, USC has not been able to move on to the College Football Playoff. Granted that sanctions and coaching debacles have not helped USC’s playoff chances, this year seems like the best chance for USC in recent memory.
However, questions about USC’s strength of schedule and defense have made skeptics wary about the Trojan’s chances of entering the playoffs even if they win the rest of their games. The PAC 12, which stands for the Pacific 12 conference, has long been overlooked by all college football fans, especially in the years of the College Football Playoffs. The only two teams to enter the CFP from the PAC-12 have been the University of Oregon and Washington. Both of these teams were beaten convincingly and proved the large disparity between West Coast football compared to the South and Midwest.
Regardless of how their conference is defined, the USC Trojans have proven to have an elite offense led by quarterback Caleb Williams. Williams has posted video game-like stats this season and is in contention to win the distinguished Heisman Trophy. The Heisman Trophy, the highest distinction and honor awarded to a college football player has found its home in the hands of a USC Trojan many times, and Williams is on pace to continue that tradition.
Despite the high-powered offense considered one of the best in the country, the Trojans lack in their ability to show a strong defense that can win championships. Rampant injuries may have some part to do with the defensive struggles, but the USC defense must prove itself for the whole team to be considered in contention for a national title.
The USC defense plays a very high-risk and high-reward defense that can either punish them severely or create game-changing opportunities to win the game. For instance, the Trojan’s defense is not even ranked in the top 50 of the sport, but they lead the nation in interceptions. This style of defense works best when the offense is firing on all cylinders and can take advantage of interceptions that the defense provides. USC’s game plan at this point is to simply outscore their opponents with a phenomenal offense and provide those opportunities with big plays from the defense. The Trojans will not be deterred if opponents score big plays and have spectacular offense. This was shown during the game against UCLA, where USC was a better offensive team that made plays that were even better than those of the good UCLA offense. However, the key play to end the game was a clutch interception by the USC defense.
For many USC fans, the simple fact that a team that went 4-8 to year and has revitalized their program to be in a position to reach the national championship in such a short time is amazing. Nonetheless, they should by no means be underlooked in the eyes of fans in their chances to reach the College Football Playoffs. They are truly contenders for the National Championship if they can have the defense come up with big and game-changing plays.
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