I know it’s early. I know there are more twists and turns to a college football season than a Six Flags Magic Mountain ride. But I also know we have to ask the question: in defeating LSU last week, did the USC Trojans already play its toughest regular season game?
No disrespect to Utah State tonight, but the Trojans should roll in their most anticipated home opener in years as a 29-point favorite.
Coming into the season, the proverbial logic was USC had four marquee games that would define their season: LSU, Michigan, Penn State, and Notre Dame. With the LSU Tigers already in their rearview, week two of the college football season was quite the unexpected litmus test.
Did USC Trojans Already Play Their Toughest Game?
Michigan got destroyed by a national championship-caliber Texas team at home, 31-12. It wasn’t just that the Wolverines, who replaced a record 13 NFL draft picks, lost, it’s how they lost. A team predicated and branded on physicality in the trenches was completely bullied by the Longhorns, limited to only 284 yards of total offense that lacked any verticality. They also have existential questions about the sport’s most pivotal position: quarterback.
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With the Trojans stylistically built similarly to the Longhorns, hard to imagine Michigan will be able to score nearly enough to keep up with USC.
Notre Dame, who came off a dramatic win last week on the road in College Station against Texas A&M en route to a top-five ranking, was absolutely shellshocked by Northern Illinois at home, 16-14.
The Fighting Irish, who already had questions coming into today about the efficacy, efficiency, and explosiveness of their passing game given what a slugfest last week was, had only 163 passing yards, 286 total yards, and were outgained versus Northern Illinois by 102 yards.
More alarming was the Fighting Irish’s inability to physically impose its will in the trenches on the game’s critical plays. With how Notre Dame’s roster is currently constructed, it is a tall order to have a competitive game in the Coliseum with an explosive Lincoln Riley offense.
Finally, Penn State was coming off an emphatic road win over the Mountaineers of West Virginia where their passing game, led by quarterback Drew Allar, showed a dynamism belying the Nittany Lions for years. However, in their home opener against Bowling Green, Penn State limped to an uninspiring 34-27 win over the Falcons.
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Allar threw for a meager 204 yards, with 146 of them going to tight end Tyler Warren. 70% of passing yards to tight end doesn’t exactly scream intimidation. Penn State will not be able to credibly keep up with Miller Moss and company with an inconsistent passing offense, particularly if it gets shaky play from outside weapons.
Obviously, a long way to go for all these teams to improve in the weeks to come, but if we’re looking at matchups, a sneaky candidate for the USC Trojans’ toughest regular season game would be the Wisconsin Badgers.
A week after the Michigan trip and hosting the return of Alex Grinch, USC will need to be ready for this physical, disciplined, balanced matchup. For as much as Grinch struggled as Trojan defensive coordinator over the past few years, he has a familiarity with Lincoln Riley that few, if any, do.
All in all, it’s not unreasonable for the Trojan Family to potentially daydream of a BIG-10 championship game matchup with either Ohio State or Oregon, as what was once perceived as a schedule gauntlet is looking extremely more manageable.