I think USC will be dramatically better this year

[Utesbyfive]

I guess I am one who thinks they have the potential to win 10-ish games next season. They have too much talent up and down the roster, and will be galvanized by their celebrity head coach into wanting to prove themselves immediately. I think it’s inevitable that Caleb Williams transfers in, and the sheer number of incoming transfers to their program is kind of amazing.

I would not be surprised if they win the division honestly. I think the Utes will beat them here, but Utah has such a rough schedule, I can see them being a game behind. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s definitely something I could see. I imagine they will immediately be better, and may fall off in 2023 a bit, and then be a whole lot better in 2024.

[ProudUte]

I too think that USC will be a good team this year.  In fact – I hope they are good.  I just want Utah to be better. 🙂

I think UCLA will also be better.  I’m okay with that as long as we beat them.

[Utah5410]

False. I’m just stating facts. LR is a offensive genius. Defense, not so much. The culture at SC is toxic. It’s going to take longer than a year to build a culture and get all of these new faces to buy in. Next year is about establishing culture and finding out who buys in and who doesn’t. Yes, he’s accumulating a ton of talent but guess what, SC always has talent.
Finally Riley us never built anything he inherited Bob stoops team and culture and maintained it.

Now, will SC be improved ? Yes. Are they scary for the future maybe. Remember, guys from the portal 9/10 are In the portal for a reason…

Any finally, Utah is a tough team to play. I don’t just mean tough like venue an scheme but KW teams are physically tough. Most college football teams now teams are not. They are finese teams. Look at how OKL performed in the playoffs under Riley every time.

Point is. If this LR thing works I’m more concerned for the future. If we can build than we are in trouble in maybe years 2 abs definitely 3 etc. this year nah. He may be adding talented transfers but it takes longer than a year to go from 1-100.

Meanwhile Utah is seasoned guys who are all in. Talented lots coming back and it doesn’t hurt that we get them at RES.

Go Utes

[dystopiamembrane]

Who?

[dystopiamembrane]

Go, Utes.

[Charlie]

USC will be better, no doubt, but they will have to earn the south title. I do wish they would have been scheduled to play Utah and ND earlier in the year. They also will not likely play Oregon at all next year. They need to put together a good defense to get to the CCG and that may not gel until after the Utah game. Williams may not be a lock for them because it has not happened yet. Could they be caught without a good QB?

[D T]

USC won’t be physically tough enough in the trenches. That’s their glaring weakness.

They had all sorts of elite talent last year in the skill positions, but got absolutely pounded up front. This won’t change immediately. No way.

[Tony (admin)]

Sure they’ll be better. They were so bad this past season it shouldn’t be hard to improve. 

[Hellhound152]

The claims of “talent” at USC are simply statements based on what was true in the past.  Helton had garbage recruiting the last 3 years.  USC program insiders and USC media have pointed to lack of talent on the roster as a key component to the teams struggles.  The fact the SC didn’t rally behind an interem coach for the first time in the modern history of the program illustrated this.  They could not “out talent” themselves to wins last year because the talent is not on the roster.

USC is a complete rebuild from the foundation up, this isn’t going to be a quick rehab job.  That is not to say an 8 or 9 win season is out of the realm of possibility next year but the players are not currently on the roster to compete nationally or with Utah for that matter.

[MDUte]

Depends on who you’re listening to. If you’re listening to SC fans or podcasters, they’ll say there is no talent on the roster and blame it on Helton. But if you look to the recruiting analysts, you’ll find a much different story with a roster loaded with talent. Over 40 4* players and 2 5* players. Clearly SC is loaded but poor coaching has been the problem. And with LR, that problem is solved. I’m expecting SC to be a battle.

2021 USC Roster – 24/7 Sports

[Hellhound152]

The eye test says they are slow, small, lack physicality, and are mentally weak.  They may have come in with numbers but the on the field product looks like a good MWC team that has a couple of “dudes” at certain positions.  Those same rankings fail to explain why Utah doesn’t finish in the bottom 1/3 of the Pac12 every year.

This is the opinion of several boosters I deal with at work who have a real pulse on the program and I happen to agree.

[MDUte]

Fair enough. I wasn’t advocating that the star rating system determines wins/losses. Just that it’s been the best data point we have for determining the level of talent a program has in comparison to others. Whitt and staff have proven to do far more with far less for many, many years now. That either suggests our coaching is head and shoulders above the rest or the rating system is majorly flawed. Or it could be a little bit of both which I would lean towards.

My point with USC was to show that although typical USC fans/boosters, who are used to owning the league and contending for championships, aren’t going to believe anything short of a dumpster fire exists thanks to Helton. The roster might not be on par with another blue blood program like Bama which they likely expect, however, I’d argue that we would kill to have our roster littered with that many highly rated players for our coaching staff to lead and develop.