USC Hysteria

[Utah5410]

Lets Review what they have fir nxt year. These are key players, transfers, returners etc, new recruits etc. 

QB:

1. Caleb Williams (no expereicene behind him, he gets hurt, they’re done.) 

 

RB. 

1. Ralek Brown (5 star)

2. Travis Dye – Stud 

3. Austin Jones – stanford transfer –

Good Room – comparable with Ours as far as produciton/potential. 

WR:

1. Brandon Rice (Co T), Mario Williams (Ok T), Gary bryant, Terrell Bynum (Wa T), Taj washington 

impressive WR Room, although SC always has had good WR’s 

No TE’s they all left 

OL: 

first red flag 

2 returners who were HM all pac, and transfer from VA – Other than that, very raw, very limited, no depth 

How are they going to run ? pass pro etc. 

 

Kicker – gone will need a new kicker

 

Defense:

Korey Freeman was number 2 overall recruit in 2021 didnt do anything last year, Tui Tuipulutu (1st tm all PAc) and two transfers neither of which did much. One from TCU, another from KSU. 

After that raw, not much depth…. line isnt very stong. 

 

LB: 

No experience. 

2 transfers from Aub/Bama. neither of which played much. a 4 * FRESHMAN and a jr who has played a little. 

 

SS/CB: 

1.Ok Transfer – hasnt played much 

2. Mekhi Blackmon ( good pick up was HM all pac from co ) we almost got him 

3. Domani jackson – 5* corner true freshman 

4. 3 4* 2021 Fr. Havent played at all, but talented 

S:

1. chase williams – has played 

2. Zion branch – true freshman 4*

3. Two other safeties who never played. 

 

 

The point.  Compare this roster to what Utah has coming back. If you look at both rosters side by side SC clearly wins the beauty contest and talent portion. But, they always have. SC has very little experince at most positions and are a bunch of peieces that need to be put together. Maybe they gell by the time they come to SLC. But there are many holes.  imo, LR, is putting together a team to make a bowl and not get embarrased. His plan is to recruit a top 5 class of his guys for 2023, figure out who on this current roster fits and go for it in CW last year as a JR in 2023. Utah will be rebuilding most liekly that year… This year its all coming up UTAH. Injuries obviosuly always play a part, but apples to apples not worried about SC in 2022. 

 

 

[mfaulk80]

Totally agree.  They’re going to be good this year…especially against soft teams, but if we’re as good as I expect, then we should be able to handle them just fine.  We’ll see how it is a couple of years from now though…  We need to keep building off of our momentum.  It’s great for the conference if they’re good, but we still need to stay a step ahead.

Regardless, this hype is great for Utah.  It just helps our resume when we beat them next October! 🙂

[Tednab]

devils advocate .. Who’s behind Rising

[D T]

The kid from Milford who threw a TD pass in the RB.

[Utah5410]

Bryson Barnes. Not saying he’s the answer. But at least the kid has some game experience. No doubt it would be a high drop off if CR got hurt.

[2008 National Champ]

Riley can put together a very effective offense that utilizes all of his playmakers. I don’t pretend to follow SC and know their depth chart by heart, but assuming that they will be as ineffective as they were under Helton.,,

It wouldn’t surprise me to see them have a lot of high scoring games and win most of them. Based on what Reilly did at Oklahoma, along with the weakness of the Pac and missing Oregon and UW, how can you not pencil them in for at least 9-3 with all that talent?

[Utah5410]

LR offense will be fine… But, the D will be rough. For all the heat the pac gets the conference is at least competitive. The Big-12 is mostly just offensive teams who play very little defense. The conference as a whole doesn’t really care about defense. The pac at least tries. Outside of Utah, Oregon, Wash, Stan (traditionally), ASU, Ucla all have decent defenses. 9-3 is a stretch. My guess, best case would be 8-4 or 7-5. And LR would gladly take that his first year. People underestimate what a huge rebuilding job this is. It’s SC so they will bounce back quickly, but people are delusional if they think LR is going to have them humming by next year.

[2008 National Champ]

It is only a rebuild if the talent isn’t already in place. In my opinion, all SC has needed since Carroll left is a competent coach and they still have multiple double-digit win seasons and Pac championships since then.

As I mentioned above, SC misses Oregon and UW so that is two of the teams that you think could beat them. Stanford did not have a good defense last year and is in the middle of a complete rebuild. UCLA under Kelly has been over-rated every year and if they don’t scare Utah, why would they scare Riley? ASU, Arizona and Colorado should not provide much of a challenge in 2022 as all have structural issues.

I think you should look at SC’s schedule for next year. OOC is Rice, Fresno and Notre Dame, all at home. SC won’t play a cold weather game unless SLC gets an early winter on Oct 15. Even if you assume SC loses to Utah and Notre Dame, where are the other losses? A talented team, motivated to show they aren’t as bad as they’ve finished 2 of the last 3 years, with a proven CFP coach smells like a quick turnaround to me. I’d gladly put money on the over if you were giving me 7 or 8 wins.