Lincoln Riley seems to be an easy punching bag for college football fans, as he’s disappointed a bit at USC over his tenure in Los Angeles. Greg McElroy believes more fruitful times are ahead though.
Examining the Big Ten, McElroy is thinking that the Trojans have the potential to make a major leap in 2025. Due to a myriad of factors, they might not be as far out of contention for the College Football Playoff as many are being led to believe.
“It’s amazing to me how recency bias has affected the evaluation of what USC can do in the Big Ten,” McElroy stated, via his Always College Football show. “Remember, a few years back at USC, Lincoln Riley was one PAC-12 Championship Game away from making it to the College Football Playoff. Now, you look at the overall record, 26-14— just a 65% winning percentage.
“It’s not great so far, as far as wins and losses. But if you look circumstantially at some of the losses from last year, you might realize maybe this team was a little better than their final record would indicate. I think that’s reasonable.
“Five of their six losses were by one score. They had the fourth quarter lead in four of those five losses, as well. If you look at how they perform from an efficiency standpoint, there’s a lot of reasons to like USC heading into this upcoming season.
“They’ve also got a lot of players back that you got to feel pretty good about. The growth that we saw from them defensively last year, with D’Anton Lynn calling the plays on defense has me feeling pretty bullish about what the Trojans can do this year.”
The biggest question for USC remains at quarterback, but McElroy is of the belief that Jayden Maiava can be a major player for the Trojans: “I think their quarterback is a chance to be really good,” he added. “Jayden Maiava last year wasn’t ideal. Remember, Miller Moss was the guy early on. From an efficiency standpoint, throwing the ball wasn’t great. Moss, just wasn’t working. Maiava takes over the last four games, he goes 3-1 as a starter.
“Glad to come back, went in for the Vegas Bowl. Also gave Notre Dame all they wanted there at the end of the regular season. He’s got some more mobility. He can run the football. He can create and keep things alive when that wasn’t the case necessarily with Moss.
“Now, he’s had to fend off Husan Longstreet, who’s challenging for that starting role. But I still think he’s probably a year away. So, I think Maiava is likely going to be the guy.”
All in all, despite a tough schedule, McElory is excited to see what USC can do. There’s a couple of tough stretches, but the Trojans have potential in 2025, and the Big Ten better be on notice when it comes to their ability.
“I’m optimistic about SC this year,” the former Alabama quarterback said. “I think they’re the sleeper right now in the Big Ten. The schedule is tough. They’re of course facing Michigan at home. They’re at Oregon, at Illinois, at Nebraska. They have that non-conference game on the road at Notre Dame. Iowa comes to them.
“You also have a couple of very tricky moments. This four game stretch where they’re at Illinois, Michigan at home, at Notre Dame, at Nebraska. That four-game stretch, with those three of those four on the road, including two rivalry games, that’s the meat grinder, so to speak. They can get through that with a 2-2, 3-1 type record? They should be off and running here this upcoming season.”
It all begins for USC on Aug. 30 against Missouri State. Greg McElroy is a believer, but we’ll have to wait and see if they can convince the rest of the college football world.
from Yahoo! Sports - News, Scores, Standings, Rumors, Fantasy Games https://ift.tt/o3LlVtp
Comments
Post a Comment