USC Football Prediction for 2008
A Review of of Southern California Football Next Year
Are you a Trojan Man (or Woman)? Curious about how Tailback U is shaping up for 2008? Is Pete Carroll going to be hoisting another crystal football? Should you leave some room on the credit card for an early January trip to Miami for the BCS Title game? Going into the summer it looks like good news/bad news for the Men of Troy. The good news? USC should be able to secure another Pac 10 title and a trip to the Rose Bowl. The bad news? The BCS Title game is probably just a little out of reach. Here’s a look at how the Trojans are rolled out going into the summer:
Offense
Quarterback- Last year’s backup Mark Sanchez has secured the starting job over Mitch Mustain. Sanchez has plenty of experience and has all the tools to be successful running the offense.
Skill Positions- The word of the day is “potential” for the USC receivers and backs. They are loaded with talent but no one who’s established it on the field yet. That means they have playmakers, but the major symptoms of inexperience will be mistakes and inconsistency. Will anyone step up in the clutch and make the big play with the game on the line? Hard to say, but there are literally 4 receivers and 5 running backs vying for the starting spots this off-season. Talent? Yes. Reliability? Not so much.
Offensive Line- USC loses four starters, so depth is an issue. The Trojans typically dominate the line of scrimmage and probably will continue to do so especially early in the year. The bigger question will be how well the line holds up once some of the starters begin going down with injuries and they have to dig into the depth chart a little. Look for the Trojans to still be strong, but thin.
Defense
Defensive Line- USC should still be very talented up front but they did lose Sedrick Ellis at tackle and Lawrence Jackson at end. Fili Moala will be expected to step up at tackle and otherwise the Trojans should be able to fill in with talented newcomers to the starting lineup.
Linebackers- The buzz is that USC’s backers are probably the best in the nation. Rey Maualuga and Brian Cushing are two of the nation’s elite, and the rest of the depth chart isn’t much worse. There should be no weaknesses at the linebacker corps and any concerns about the inexperience at line should be alleviated by having such phenoms behind them.
Secondary- A likewise great unit playing downfield led by Taylor Mays at safety. The secondary is top-notch and was by far the best in the conference a year ago. The corners and safeties tackle well and play physical football. If there were a concern it would be facing an offense that can spread them thin and run fast, but USC doesn’t have much of that on the schedule with non-conference games against Virginia, Ohio State and Notre Dame who, while good, won’t spread this defense out effectively.
Overall
There’s absolutely no question about talent, it is everywhere on the field. The first concern is the number of inexperienced players, particularly handling the football. The offense only returns 4 starters from last year. The second concern is USC’s tendency to play “down” to the level of opponents at times, such as the loss to Stanford last year. They can come out and beat the best teams in the country but tend to play flat against lesser opponents, which can cost them.
With the SEC and Big 12 conferences looking particularly deep and competitive, USC will probably need a one-loss year at worst to see the BCS Title game. Although on paper they could win every game on the schedule the youth on offense and an improved Pac 10 conference will probably see USC drop 2 games this regular season, winning the Pac 10, but not quite good enough to play for the national title. And if you don’t like it, call your congressman and tell them “WE NEED A PLAYOFF!!”
