As college football season inches closer upon us, it’s time to start to look for the teams who will take a step forward or a step backward in 2014. Will Florida State be able to repeat? Will Auburn be able to hold its place atop the SEC with Alabama and LSU still knocking at the door?
In the Pac-12, there are plenty of questions about who will be at the top at year’s end? Both Stanford and Oregon lost a lot of key players on the defensive side of the ball. Washington lost key offensive players, as well as head coach Steve Sarkisian. So with all of these questions, what team will be able to build on 2013, and be able to use that momentum to potentially vault to the top of the conference in 2014? The first team that stands out is USC.
While the Trojans finished 10-4 last season, you never would have guessed their record was that good, after all of the negative press during the early part of the season surrounding the program and then-head coach Lane Kiffin, and the blowouts they suffered to Arizona State and UCLA, but the Trojans have a lot of positive momentum moving forward.
They were able to finish their season by beating Fresno State 45-20 in the Sun Bowl, hire on Sarkisian as head coach, and reel in another top recruiting class.
The key for the Trojans on offense will be good quarterback play, and Cody Kessler has shown the ability to make big plays. After beating out Max Wittek to start last season, Kessler started with inconsistency, getting benched at one point in favor of Wittek. However, down the stretch of the season, he did a much better job controlling the game. After their loss to Notre Dame, Kessler helped lead the Trojans to six wins in their final seven games, where he completed 70-percent of his passes, with 12 touchdowns and only two interceptions. While Marqise Lee has moved on to the NFL, Nelson Agholor and George Farmer return, giving Kessler two legitimate receivers. Randall Telfer also returns at the tight end position, as does the stable of running backs.
On defense, the Trojans lost Devon Kennard and George Uko to the NFL, but return superstar defensive tackle Leonard Williams, linebacker Hayes Pullard, and safety Su’a Cravens, so they continue to be loaded with good players on the defensive side of the ball. They have the speed to keep up with the key teams in the conference, and have nice size to line up against teams like Stanford.
While USC isn’t necessarily the darkhorse pick many would want to see as the most improved team, they definitely have made huge strides, while the key players have either stood pat, or lost a lot of key players. They are in the best position to improve upon their 10-4 record, and get back to the USC of the mid-late 2000’s, where they were perennial title contenders every year. It will be interesting to see how different they are under Sarkisian’s leadership, but with talent they have at all positions, it will certainly be fun to watch.