Trojans facing historic schedule
If we judged teams off the performance on just two weeks, USC would be leading the pack by far. The Trojans put up back-to-back 50-point games while holding both of their opponents under double digits.
In other words, the Trojans dominated from start to finish. Albeit, both of those games were against subpar competition, two Sun Belt teams — Arkansas State and Idaho.
One shouldn’t be so quick to judge the Trojans on those two games, however. The SEC consistently schedules FCS opponents and plays one less conference game than the Trojans, something that could come back to haunt the Pac-12 in December.
The Trojans did exactly what was expected of them this week and cruised to a blowout win. The same can’t be said for some of those SEC teams.
Auburn needed a last minute touchdown and overtime to overcome lowly Jacksonville State, and that same Arkansas State team that lost by 49 to USC led No. 21 Missouri for much of the fourth quarter before succumbing to late mistakes. No. 18 Arkansas lost to a Toledo team that had not beaten a ranked team since 2012.
If you take a glance at the schedule, you’ll notice some other top teams struggled against far inferior opponents.
Oregon, Arizona State and Arizona all endured stiff competition from the likes of Eastern Washington, Cal Poly and UT San Antonio, respectively.
In all honesty, those two games against Idaho and Arkansas State were vital for the Trojan’s postseason hopes, as the rest of the schedule seems daunting.
The Stanford Cardinal will roll into Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum this Saturday as a true underdog for the first time since maybe 2010.
Even though the Trojans are considered favorites on paper, games between the two Pac-12 giants are almost impossible to predict.
Over the past five games, neither team has won by more than seven points. The last two were won off the foot of USC kicker Andre Heidari.
Don’t expect anything less this year.
Though the Cardinal suffered a shocking defeat to Northwestern in their season opener, the team is still coached extremely well and led by an experienced winner in quarterback Kevin Hogan.
A win for the Trojans on Saturday will justify their position as the No. 6 team in the country. A blowout win would be even better.
Senior Cody Kessler also has the opportunity to validate the preseason Heisman hype surrounding him. Kessler has been phenomenal in the first two games, passing for 650 yards and seven touchdowns on a 78.9 percent completion rate.
Kessler is the only quarterback in the FBS to throw for seven touchdowns and zero interceptions.
However, in his two previous games against Stanford, Kessler has managed just 423 yards and one touchdown. To put that into perspective, Kessler threw for 410 yards and three touchdowns just against Idaho this past weekend.
The Trojans will need a big game out of Kessler if they want to get past the Cardinal comfortably.
Looking ahead, the Trojans have quite the schedule in front of them. As it stands right now, the Trojans have five Top 25 opponents on the schedule — No. 8 Notre Dame, No. 21 Utah, No. 20 Arizona, No. 12 Oregon and No. 10 UCLA.
If the Trojans can get by Stanford this week and Arizona State the following week, that could set up a Top Five showdown against the Fighting Irish, assuming they can overcome ACC challengers Georgia Tech and Clemson.
The schedule lightens up a little with games against Utah and Cal following the trip to South Bend.
The way Arizona’s schedule lines up — their only ranked opponent before USC being UCLA on Sept. 26 — the Wildcats could enter the Coliseum as a one-loss or even undefeated team.
Things don’t get any easier for the Trojans as they finish the season against Oregon (away) and UCLA (home). Oregon has a better chance to run the table in Pac-12 — their only ranked opponent right now is No. 21 Utah who makes the trek to Eugene.
By the end of the season, the Trojans could have faced seven ranked opponents, assuming Arizona State and Stanford jump back into the Top 25 come season’s end.
That would be a historic schedule for the Trojans.
To put it into perspective, last season’s champion, Ohio State, played three Top 25 opponents all season long. The year before that, Florida State played only four Top 25 opponents.
The first two blowout victories were great, but get ready and buckle up because it’s going to be a long season for the Trojans.
Nick Barbarino is a senior majoring in business administration. His column, “Beyond the Arc,” runs Thursdays.