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With several of the perennial national title contenders mired in uncertainty, many believed this could be the year that USC football ascends back to the mountaintop. Though, a second-half slumber versus Colorado, which nearly resulted in an epic collapse, gave fans and pundits alike a powerful case of deja vu.
Throughout last season, it was obvious that the Trojans' porous defense would prevent the program from truly entering the championship conversation. Those concerns came to fruition in a manner worse than people even expected, after a stunning loss to Tulane in the Cotton Bowl.
The one bright side to the humiliating defeat was that head coach Lincoln Riley had no choice but to clearly prioritize the defense in the offseason. Yet, the difference between 2022 and 2023 seem negligible after USC allowed Colorado football to cut a 27-point deficit to one possession late in Saturday's Pac-12 clash. That was all Paul Finebaum needed to see.
“I think USC’s defense is a complete fraud,” he said on the Matt Barrie Show, via The Spun's Andrew Holleran. “I mean I was told this week by one of our data people how much better they are? They’re not…For Caleb Williams to do what he’s doing and have to sit there at the end of the game, against a team that they are superior to on every level, and have to hold on for an onside kick is absurd.”
Will the Trojans' defense cap their ceiling?
Finebaum is not holding anything back there, and who can really blame him? The Trojans cannot afford to ease up in runaway games when the College Football Playoff committee is watching them so closely. They must put the hammer down in these situations, particularly after conference foe Oregon did the same to the Buffaloes a week earlier (granted it was at home).
The No. 9 ranked team in the country frighteningly might be in the same spot as it was this time last year. And if so, a golden opportunity might slip past Los Angeles once again. Paul Finebaum is certainly of that mindset. “USC is not winning the national championship,” he said. “Let’s just get that established right now.”
USC football will not have a chance to silence the skeptics this weekend when mediocre Arizona comes into town but have four pivotal, upcoming games to prove they've learned from their past mistakes.
