USC football came into the 2023 college football season as the favorite to win the Pac-12, and they had College Football Playoff aspirations. The Trojans started the season 6-0, but people quickly began to favor other teams in the conference as USC didn't look nearly as good as everyone expected them to look. They have had a lot of issues on defense, and everything came crashing down last weekend when Notre Dame blew the Trojans out of the water with a 48-20 victory. Now, it really doesn't look like USC is going to make it into the CFP, and the road doesn't get any easier this week against Utah football.

Utah football has won the last two Pac-12 championships and they have been a big issue for USC football in recent years. The Trojans were a win away from going to the CFP last season, but the Utes took them down for the second time that year in the Pac-12 title game. It's going to be another tough test for USC football this season, and Lincoln Riley knows that the Utah defense is going to present some challenges.

“They're extremely aggressive,” Lincoln Riley said regarding Utah’s defense, according to an article from 247 Sports. “I give them credit. They do it. It works well for them. I said last night on the show you can tell they've been in that system for a long, long, long, long time. And they've recruited for that system for a long, long, long, long time and they do a tremendous job of it.”

On defense, Utah has been terrific this season, but the offense has struggled without star quarterback Cam Rising. The USC offense is going to have to bring their A-game to find success against that unit.

“It’s a group that's going to be overly aggressive,” Riley said. “You’ve got to make some of your big plays, too. We were able to do that quite a bit in the first game. We did it at times during the second game last year, but this is gonna be a new challenge. We got some new personnel. They got some new personnel. It's a fun group to match up with against. I have a lot of respect for them. I enjoy playing against really good defenses, really good coordinators, really good players. They got all three.”

Both of these teams already have a loss this season, and one more will end either team's CFP hopes. This is going to be an exciting matchup.