USC Football: 2017 season preview, predictions

The season is right around the corner for USC football and here are the preview and predictions for the Trojans in 2017.

If you paid attention to college football at all in 2016, you would have known one of the hottest teams in the nation to close out the year was USC. The USC football team not only began the season just 1-3, but it closed out with nine straight victories, including a Rose Bowl win over also-red-hot Penn State.

Clay Helton went from warming seat to firmly in place in Los Angeles. The Trojans got back to their winning ways in the final two months of the season and it shouldn’t have surprised anyone. With the talent on the roster, it would have been a shame to see them finish with less than 10 wins.

Now heading into the 2017 season, USC has higher expectations than in years past. Helton has another year under his belt and starting quarterback Sam Darnold is widely considered the best in the college ranks. Can he live up to that No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick potential everyone is bestowing upon him?

The Trojans are returning just 10 starters to both sides of the ball, but that shouldn’t matter much with this program seeing as it’s been recruiting at such a high level, most of the guys who are replacing last year’s departed starters are former blue-chip recruits who have awaited their turns.

Washington won the Pac-12 last season, beating Colorado in the title game to head to the College Football Playoff, but could USC avoid an early-season meltdown to make a playoff push in 2017?

Offense

There’s no doubt, the offense has some ground to make up thanks to the seven starters departing from the 2016 squad. The Trojans did, however, have the 20th-best offense, in terms of total yards per game, in the country last year and there is plenty of returning talent.

Obviously Sam Darnold is the biggest piece, but we will get into that shortly.

Ronald Jones II returns at running back and he’s coming off a career-year in which he rushed for 1,082 yards and 12 touchdowns on 6.1 yards per carry. The junior will be backed up by Aca’Cedric Ware who added 397 yards and two scores.

At receiver, there will be three brand new starters. Juniors Deontay Burnett and Jalen Greene will try to make up for the losses of JuJu Smith-Schuster and Darreus Rogers. Burnett was third on the team in 2016 with 622 yards and seven touchdowns on 52 catches while Greene had just eight for 116 yards. Sophomore Michael Pittman Jr. should provide a strong third starting receiver threat.

Daniel Imatorbhebhe had 17 catches for 250 yards and four touchdowns as a freshman tight end in 2016. Expect him to have a breakout season.

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The line, however, returns senior starters Nico Falah and Viane Talamaivao to center and right guard, respectively. Three juniors, Chris Brown (RT), Chuma Edoga (LT) and Toa Lobendahn (LG) are expected to round out the starters.

Encore for Sam Darnold?

If you don’t know the name Sam Darnold, you simply don’t know college football. He’s considered the top gunslinger in the college game today and he’s regarded as a potential No. 1 overall pick in 2018.

Also, he was incredible in 2016.

The then-redshirt freshman passed for 3,086 yards and 31 touchdowns with just nine picks and a 67 percent completion rate — oh yeah, and he didn’t even begin the year as the starting quarterback.

Now that he has some experience under his belt and some weapons surrounding him, he enters fall camp as the clear starter and can get to work. Will he provide an encore or will the pressure from fans, coaches and the media crush him? I’d guess it’ll be the former.

Defense

The defensive backfield has a tall task in replacing Adoree’ Jackson, which we will discuss later, but  the defensive line also has its work cut out, replacing two starters in a 3-4 look.

Returning is defensive end Rasheem Green who finished with 65 total tackles, 6.5 for loss and six sacks last season, but the team’s nose tackle and tackle positions will need to be filled by a combination of senior Kenny Bigelow Jr., junior Malik Dorton, senior Josh Fatu and freshman Marlon Tuipulotu. The talent is there, but the starting experience is not. Huge question mark.

As for the linebackers, three out of four return. Juniors Porter Gustin and Cameron Smith assume their outside and inside linebacker roles, respectively, while senior Uchenna Nwosu returns at the other outside spot. That’s three of the team’s six-leading tacklers from 2016 and they combined for 204 total tackles, 27.5 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks.

Talented sophomore John Houston Jr. will take over the vacant inside linebacker spot, presumably. He had 16 tackles as a freshman.

Who replaces Adoree’ Jackson?

Jackson’s potential landed him a spot in the first round of the 2017 NFL Draft. The Tennessee Titans took a chance on him early on and the former USC cornerback is likely to be a tremendous help in their secondary and even on special teams.

But who replaces him on defense at USC? He put up 55 total tackles, two for loss and five interceptions last season, but those are numbers that won’t be easily replaced. Moreover, he had 11 pass deflections, making him a tough corner to throw on.

One early favorite is Iman Marshall. While he started last season as well, he seems to be the most suited to take over as the team’s top cornerback. The junior finished with 52 total tackles, three for loss, three interceptions and eight pass deflections. He’s certainly on track.

Don’t sleep on Jack Jones, though. The former five-star from USC’s 2016 recruiting class is the perfect size and he’s an impressive athlete. He could break out in 2017.

Returning starter Marvell Tell III and senior Chris Hawkins look to anchor the starting safety positions. This unit needs to improve on its 65th national ranking against the pass from 2016.

2017 schedule

It’ll be interesting to see how USC comes out in 2017 after finishing the 2016 season as hot as it did. Luckily, the Trojans will get Western Michigan at home to start the season. Sure, the Broncos made a New Year’s Six bowl last season and went 13-1, but they lost 12 starters, including their quarterback, and head coach P.J. Fleck. It will be a completely different team.

The second game will be much tougher, but luckily the Trojans will be taking on Stanford. Then, USC will get a resurgent Texas team led by new head coach Tom Herman and talented gunslinger Shane Buechele.

Road games against California and Washington State should both be solid tests as the Trojans don’t leave the state until Sept. 29.

Oregon State and Utah are both winnable home games the following two weeks, chased by two more road games at Notre Dame and at Arizona State. Both of those will be tough, especially if they’re night contests.

Lastly, the final stretch of Arizona at home, Colorado on the road and UCLA at home could decide the Trojans’ fate in the Pac-12 title race.

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Prediction: 11-1 (9-0 Pac-12)

If USC can get past Stanford in Week 2, the Trojans should be favored in the next 6-8 games, or even for the rest of the season, but once they’re 7-0, they will have an even bigger target on their backs than usual. Unfortunately, a mid-season road game, potentially under the lights, against Notre Dame will end their perfect season. The Trojans are the better team, but Notre Dame, in a rivalry game, will be tough to beat at home. Don’t worry, though, as USC will win out, take the Pac-12 South title and face Washington for a chance at a playoff berth.