USC Football: 5 bold predictions for the 2017 season

1. USC could be just outside College Football Playoff top four

Two big prizes will ultimately elude USC this season. The school will fail in its quest for a seventh Heisman winner. Southern California will also fall short in its bid to reach the fourth edition of the College Football Playoff in 2017.

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Last year, Washington was on the cusp of eligibility as a 12-1 conference champion. A major reason Penn State was playing in the Rose Bowl instead of the Fiesta Bowl or Peach Bowl was because they went 11-2 en route to winning the Big Ten. If USC wins the Pac-12 but loses twice along the way, they could find themselves on the outside looking in come December.

It seems inconceivable that the College Football Playoff selection committee would set aside a storied program like the Trojans. But several one-loss Power Five champions, and maybe even an undefeated Group of Five champ, could merit at least as good a case for inclusion. If that happens to be the case, the committee would not hesitate to drop the least deserving team.

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The problem for USC is that, while their first loss against Stanford or Texas won’t look so bad by the end of the year, their second defeat will be a backbreaker. Look for the Trojans to drop a division game at either Arizona State or Colorado to bomb their Playoff dreams in 2017.