USC Football: Can Clay Helton get over the hump in 2018?

2018 USC Schedule and Predictions

The Trojans get to ease into the 2018 season with a home opener against UNLV on the first of September. That eases USC into back-to-back road games against Stanford and Texas teams that will probably both be ranked at the time. On the return home, the Trojans only get six days before the Friday-night showdown against Washington State. That precedes a divisional battle against Arizona to close out the month of September.

Unlike last year’s hellish run, the Trojans get to take a bye week to start off the month of October. Then they get Colorado at home before a trip to Salt Lake City to square off against Utah. Arizona State visits the Coliseum on the last Saturday of October.

Oregon State has often been a thorn in USC’s side, and they will have to watch out for the trip to Corvallis at the beginning of November. Cal comes to Los Angeles the following weekend to kick off a trio of rivalry weekends. A date with Chip Kelly and UCLA at the Rose Bowl follows the showdown with the Golden Bears. Notre Dame comes to California to close out the 2018 regular season.

What’s next for USC?

Let’s face it. USC will probably overlook UNLV, just like they did Northern Illinois last year. The Rebels are likely nowhere near as good as the Huskies were last year, but it will probably be sloppier than necessary. USC will have its focus on the following week’s date with Stanford in Palo Alto, a rematch of last year’s Pac-12 title game that will have serious conference implications for both teams this year.

Prediction: 10-2 (8-1 Pac-12)

It is going to be an odd beginning to the season for the Trojans. An early win against UNLV won’t be quite as crisp as expected, and Stanford will outpace USC’s inexperienced offense in their rematch. A loss in Austin could follow, setting up the Trojans as a 1-2 team to start the year.

It will look like disarray, but then again we’ve been here before. Wins over Washington State and Arizona will have things back on course heading into the bye week. Coming out of the break, USC will be more composed as the offense really begins to click. A run of nine straight wins to cap the regular season will have USC among the hottest teams in the country entering conference championship week.

Then it will be a matter of needing to win over the North champ (probably either another Stanford rematch or a matchup with Washington) to have a shot at a spot in the College Football Playoff. Even then, a two-loss Trojans team could have a hard case to sell unless Texas goes on to win the Big 12 and is a lock for the Playoff field.

But Clay Helton has the Trojans on path to keep reloading rather than needing to rebuild. Year 3.5 of the Helton regime is the big test of whether that goal has been achieved or not.