USC Football: Ranking Trojans’ 2020 opponents by toughness

USC football is no stranger to tough schedules and their 2020 slate is a gauntlet. Here’s how I’d rank the Trojans’ 2020 opponents by toughness.

Most of the headlines concerning USC football will revolve around Clay Helton and his job security, and rightfully so, but that should not take away from the fact that the Trojans are returning a plethora of starters to a talented team.

USC will also be facing one of the toughest schedules not only in the Pac-12, but in the entire country. The Trojans are returning 82 percent of their production from their 2020 team and 87 percent is coming back to their defense, and even if their defense was not very good last season, they were very young and they will be under new leadership with former Houston and Texas defensive coordinator Todd Orlando taking over the reigns of the defense.

All eyes will be on the USC offense this season, as quarterback Kedon Slovis returns after an unexpectedly fantastic freshman season behind center and it also boasts what I would consider to be the best wide receiving corps in the entire country, despite the loss of Michael Pittman Jr. to the NFL. USC will still have talented wide outs such as Amon-Ra St. Brown and Tyler Vaughns to throw to, as well as Drake London, who really started to play well towards the end of his freshman season a year ago.

With that being said, here are how I would rank the Trojans’ 2020 opponents by toughness.