College Football Rankings 2020: Projected AP Top 25 for Week 8

Southern California finally found its way back into the AP Top 25 after a slew of upsets in Week 7. Unlike Oregon, which found itself immediately back in the poll when the Pac-12 announced its return for fall play, the No. 17 team in the preseason had to wait several weeks until convincing enough voters to put them back on their ballots.

That, of course, is due to the return of so much talent from last year’s squad. At the head of that list is sophomore quarterback Kedon Slovis, who threw for 3500 yards and 30 touchdowns on a completion rate that nearly reached 72 percent. More important, though, might be one of the 10 most experienced defenses in all of college football. If Clay Helton’s crew can leverage veteran talent into big wins, the sky is the limit in Los Angeles.

We won’t get a glimpse of USC until November 7, when they line up against Arizona State at the Coliseum. That game will let us know quickly whether the Trojans are contenders or pretenders in the Pac-12 South and a worthy foil to an Oregon team they won’t face in the truncated six-game regular season.