USC Football: Game-by-game predictions for 2022

After the busiest offseason in school history, USC football takes the field with a completely different team in 2022. They’ll look to ascend the mountaintop in Lincoln Riley’s first year in Los Angeles.

It isn’t hyperbolic to say that a team like the 2022 USC Trojans hasn’t existed in nearly 80 years. Back during World War II, service academies were the beneficiaries of existing talent pools that were suddenly shipped off to service. Those teams, propped up by talent acquired from the outside, were dominant in the wartime years.

USC football has found inspiration in such talent-building methods. With Lincoln Riley now with the Trojans, and the NCAA’s transfer rules allowing a veritable all-star team to congregate in LA, there’s potential for a sudden leap to the top.

Caleb Williams, the freshman all-American at quarterback who made such a strong start with Oklahoma last year, is here. There’s also former Oregon back Travis Dye, as well as college football’s top receiver in Pitt transfer Jordan Addison. Those players are just the tip of the iceberg.

With such a collection of talent, Vegas sees potential for USC football this year, as the Trojans have the fifth-best odds to win a national championship according to some sites.

But, melding a team such as this will be a tough task. That’s a lot of egos to mend and combine into a single unit.

Thankfully, USC’s schedule is fairly forgiving this year; the Notre Dame game is in the Coliseum, and the other two non-conference opponents are Fresno State and Rice. In their soon-to-be-former conference, they’ve got Utah on the road, but few other games that should challenge them.