5 college football teams with the most turnaround potential in 2022

1. USC Trojans

This should come as no surprise at No. 1 because the Trojans needed a change at head coach from Clay Helton and not only did they make one, but they knocked their next hire out of the park, poaching Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma.

Riley has plenty of experience as an elite head coach, leading the Sooners to a number of Big 12 titles and playoff berths so the spotlight shouldn’t scare him under the bright lights of Los Angeles.

His fingerprints are already all over the team as well as he brings in a whopping 20 (!!) transfers from the portal, led by Caleb Williams, Jordan Addison, Eric Gentry, Travis Dye, Austin Jones, Mario Williams, and Brenden Rice. If nothing else, USC is going to put up video game-like numbers on the offensive side of the ball.

Riley is usually known for leading a strong offense because, well, he’s one of the best offensive minds in the sport. So giving him Williams at quarterback again along with the nation’s top receiver from last year along with two other strong wideouts, and two top-tier Pac-12 running backs is only going to make this offense scarier.

The defense should be just fine, but the offense will straight-up out-score a number of opponents.

That 4-7 season in 2021 is going to feel like a distant memory in 2022.