Fun time is now officially over for USC Trojans football

The USC Trojans have hit 9-1 on the season after dominating Colorado, but that doesn’t make them look any better as they enter their last two games.

On Friday night, the USC Trojans played their best game in weeks, defeating the Colorado Buffaloes in a 55-17 beatdown. The game plan ended up being an efficient one for the Trojans, as a slow start preceded a 23-point halftime lead that they never looked back on.

The dominating victory has given USC its ninth win of the season, further solidifying its top-10 argument. As a result, one would perhaps think that a CFP path is still very much within reach.

But with that said, I am a realist at the end of the day, and there is still a lot that needs to be seen before I can view the Trojans as realistic playoff contenders.

For starters, let’s acknowledge the fact that embarrassing the aforementioned Buffaloes means nothing when it comes to CFP readiness. While Friday’s game could be helpful in proving that USC can take over when expected, Colorado being the 1-9 stain of Power 5 football leaves it meaning very little beyond that.

And even though a 9-1 record is enough for the Trojans to lock up their top-dog status until further notice, there have been several questionable moments en route to achieving said record.

Some of these moments include needlessly narrow victories against flawed opponents (Oregon State, Arizona, and California, specifically) and a loss at Utah—easily the biggest obstacle that the Trojans have faced so far this season.

Hanging such an unconvincing résumé next to this upcoming stretch foreshadows what could be a frightening collapse for USC at the worst possible time, as all that remains now is a pair of meetings with ranked rivals.

Next weekend, the Trojans travel to Pasadena to face the UCLA Bruins, a team that has been praised for downing both Washington and Utah. After that, they host a Notre Dame squad that is currently on a 4-game win streak (the same streak responsible for the downfalls of two ranked schools).

Falling to just one of those teams would be enough to give the Trojans two losses—a fate infamous for having never led to a playoff berth—but at this point, there appears to be a large chance of them falling to both.

It’s never particularly fair to promise wins or losses for a team when discussing its future matchups, but a true contender is typically seen as a rather safe bet in even its most strenuous battles. Simply put, I don’t see the USC Trojans as a safe bet in theirs, and they have no one to blame but themselves for that.