College Football Week 0 winners and losers

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Aug 26, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; San Jose State Spartans wide receiver Nick Nash (3) catches a touchdown pass in front of Southern California Trojans cornerback Ceyair Wright (22) during the second half at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports /

Loser: USC football defense

As good as Caleb Williams was, I still came away from the USC football win over San Jose State wondering if the defense has improved.

The Spartans are a bowl team and won the Mountain West a couple of years ago, so they have a solid program and a talented quarterback. But they also rushed for over 100 yards and the score was 21-14 going into the half.

USC eventually pulled away but Chase Cordeiro averaged 9.4 yards per attempt, was sacked once, and tossed three touchdowns. He also ran for 52 yards. SJSU ran for 198 total and had 396 yards of total offense in addition to 28 points.

USC football also didn’t force a single turnover, so even though Caleb Williams and freshman Zacharias Branch were spectacular, the defense wasn’t which was the big question mark heading into the 2023 season.

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