USC is not going to restore Pete Carroll glories in one season

The USC football program expects to compete for national championships. That’s the standard around here, and no one is claiming otherwise. Pete Carroll reminded us of that standard. However, context matters, and processes sometimes can’t occur instantly, in one fell swoop. Sometimes, building a program to a championship standard requires two or even three years. Such is life at USC right now.

USC was 8-5 last season. The Trojans were a mess. They didn’t have a good defense. They didn’t have good defensive coaches. They didn’t play in a top-tier bowl game. They regressed relative to their 2022 season. They flopped. They endured a disaster. The idea that USC is ready to compete for a national championship in 2024 is just not reasonable. Does anyone think USC has a remotely good chance of going 12-1 in its first Big Ten season against the schedule it has? In the Pete Carroll era, USC players and fans knew entering the season they were “national championship” good. That’s not the case right now. We want to compete for the national title, but we’re not ready. So, if USC makes the College Football Playoff in 2024 but loses by 30 in the first round, that’s progress. That’s big progress. It might not feel like it if USC loses by 30 in the first round, but when the Trojans lost five games the previous season and were led astray by Alex Grinch, merely getting to the playoff this year would be extraordinary. Not good, not great; extraordinary. If losing by 30 in the playoff is part of the deal, so be it. USC would be relevant once again. Recruiting would improve. USC’s restoration project would advance by several degrees. If a blowout loss is part of a playoff scenario this year, every USC fan should take it, no questions asked.

Here’s our Friday show at The Voice of College Football in which we spent a lot of time discussing that very point:

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