USC Football Roundup: Tough road opposition in 2018 (5/7)

The Trojans face several highly-ranked opponents on the road in 2018, while JT Daniels remains in the headlines. Here’s the USC football roundup for May 7th.

Last week, CBS re-ranked their preseason Top 25 with USC slipping down to No. 25. This week, they revealed the full rankings of all 130 college football teams.

The Trojans were dropped from No. 25 in large part due to the lack of clarity around the quarterback position, which is as reasonable a reason to ding a team as any.

Though USC’s ranking was no mystery, it is a nice look at the preseason expectations for the Trojans’ 2018 opposition.

Here’s how each team on the 2018 schedule ranks:

No. 106 UNLVNo. 12 StanfordNo. 33 TexasNo. 49 Washington StateNo. 32 ArizonaNo. 99 ColoradoNo. 30 UtahNo. 85 Arizona StateNo. 125 Oregon StateNo. 71 CaliforniaNo. 42 UCLANo. 16 Notre Dame

In CBS’ estimation, the Trojans will face three Top 30 opponents, with seven in the Top 60 and five in the Bottom 60.

More from Reign of Troy

• Markese Stepp enters transfer portal intending to leave USC football
• USC football’s Alijah Vera-Tucker declares for NFL Draft
• USC football adds Xavion Alford as transfer from Texas
• USC Podcast: RoT Radio Ep. 396 on the Football Season’s Fallout
• Talanoa Hufanga named Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, USC football with five first-teamers

Unfortunately for Clay Helton and company, some of their toughest tests come on the road. Taking the extreme outlier of Oregon State out of the picture, the average ranking of USC’s road opponents in 2018 is 29th with difficult dates against Stanford, Texas, Arizona, Utah and UCLA on the horizon.

The average ranking of USC’s overall opposition is 58th by comparison.

Damien Mama waived

Former USC offensive guard Damien Mama’s time in New York ended on Monday. The Giants waived the undrafted lineman, just a few months after signing him in December.

Kansas City picked up Mama as an undrafted free agent in 2017 and he spent most of the season on their practice squad before being signed by the Giants.

Now he’ll be looking for a new home in the NFL a year after declaring for the pros with a year of eligibility remaining at USC.

JT Daniels on the record

Another week, another profile of incoming freshman JT Daniels, this time from Dennis Dodd of CBS Sports.

Dodd details Daniels’ heavy class load (he’s not taking “basket weaving”), the reclassifying process (the idea was planted in his head by a recruiting analyst who asked about a rumor) and how he came to love USC.

Trojan Trivia

USC has reached the 10-win mark 27 times in program history. With 11 wins in 2017, the Trojans had back-to-back 10-win seasons for the first time since 2008.