USC Football Roundup: Playoff potential and more (5/17)

The Trojans are one of the few teams in college football with playoff potential, while also earning the wildcard tag. Here’s the USC football roundup for May 17th.

On Thursday, a minor theme from the days sports coverage seemed to be playoff contention.

College Spun’s Andrew McCarty tried to find the “only eight teams that can win the College Football Playoff in 2018” and USC football happened to make the cut.

That’s an elite group of programs including Alabama, Auburn, Clemson, Georgia, Michigan, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma, but the Trojans fit in for a couple of reasons.

First, USC has recruited exceedingly well in recent years. Second, the Trojans have a playoff-worthy schedule with resume-builders against Stanford, Texas and Notre Dame. The trouble will be getting through with no more than two losses, preferably one.

Meanwhile at Sporting News, Bill Bender looked at the playoff contenders from each conference. He named Washington as the Pac-12’s best national title bet, but USC and Stanford got a mention as potential playoff teams. Arizona and Oregon figure as wildcards.

CHECK OUT: Five reasons to be optimistic about 2018

As much rebuilding as the Trojans have to do in 2018, losing Sam Darnold, Ronald Jones II and Uchenna Nwosu, expectations remain fairly positive for Clay Helton and company.

Trojan wildcards

Speaking of wildcards, Steve Lassan of Athlon Sports listed his 10 biggest wildcards for the 2018 season with USC earning a spot alongside the likes of Notre Dame and Oregon.

Lassan identifies two of the questions at the core of USC’s 2018 season: “Considering the new faces on offense, how long will it take USC to reload on this side of the ball? And until the pieces fall into place for this unit, can coach Clay Helton lean on his defense?”

SEE MORE: USC’s defense expecting a big leap from Year 2 to Year 3

Considering USC’s front-loaded schedule, the speed with with Helton and offensive coordinator Tee Martin rebuild the attack will be key. Facing Stanford, Texas, Washington State and Arizona in the first month of the season, the Trojans can probably afford to lose one, but they should absolutely fear falling into a 2016-esque hole and limiting their potential for the rest of the campaign.

More NFL starters projected

If you’ve been following the roundup recently, you’ll know that NFL.com’s Gregg Rosenthal has been projecting starters for each NFL division over the past week. He’s up to the NFC South, North and West now.

In the South, USC has five players on the Carolina Panthers’ roster, but only two of them—the Kalil brothers, Matt and Ryan—are projected to start. Offensive lineman Zach Banner, defensive lineman Wes Horton and cornerback Kevon Seymour will have to rise to make it into the first team.

In Tampa Bay, Ronald Jones II is already slated as the starting running back for the Buccaneers. Nose tackle Stevie Tu’ikolovatu is coming off an injury and doesn’t figure as a starter at this point.

Projan starters in the NFC West won’t include Max Tuerk, who figures to be a backup in Arizona. However, the Los Angeles Rams are set to start receiver Robert Woods and Nickell Robey-Coleman. Justin Davis and Steven Mitchell are also on the roster, but the former is a support back while the latter is just hoping to make the cut later this offseason.

TRENDING: USC to rematch Alabama at AT&T Stadium in 2020

The 49ers picked up Malcolm Smith to start at linebacker, but the Seahawks aren’t likely to start any Trojans with Tre Madden and Rasheem Green available off the bench.

The NFC North features a few Trojan starters including linebacker Devon Kennard with the Lions. Clay Mathews III and Nick Perry remain stalwarts with the Packers. The same goes for Everson Griffen with the Vikings.

Jake Olson drives…because Jake Olson

Trojan Trivia

USC’s 2003 national title-winning team ended a 25-year championship drought for the Trojans, somewhat unexpectedly as they were replacing a Heisman-winning quarterback and two-time All-American safety. First-time starting quarterback Matt Leinart had never thrown a college pass before going on to break the Pac-10 record for touchdown passes.