Urban Meyer, others list USC football among potential breakout teams for 2020

USC football was included in the Top 5 breakout teams for Urban Meyer, Reggie Bush and other FOX analysts

USC football has breakout potential in 2020. If you disagree with that statement, take it up with Urban Meyer, Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart and Rob Stone of FOX.

On Thursday, the analysts ranked their Top 5 preseason breakout teams along with Joel Klatt and Brady Quinn.

Stone has the highest hopes for USC, ranking them second behind Florida. Meyer and Bush listed the Trojans third while Leinart placed them fifth.

Why is USC football a good breakout candidate?

Bush and Leinart may be biased (though Bush’s previous statements expressing disappointment in USC’s performances may excuse him from such a tag), but Meyer can be trusted to know what he’s talking about.

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Truth is, the Trojans have all the pieces in place to outperform their recent results.

Kedon Slovis is as good a quarterback as USC could hope to have coming into his second year as a starter. He’ll have familiar targets to throw to in Tyler Vaughns, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Drake London while adding a playmaker like Bru McCoy to the mix.

The return of Graham Harrell as offensive coordinator should keep the offensive chugging along at least as well as last year. Improvement on 32.5 points per game would undoubtedly add to the win column.

Defensively, the Trojans simply weren’t good enough in 2019, but they have a new coordinator at the helm to turn things around.

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Sure, Todd Orlando’s stint at Texas didn’t end well, but his first season with the Longhorns was unquestionably strong. If he could take Texas from 31.5 points allowed per game in 2016 to 21.2 points allowed in 2017, he should be able to help the Trojans greatly. His worst showing in the Lone Star State of 27.5 ppg was still better than USC’s 2019 mark of 29.4 ppg.

USC has a lot to prove before they get full buy-in from fans and media, but early optimism is warranted.