Significant opportunity that USC needs to take advantage of against Purdue

To this point there is a small sample size in terms of multiple aspects throughout college football. This becomes all the more difficult when also taking the uneven nature of the opening games into account.

Even so, USC has the chance to potentially turn some heads on the road to open up Big Ten play. While the Boilermakers are not exactly considered a favorite to make the College Football Playoff, there are still some things that will be learned about this Trojan program by the time the game wraps up on Saturday.

The Boilermakers are in the top 30 nationally in terms of yards allowed in the passing game on defense. By contrast, the Purdue rushing defense is in the top 50.

Even though USC has a great amount of potential with fellow wideouts Makai Lemon and Ja'Kobi Lane, this is the exact type of test that coach Lincoln Riley's team needs right now. The games are only going to get more difficult.

Reasonable expectation for USC on Saturday

Of course Jayden Maiava will be asked to carry his fair share of responsibilities in West Lafayette. Trojan fans, almost universally, want to see this team fall in love with the run more. Particularly after seeing how well Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders have performed as starters and the continued emergence in the roles of Bryan Jackson and Miller King for this year's team, there is simply too much talent in the Trojan backfield to be underutilized.

To this point in the season, Purdue has shown a better ability in coverage compared to how they are playing against the run. Yes, coach Riley will have to dial up his fair share of targets for Lemon and Lane. This is, however, a great opportunity for the Trojans to exert their will via the ground game. Especially considering this game is on the road for USC, if the Trojans are able to get Jordan and Sanders going early, it is the sort of thing that should be viewed as a tremendous positive for this team to set the tone on the road through the run game.