Universal acknowledgement of USC turnaround starting to take root

Closer to the beginning part of the summer, many outside football voices were hesitant to place too much trust in this season's USC team. That statement alone is being charitable. For many, the expectation for the Trojans is that of anticipating further underwhelming disappointment.

There does appear to be a slight shift from that perspective that is beginning to take place in terms of how coach Lincoln Riley's program is currently viewed with less than a month to go before the games kick off.

More neutral voices and fans of other fan bases are beginning to allow themselves to have some room for USC to push a potential nine-plus-win year in 2025. This comes from what is starting to be recognized in Los Angeles. Certainly in past years, looking too from before coach Riley left Oklahoma, USC was not acting like a top-tier program and was doing a better job at inhibiting its own progress.

People are noticing how the program is making concerted efforts to improve on some of the past, glaring areas of weakness.

Interesting USC trend developing in the media landscape

While there will still be an understandable amount of skepticism and lack of belief until the conference games in the Big Ten start, the fact that more outlets are comfortable selecting the Trojans in their preseason Top 25 is a telling sign.

What this should also speak to is what will happen once USC does in fact rattle off a bunch of wins. Maybe not as much for the younger generation, but for many, USC and championship-level greatness are still ingrained in the memory of how they digested football as a fan. That instinct of acknowledging USC as a national power is something that wants to become a universal norm again. There is still work to do. Others, outside of the usual optimistic Trojan voices, are beginning to take note of this reemerging reality again.