'Wildcard' USC team is poised to catch college football fans by surprise

As things stand now for USC, the Trojans are a complete unknown in terms of the national consensus. In a way it's an advantageous position to be in for the Trojan football program. Those who have been following the team this offseason know the work that the staff and players are putting in. This is a smoother run operation, and coach Lincoln Riley has done a good job of improving on some of the past areas of weakness that prevented his prior teams from achieving their full potential.

Even so, there is not too much that is ever guaranteed in this sport. Everything can be going right, and quite literally anything can quickly derail an entire season. That being said, it has been a while now since USC was able to string wins together at the expected rate. Particularly after the first season of coach Riley, many Trojan fans will be expecting to see a better win-loss record for 2025.

Because of how the more recent seasons went, however, and with all of the outside attention on the 2026 and 2027 classes, there is a great opportunity for the Trojans to catch the college football world off guard this year.

Plenty of USC talent on both sides of the ball

Particularly on the offensive and defensive lines, the Trojan staff has been doing what's needed to be a more well-rounded opponent this year. Yes, there were many departures from last year. That is true and is the case for all teams nowadays.

The additions of Jahkeem Stewart and J'Onre Reed are examples of moves that are being somewhat overlooked by fans of other teams that will end up paying huge dividends for the Trojans in 2025. Factor in the inclusion of someone like Waymond Jordan and the wide receiving corps of Makai Lemon and Ja'Kobi Lane, and there is a lot more to be optimistic about how this USC team will compete than what many are letting on.