The Southern Cal football program is not necessarily rebuilding from the bottom floor up, but it is still going to be a season of uncertainty for the Men of Troy.
It wasn't that long ago that the USC Trojans were sitting atop the college football betting world, winning National Championships, playing in Rose Bowls, and posting double digit win season after double digit win season.
Times are changing at Southern Cal, though. Allegations that Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush received all sorts of perks not sanctioned by the NCAA surfaced. The end result, after two years of investigations, saw the NCAA hammer the Trojans hard, taking away a number of scholarships and banning them from bowl games for the next two seasons.
Former head coach Pete Carroll knew to get out when the getting was good. After years of turning down coaching positions in the NFL, Carroll accepted one with the Seattle Seahawks just months before the ruling on the Bush case was decided. The Trojans brought in Lane Kiffin, stealing him from the mountains of Rocky Top.
The offense was considered a bit of a work in progress last season with QB Matt Barkley at the helm. Though the numbers put up last season were very un-Trojan-like, USC was respectable, averaging 389.2 yards and 26.5 points per game.
Barkley's play was up and down all season long, but that is to be expected from a freshman stepping into the fold. He completed 59.9 percent of his passes for 2,735 yards and 15 scores against 14 picks.
Only four other starters return for the Men of Troy this season on offense. The leading receiver that is returning is Ronald Johnson, who caught just 34 passes for 378 yards and three scores last season. Running back Joe McKnight decided to leave USC as well to bolt for the pros, which leaves just RB Allen Bradford left to tote the rock. Bradford was effective last year, carrying the ball 115 times for 668 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns, but there is a real question whether or not he can shoulder the load for a full game.
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The defense struggled at times last season, and things might only be getting worse in 2010 and beyond. Though averaging allowing 19.8 PPG was good enough to rank No. 19 in the country, USC allowed a whopping 55 points to Stanford, 47 to Oregon, and 36 to Oregon State.
In a huge switch from the norm, the Trojans ranked just No. 40 in the land in total defense at 340.5 PPG, and they were nowhere to be found in the Top 15 in the country in any major defensive category.
Take S Taylor Mays out of the bunch, and USC's defense doesn't have a heck of a lot left to work with. Yes, Kiffin turned his defense at Tennessee into one that was accepted as one of the nation's best very quickly, but the cupboard is relatively bare for the Trojans. Of all of the men ready to play in the secondary this year for them, they have a total of just five career starts. USC only returns five starters on 'D.'
Fans won't have any NCAA football futures lines to bet on with USC, save a season win total. The Trojans have been tabbed to come out victorious 9.5 times this season at 5Dimes.
Before immediately thinking that disaster could strike at Southern Cal and taking the 'under' on its win total, remember that USC has a 13th regular season game to play this year due to its sanctions. Southern Cal will open up the season at Hawaii and continue its non-conference tour with games against Virginia, Minnesota and Notre Dame.
Last season, the Trojans went 2-1 SU and 1-2 ATS outside of the Pac-10 in the regular season, with the only cover coming in the form of a 56-3 win over San Jose State to start the season.
In conference, USC lost four times last year, two of which came at home. It was particularly woeful in a stretch of games from October 17 until the end of the season. Save a cover against UCLA at home, the Trojans went winless ATS and just 3-3 SU.
Trips to Stanford, Arizona, Oregon State and UCLA won't be fun for the Men of Troy this year, while a three-game stretch against Cal, Oregon and Arizona State at Pasadena might yield some losses as well.
This is a program in flux right now and it's hard, especially after a 4-9 ATS season, to want to put any of your hard-earned money on the Trojans.