Why? They have a lot of talent. Their Sophomore, Junior, and Senior classes were all top 10 — two of them top 4. They have quite a few five-star players. One of the most talented groups of WRs in the country. A RB that ND wanted badly, but was denied admission. Unfortunately for them, they lost their starting QB early. The backup played well against Stanford, but threw three INTs in an overtime loss to BYU. The backup was knocked out of the game against #17 Utah and they still won with the third team guy. Didn’t see the UW game, but have read that the third teamer threw a critical INT —one of three INTs on the day— near UW’s goal line that resulted in a 14 point swing. USC rushed for over 200 yards against UW. So, yeah, I think USC could be tough if the get improved QB play. I think that is a more than reasonable statement.