Stephen A. Smith says USC’s schedule “turns him off”, rules out playoffs for Trojans

The USC Trojans finished their 2022 campaign with an 11-3 record. They went on to make it to the Pac-12 championship game against the Utah Utes, boasting the best record in the division.

But the Trojans lost the game, ultimately being eliminated from the CFP. Now, Stephen A. Smith still believes that this year will be the same for USC, as they are not heavy favorites to make it to the College Football Playoffs.

Last year, their quarterback Caleb Williams rose to stardom, winning the Heisman trophy following his scintillating campaign. He had 4,537 passing yards with 42 TDs and just five interceptions, becoming the undisputed winner of the award.

However, according to Stephen A. Smith, the USC Trojans do not have a very competitive schedule ahead of them in 2023, which hinders their possibility of making it to the CFP.

In the recent episode of his show on ESPN called 'First Take', Stephen A. Smith and Paul Finebaum talked about the chances of USC emerging as contenders for the national championship.

Finebaum talked about how apart from Caleb Williams, there is an air of uncertainty about the performance of their offensive and defensive line. Stephen A. Smith added that their schedule did not excite him in any way.

"You know what turns me off more than anything, Paul Finebaum? The daggone schedule, for crying out loud. I'm just looking at this right now and I'm saying 'Excuse me, what am I to be excited about?'

"When you're talking about College Football Playoffs, yeah you're talking about records. But at some point in time, you're going to look at the level of competition you're up against", Smith said.

The Trojans start their season opener against San Jose State on August 26. Then they have games against Nevada, Stanford, Arizona State, Colorado, Arizona, Notre Dame, Utah, California, Washington, Oregon, and UCLA respectively.

And according to Stephen A. Smith, the only game that has his attention is their matchup against Notre Dame.

He feels that the Fighting Irish are the only ones who look like contenders for a spot in the College Football Playoffs. Apart from this, he feels that for a team like the USC Trojans, the level of competition in their schedule harms their chances of earning a berth for a shot at the national title.

"I think something like that hurts a team like USC, because you look at the level of competiton they're going against.. Yes, Lincoln Riley is there. But when you look at their schedule, on top of what you just said, I'm like 'Well damn, other than Notre Dame, why am I really interested in who you're playing against?' That's my problem", Smith said.

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USC Trojans: A look into their depth chart ahead of the 2023 season

As one can predict, Caleb Williams will be the starting quarterback for USC in 2023 as well. After his Heisman run last year, there will be a lot of expectations riding on the young quarterback's shoulder to make game-changing passes on the offense. Miller Moss and Malachi Nelson are going to be the backups to Williams.

Brenden Rice and Kyron Ware-Hudson will be the ones leading the wide receiver (WR) department. We have Jonah Monheim and Elijah Page in the LT(left tackle) department. Emmanuel Pregnon, who transferred from Wyoming, will compete for the LG starting job with freshman Alani Noa.

Veterans Austin Jones and MarShawn Lloyd are expected to be the starting running backs for the team. Although it is unclear who will be the preferred No.1 choice, the game against San Jose State might bring an end to that debate.

But the main key point that the Trojans need to focus on, if they want to make it to the CFP, is their defensive line. Despite possessing an explosive offensive led by Caleb Willaims, it will amount to nothing if the defense cannot keep a check on their opponents and disarm them from scoring touchdowns.

A good example of this would be their Cotton Bowl defeat against Tulane last year. Despite Williams making five touchdown passes, the team let go of a 15-point lead. This ultimately led to Tulane making a massive comeback to win 46-45 against the Trojans.

So this year, if they can keep their opponents from scoring, maybe the efforts put in by the offensive line will turn into a key factor for them heading into the conference championships, and ultimately a shot at the national title.