SEASON OUTLOOK

WR/CB Adoree Jackson is fast — just not fast enough on this play.

“The Trojans’ entire schedule is a meat grinder,” said FOX Sports’ Bruce Feldman. “Eleven of their 12 opponents played in bowl games last season. The opener is against defending national champion Alabama in Texas. The closest of their three non-conference games to being seen as a breeze is against a Utah State team that has won 36 games the past four seasons and is 3-3 against ranked opponents under coach Matt Wells. The third game is against Notre Dame, which like Bama should be a top-15-caliber team this fall.”

Nick Saban’s Tide are currently 10.5 point favorites in the Week 1 matchup with the men of Troy. SB Nation’s Bill Connelly projects USC will win 7.7 games this year, with the Trojans entering as underdogs against Alabama, Stanford, Washington and UCLA.

Vegas has placed 7-to-4 odds on the Trojans winning the Pac-12’s south division and 11-to-2 odds on them prevailing in the Pac-12 championship game.

NEW FACE AT QB

Credit: Scout.com

Quarterback Cody Kessler has graduated and has been placed in a real unfortunate situation: Competing for the same job with the Cleveland Browns. In all seriousness, Kessler had a pretty good senior season. He completed 66.8 percent of his passes for 3,536 yards, threw 29 touchdowns and just seven interceptions.

Although the Trojans have four quarterbacks on their roster, the competition is considered to be between junior Max Browne, a former 5-star recruit, and redshirt freshman Sam Darnold. Both have similar builds, but Darnold is more mobile and impressed coaches and fans with a strong spring. Browne has made the most of limited playing time, completing 11 passes out of 19 for 143 yards over two seasons backing up Kessler.

I’d imagine Browne gets the start against the Tide. But the Irish may face Darnold, depending on how the season plays out.

SIMILAR STORY AT RB

Trojans running back Justin Davis (22) runs the ball against the Utah Utes Credit: Gary A. Vasquez – USA TODAY Sports

It’ll be interesting to see which tailback on the Irish squad gets the majority of carries this year. Senior Tarean Folston is returning from an ACL injury, but led the team in rushing the prior year (889 yards on 175 carries). Sophomore Josh Adams made an unexpected splash last year, rushing for 835 yards in 117 carries – a record for a freshman at Notre Dame. Folston is the considered the back that can get the hard yards on 3rd-and-2, while Adams is faster and flashier.

A similar situation is playing out in Los Angeles, with senior Justin Davis and sophomore Ronald Jones. Davis is considered the reliable one, with Jones being the flashier of the two. Both are projected to eclipse 1,000 yards, the first Trojan pair to accomplish this feat since Reggie Bush and LenDale White in 2005.

Coach Clay Helton will likely rely on his two talented running backs to get crucial yards if his quarterbacks begin to falter.

WIDE RECEIVERS ARE DEEEP

USC has one of the most talented receivers in all of college football – junior JuJu Smith-Schuster. He was the Trojans’ go-to receiver last year, catching 89 balls and amassing 1,454 yards after being targeted 135 times. USC also returns their No. 2 and No. 3 receivers from last year: junior Steven Mitchell (37 catches for 355 yards) and senior Darreus Rogers (28 catches for 289 yards). We simply cannot overlook notorious speedster Adoree’ Jackson, who caught just 27 passes last year – but torched the Irish on an 83-yard catch-and-run during Notre Dame’s 41-31 win last year in South Bend.

The Trojans can afford to have a game manager at quarterback if that individual can get the ball in the hands of Smith-Shuster or Jackson, who can take any seemingly inconsequential gain and turn it into six points.

GUESS WHO’S BACK? (CLANCY’S BACK)

Clancy Pendergast has returned from his two-year stint as the San Francisco 49ers’ linebacker coach to re-take the reins as USC’s defensive coordinator. Pendergast was, by all accounts, successful in his first time with the Trojans, leading a defense that was ranked #13 nationally in 2013. Steve Sarkisian opted not to keep Pendergast, but the Trojans’ defense struggled under the tutelage of Justin Wilcox. Pendergast is back, and with him comes a transition from a 3-4 defense to a “really aggressive” 5-2 formation that requires little thought, according to players. (Read more about that here.)

Credit: Conquest Chronicles/Draft Breakdown

The Trojans defense has battled injuries this spring, but there’s a lot of talent ready to step up. I’ll be keeping an eye on sophomore Porter Gustin, who replaces Scott Felix at the weak outside linebacker position. Felix lost his appeal to play another year after testing positive for a banned substance. Gustin is a five-star recruit who had an outstanding freshman season – 19.5 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks – in 14 games.

WHAT THE EXPERTS SAY

Josh Webb, Athlon Sports: “The past five seasons for USC have been a mix of impressive, unimpressive, and impressively unimpressive. Sanity requires a wait-and-see approach with this team. … As usual, how far USC goes is largely dependent upon the players. The past several offseasons have been littered with bad press, suspensions, dismissals and growing pains for young Trojans. On the field, self-inflicted mistakes did more damage to USC than anyone not named Christian McCaffrey. The Trojans have been the kings of getting in their own way and any success they plan to have in 2016 must start with them getting out of their own way for a change.”

Bill Connelly, SB Nation: “If USC is somehow 2-1 after three games, the Trojans will probably be the Pac-12 favorite. But a 1-2 start won’t be the end of the world. USC will have a lot of time to recover before a brutal three-game stretch to finish the season. In a way, this schedule is a blessing. USC could lose three to five games while playing at a top-10 or top-15 level, and it’s so blatantly tough that all but the least tolerant USC fan would probably give Helton a grace period.”

Pete Fiutak, Campus Insiders: “8-4 might be a major disappointment most seasons. But seriously: Alabama, Stanford, Arizona, Washington and UCLA all away from home and several tough home games, get ready for the grumbling.”

Eric Murtaugh, One Foot Down: “Barring a complete collapse with Helton fighting for his job by mid-October or earlier this should be a very difficult game for Notre Dame. One of the USC quarterbacks will have enough experience in the offense by the finale and if that production is paired with Pendergast-led improvement on defense it would make sense if the Trojans are favored.”

The post Scouting Report: USC appeared first on Her Loyal Sons.

Kelly was ranked in the top 10 of all 128 FBS coaches in two separate publications Tuesday. Athlon Sports, which boasts an online readership in excess of 1 million readers annually, chose Kelly as the 10th best coach. The Sporting News, which has covered college football since before the second World War, put Kelly at #9.

Here’s what Athlon said:

The Fighting Irish just missed out an appearance in the College Football Playoff last season, but Kelly has the program on stable ground and poised for another run at the top four in 2016. Since taking over in South Bend in 2010, Kelly is 55-23 at Notre Dame, including an appearance in the BCS National Championship game in 2012. The Fighting Irish have won at least eight games in each of Kelly’s seasons at the helm and finished No. 11 in the Associated Press poll last year. Winning at a high level at different programs is nothing new for Kelly.

From 1991-03, Kelly went 118-35-2 at Grand Valley State, including back-to-back Division II titles (2002-03). Additionally, he went 19-16 in three years at Central Michigan (2004-06) and 34-6 at Cincinnati from 2004-06. Kelly is a proven winner at four different jobs and clearly has a place among the top 15 coaches in the nation.

Here’s what the Sporting News said:

Last Year: 11
Record: 55-23 (108-45)
Lowdown: Give Kelly credit. He’s the steadiest presence the Irish have had on the sideline since Lou Holtz, and he’s coming off his second double-digit win season. He’s still just 11-12 against ranked teams. He’ll test that against the same tough schedule in 2016.

Athlon and The Sporting News both considered Clemson’s Dabo Swinney, Florida State’s Jimbo Fisher, TCU’s Gary Patterson, Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, Michigan State’s Mark Dantonio, Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh, Ohio State’s Urban Meyer and Alabama’s Nick Saban to be better than Kelly. Athlon also ranked David Shaw ahead of Kelly, while the Sporting News had Stanford’s head coach at #11 – behind LSU’s Les Miles. (Miles was #25 at Athlon, so there’s quite a discrepancy there.)

Here are the coaches Kelly will face in 2016 and their respective rankings:

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Nov 1, 2014; Navy Midshipmen running back Geoffrey Whiteside (29) runs for a touchdown in front of Notre Dame Fighting Irish cornerback Cole Luke (36) in the third quarter at FedEx Field. Mandatory Credit: Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

Yes, Navy!

Before readers attempt to tar and feather me – or worse – I’m going with the Midshipman for a couple of reasons. But wait, what about the vaunted option attack and Ken Niumatalolo’s offense? Remember the years Notre Dame has struggled with it?

Consider this: In the last five meetings with Navy, Notre Dame’s average margin of victory has been 22.6 points. This includes a decisive 41-24 victory last year against a Navy team that featured Heisman Trophy candidate Keenan Reynolds. The 2016 Midshipmen also face extensive losses on both sides of the ball. In fact, the Naval Academy returns just eight starters which is the fewest of any team on Notre Dame’s schedule.

On offense alone, Navy returns just two starters. They must replace the quarterback (Reynolds) and fullback, both of which are staples in the option attack that Navy employs. Of the seven players that carried the ball last year versus Notre Dame, only two return to Annapolis.

If there is a bright spot for Navy, it is that they return six starters on defense. However, it is a defense that has consistently struggled to stop the Irish in recent years. This is no disrespect at all to Navy, as it is a given the Middies will play hard and to the final whistle. That being said, given the inexperienced Navy offense and the talent “gap” that is always present in this game, it has the feel of a two to three touchdown spread.

The Scariest: Texas

Courtesy of Fansided.com

Wait you mean the team Notre Dame beat 38-3 last year? The team coached by Charlie Strong, who is on the hot seat? Yes, that’s the one.

One of my biggest concerns is that Strong is that he is a good football coach. You don’t have the success he had at Louisville without being a good coach. Despite the struggles that Texas had last season, they still knocked off Baylor and Oklahoma. This is also a Texas team that lost three other games by a combined seven points. A few more breaks last year, and Texas is perhaps coming off an 8-4 season.

The other major concern is the timing. You have a Sunday night nationally televised game on the road in a tough environment. Opening games are always tricky, and most often are not won but rather lost by mistakes and sloppy play (see South Florida, 2011).

In addition, you have a team that returns 14 starters (7 offense, 7 defense) and is looking to erase the humiliation of last year’s blowout loss on national television. Texas returns their top two running backs, D’Onta Foreman and Chris Warren, who averaged 7.2 and 6.6 yards per carry, respectively. They will certainly test the middle of an Irish defense that was hit hard by graduation and early departures to the NFL. A big upset here could jumpstart Texas, which follows with UTEP and Cal minus Jared Goff. A win over Notre Dame likely sends Texas to their bye week at 3-0. Las Vegas has Texas pegged for 6.5 wins. However, I seen some outlets forecasting as many as 9. As spring turns to summer my concern over the Longhorns is growing. This has all the makings of a disaster. If I was Brian Kelly, I would be on upset alert today!

Most Likely To Look Like Clemson: USC

Not Miami?

What about Stanford or Sparty?

This was a really tough call; the biggest difference is that USC is the only road tilt of these games. It also comes during a difficult section in the schedule. I always hate the trip to California around Thanksgiving. At this point in the year, you have run a really long gauntlet and your team is fatigued. Now you have to go on the road and play a good team, and particularly this year where you are likely are coming off a physical and emotional senior day vs. Virginia Tech.

The Trojans have been ranked as high as 11 in ESPN’s pre-season rankings and return 16 starters to Troy. More importantly, the Trojans return their top 4 pass catching targets and their top 2 tailbacks.

The most obvious question will be the quarterback position where they have to replace team leader and three year starter Cody Kessler. The quarterback will not matter nearly as much in this game due to stage of the season when the two teams meet.

Another major question for USC will be the coaching staff changes by Coach Clay Helton. How quickly his staff gels and builds chemistry will go a long way in defining USC’s season.

It is always hard to pick a most likely loss. USC has been a wild card recently. In some years they have been ranked highly in the pre-season and finished outside the poll (2012 and 2015) and in other years (2011) they began the season ranked 25^th, but finished the season in the Top 10. The recent roller coaster element of their program makes this road tilt a major concern. While there may be stronger candidates to deal the Irish a loss, the location and timing in the schedule place USC as the most likely loss.

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