Could USC end up being the best team the Aggies have ever played?

What a difference a game makes.
Entering the season, the USC Trojans were viewed as a good team — they were ranked No. 23 in the preseason AP Poll — but not really special.
The Trojans didn’t get a single vote as the best team in the Big Ten in the conference’s preseason poll and were picked to finish sixth overall in the league, behind Ohio State, Oregon, Penn State, Michigan and Iowa.
While not an afterthought, especially with a season opener on the schedule against LSU, USC wasn’t at the forefront of any discussions about the best teams in college football, nor was their any real inclination nationally to considering the Trojans a threat to make the College Football Playoff.
That isn’t exactly true any more.
Following USC’s win over LSU in Las Vegas, the Trojans have been the toast of college football this week. USC jumped 10 spots in the AP Poll and is now ranked No. 13.
Before the LSU game, The Athletic’s Antonio Morales predicted a 7-5 season for the Trojans? A week later, that prediction is now 9-3.
USA Today’s Blake Toppmeyer wrote that the Trojans “showed a backbone,” “looked the part of playoff contender” and was “the more principled,” team as compared to an LSU squad that many thought could make a run at the CFP.
ESPN’s Bill Connelly didn’t make any declarative statements about how good USC might be but noted in his preview of Week 2 that “after what USC’s Miller Moss did against LSU last week — 27-for-36 for 378 yards and at least two completions to seven different receivers — aren’t you pretty excited for the encore?”
Even Utah State interim head coach Nate Dreiling couldn’t resist praising the Trojans, albeit in a tongue-and-cheek way.
Said Dreiling: “Good for them. They figured it out right before they play the Aggies. I’m fired up.”
He added more sincerely, “It’ll be a good challenge. If you are playing one of these opponents, you want them at their best. You want their best shot. We will be fired up to play.”
Utah State says it isn’t intimidated by the task of playing USC in the Coliseum, even after the Trojans’ impressive showing Week 1.
Far from it in fact.
“It goes back to what I asked them two weeks ago. I said, ‘Raise your hand if you’ve even lost a game you weren’t supposed to playing football?’ Talking about us versus Robert Morris, and every hand went up,” Dreiling said. “People need to realize everyone gets to practice. You look at scores across the country, whether it is Oregon-Idaho or Texas Tech-Abilene Christian. Talent is awesome, but talent doesn’t come close to winning you games. There is so much more than that.
“It is understanding my role, my fundamentals and how that all leads up to it, and then having confidence to execute it. No one is going to be intimidated going to play at the Coliseum. We are going to be fired up. We know it is going to be a very challenging opponent, but it doesn’t matter about the logo on the helmet, it matters about how we handle ourselves. We (New Mexico State) were able to go into Auburn last year and win by three-plus touchdowns, so it can be done and is done every single week, but you have to have the mindset of ‘Yes we can do this’ and even more so trust your job and do your job.”
USC being USC — and appearing on the rise — does beg the question of how good the Trojans will end up being this season and where they will rank in the history books when it comes to the Aggies’ most difficult opponents.
Utah State hasn’t shied away from playing great opponents over the years. Since 2009 — the first year of the Gary Anderson era, Part 1 — the Aggies have played Utah, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Auburn, Wisconsin, USC, Tennessee, Wake Forest, Washington, Michigan State, LSU, Washington State, Oregon State, Alabama and Iowa, and those are just the notable Power opponents in the nonconference.
Without question, the best opponent among that group was the 2019 LSU Tigers. Ranked No. 5 when Utah State played them in Baton Rouge, those Tigers went on to win the national title behind arguably the most prolific offense college football has ever seen, quarterbacked by Joe Burrow.
It is difficult to imagine that USC might end up being that good this year — there is a real chance the Trojans don’t end up being the best team Utah State plays, with No. 11 Utah coming to Logan next week — but there is a chance.
Under Lincoln Riley, USC’s offenses have been prolific, and that is likely to remain the case with Moss at quarterback. The defense, now coordinated by D’Anton Lynn, being good makes the Trojans a threat to win every game on their schedule, a gauntlet that includes Michigan, Wisconsin, Penn State, Washington, Nebraska and Notre Dame, among others.
If USC makes it to the inaugural 12-team playoff, there is no predicting what could happen then. Right now, though — one game into the season — it is clear that USC is better than expected. Maybe a lot better, making the Aggies’ task Saturday night all the more difficult.
“Offensively, we need to stay out of our way and play the type of football that we can,” Dreiling said. “That means eliminating turnovers, penalties and consistently moving the ball. If we can do that, like we did in the second half against Robert Morris, we are going to feel good.
“Defensively, USC does a phenomenal job scoring points. They have so many playmakers, so our objective will be a top down approach. Make them earn points. … We need to slow the game down a little bit, capitalize on some turnovers and force them into some bad throws. Ultimately if we have the right mindset we’ll be fine. No one is expecting anything out of Utah State in this game. We don’t have any pressure. There is no pressure being a big underdog.”