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The USC Trojans under embattled coach Lincoln Riley are off to a fast start in the 2024 college football season. After an upset win over the LSU Tigers in week one action, the team followed up with a dominant 48-0 win against the Utah State Aggies that moved them to No. 11 in the latest AP Poll rankings.
During an episode of the "Joel Klatt Show," the popular analyst blasted the AP voters for their rankings of the Trojans in the polls while discussing the team's upcoming game against the Michigan Wolverines who got humbled by the Texas Longhorns in Week 2.
“Now you’re staring at a USC team that looks like they are for real,” Klatt said. “I put them in my top 10, and they deserve to be in the top 10. The AP voters are terrible. They just move them up and down. I’m sorry if you have an AP vote and you’re listening to this, I love you, I love your passion for the sport, [but] give me a break with what you gave us in the AP Poll. That was terrible.
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“Like Tennessee and USC are clearly two of the best top-10 teams in the country, and so that’s where they should be. And you don’t have them there. And I think that that’s garbage. Miami as well. Miami as well.”
USC Trojans' improved defense increases title odds
One of the gripes with coach Lincoln Riley's USC Trojans team last season was the porous defense that negated all the good work done by the offense led by former Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams.
So far this season, USC have shown immense improvement in that area in the 27-20 win against the ranked LSU Tigers. Against Utah State, the team recorded a shutout.
After firing his former defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, Riley hired D'Anton Lynn to fill the position and the hire seems to be working wonders.
During his postgame news conference, Riley celebrated his team's shutout of the Aggies.
“Really just a great team win," Riley said. "Very complementary football on all sides. Very proud of defense. I was told it’s the first shutout at USC since 2011. It’s very hard to shut people out in modern-day college football. I’m really proud of us maintaining our play defensively the entire night."
The Trojans' chances of winning the Big Ten have improved from +1800 to +1300 just behind the Michigan Wolverines and the top three favorites, the Penn State Nittany Lions, Oregon Ducks and Ohio State Buckeyes.
