Ryan and Clinton officially wrap up TWENTY fall previews, covering all your midwest college football needs, talking USC. To help break the Trojans down, Ryan Abraham from USCFootball.com joins the show.

Lincoln Riley arrived in Southern California to much fanfare, and immediately backed that up with an exceptional first season and a near-playoff berth with Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams. Since that 2023 season, his squad is 15-11 overall, including a 4-5 mark in their first season of Big Ten play in 2024. What is the tenor of the fanbase around its head coach heading into 2025? Has a monster 2026 recruiting class bought him some goodwill? Or is his seat starting to get warm?

Riley has made his name with offense, particularly with QB development. Last season he pivoted from Miller Moss to Jayden Maiava after nine games. He moved the ball well but did not offer much better protection of it -- throwing six interceptions in his four starts. Will Maiava have a longer leash than Moss had in 2024? Out wide, the Trojans are bolstered by WRs Makai Lemon and Ja'Kobi Lane, but must replace six of their next seven leading receivers in WR transfers Duce Robinson, Zach Branch and Kyron Hudson; RB transfer Quentin Joyner; and the graduations of WR Kyle Ford and RB Woody Marks ... who are a few skill position players we can expect to hear from stepping up in 2025?

On the defensive side of the ball, USC's defense improved from 119th in total defense and 121st in scoring defense in 2023, to 77th and 56th, respectively, in 2024 (an improvement of nearly 60 fewer yards and 10 fewer points per game allowed). Can we expect another improvement in 2025 under second-year DC D'Anton Lynn?

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