Week 2 college football preview: We ask again — Is USC back?

(USC’s actually been there and done that even before Riley emerged as a wunderkind offensive coordinator at East Carolina. Yeah, it’s been a little while).

While a lot of things have changed since the Carroll/Matt Leinart/Reggie Bush heyday of the mid-Aughts, the Trojans have consistently found themselves sidetracked by Stanford — whom Riley will face in his first conference game Saturday.

The Cardinal has won 10 of 16 against USC since 2007, and it has inflicted a disproportionate amount of damage to the Trojans and its various coaching regimes in that span.

Even with USC and UCLA, Pac-12 football has been pretty bleak

There was Stanford’s 24-23 victory as a 41-point underdog in 2007, which did more than any other result to illustrate USC had some vulnerability after years when it seemed there was none. A 55-21 thumping at home in 2009 effectively dropped the hammer on the Carroll era.

Lane Kiffin went 0-3 against the Cardinal, but he was fired on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport almost two months before the Trojans ended a four-game slide to Stanford in 2013 (Ed Orgeron, the $17 million man himself, was USC’s interim coach for that game).

Steve Sarkisian’s second and final season with the Trojans? It featured a loss to Stanford. Successor Clay Helton fared a bit better, even leading USC to a Pac-12 title game victory over the Cardinal in 2017. But there was Stanford last year, posting a 42-28 victory at the Los Angeles Coliseum in the second week of the season. Less than 48 hours later, Helton was unemployed.

Riley might not have to worry about the Cardinal for too long. The Trojans are heading to the Big Ten in 2024, and it’s anyone’s guess when and whether conference realignment wackiness will lead Stanford elsewhere. But the Cardinal (1-0) is an issue for now, and it represents the first big obstacle for this edition of Southern Cal.

In fairness to Riley and the Trojans, there is a lot that has changed since this time last year. Riley left Oklahoma and brought quarterback Caleb Williams with him. USC started nine transfers in its opener last week (including Williams and ex-Pitt wideout Jordan Addison), having gone all-in on the transfer portal to quickly regroup after last season’s 4-8 nosedive.

And while Stanford hasn’t been especially memorable for a few years, it does have an older team and predictably had little trouble dusting Colgate, 41-10, in its opener.

Saturday marks the Trojans’ first game as a top-10 team in the Associated Press poll since its Cotton Bowl loss to Ohio State after the 2017 regular season. That’s progress. Winning at Stanford, which Southern Cal has done just once since 2010, would be another sign things really are trending in a different direction for one of the sport’s traditionally prestige programs.

Seminal moment for Seminoles?

The running social media joke as Sunday bled into Monday was that Florida State was “back” as a result of a 24-23 victory over LSU secured by a blocked extra point on the final play of the game.

Aside from some exuberant Seminole players (who had every reason to be thrilled) about escaping New Orleans with a victory, no one with any hint of perspective would suggest Florida State is on the cusp of resuming its traditional ways of winning 10 or more games a year. Beating an LSU team that went 6-7 last year by 50 wouldn’t have done that.

Nonetheless, the Seminoles had already won their first season opener since 2016 with a Week 0 defeat of Duquesne. With a victory next week over Louisville, Florida State could be off to its first 3-0 start since 2015.

Forget the chatter about college football business and focus on the games

Anyone who watched Florida State huff and puff its way through everything since then — the waning days of the Jimbo Fisher era, the entire season and change of Willie Taggart’s tenure, the first two years of Mike Norvell’s rebuilding attempt — can recognize Sunday’s game as one the Seminoles would have lost a lot more often than not over the last five seasons.

There was real progress at the end of a 5-7 season last year. There had to be, considering there was an 0-4 start featuring a loss to Jacksonville State on the final play of the game. Florida State went 5-3 from there including a defeat of in-state rival Miami, and led Clemson in the fourth quarter of one of the losses.

The next logical step is to finish on the right side of .500, maybe make a run at eight victories and preferably pick off Miami and/or Florida. Fending off LSU, even if it wasn’t in the cleanest fashion, makes it more likely the Seminoles can do at least some of those things this fall.

Five with the most at stake

1. Florida. The No. 12 Gators might have found their way onto a list of teams on the spot this week regardless of their opening week outcome. Had it lost to Utah on Saturday, Florida might be staring at an 0-2 start with a trip to Tennessee looming later in the month.

Instead, the Gators got a stellar showing from Anthony Richardson and a late interception in the end zone to foil Utah’s attempt to win in the Swamp. Florida remains at home this week against Kentucky, which has taken two of the last four against the Gators and went on to 10-win seasons both times it won (2018 in 2021). The Wildcats eventually put away Miami (Ohio) 37-13 in their opener last week.

2. Alabama. A lot of Texas fans won’t see it this way, particularly those with deep pockets, but here it goes: The Longhorns have little to lose and plenty to gain with Nick Saban and No. 1 Alabama coming to town for an 11 a.m. local time kickoff. Texas very well might prove interesting this year, but it shouldn’t be considered a playoff contender right now.

That obviously isn’t true of the Crimson Tide, which debuted with a shellacking of Utah State and is (as usual) in line to chase a spot in the semifinals. This could be a statement moment for Alabama, but it also represents a chance to trip up and give up any wiggle room in the playoff chase. Best to save that for, say, the three-week stretch featuring Arkansas, Texas A&M and Tennessee early next month.

Georgia makes a loud statement (college football winners and losers)

3. Baylor. The No. 9 Bears head to No. 21 BYU for the back end of a home-and-home series against a future Big 12 rival that started with a 38-24 triumph over the Cougars in Waco last season. Baylor routed Albany like it was supposed to Saturday, but this is a tricky nonconference game. There are enough chances for a Big 12 team to stumble that the Bears probably don’t want to remove their margin for error in the playoff chase this early in the season.

4. Oklahoma State. The No. 11 Cowboys did not impress on the defensive side with their Thursday night shootout victory over Central Michigan. So, will there be a Week 1-to-Week 2 jump in Stillwater? And just how good is visiting Arizona State (1-0), which has had an NCAA investigation looming the entire offseason but still is a threat to be a spoiler?

5a. Tennessee and 5b. Pittsburgh. Pitt won by a touchdown in Knoxville early last season, a victory that indicated the Panthers and then-QB Kenny Pickett could be pretty good (even if they fell to Western Michigan their next time out). Tennessee makes the return trip to the Steel City to salvage a split in the home-and-home with No. 17 Pitt, and this could be a hint as to whether the No. 24 Volunteers are ready to be a credible threat to win nine or 10 games.

Heisman watch

A weekly look at the race for college football’s favorite stiff-arming statue.

1. QB Bryce Young, Alabama. The defending Heisman winner will benefit from name recognition. But if he churns out games like Saturday’s — 195 passing yards and five touchdown tosses against Utah State — his numbers will do all the talking for him.

2. QB C.J. Stroud, Ohio State. Stroud actually had to deal with a more challenging opener than most high-end quarterbacks, and he was a solid 24 of 34 for 223 yards and two touchdowns against Notre Dame. It’s certainly nothing that will damage his Heisman stock for the rest of the season.

Ohio State relies on defense, for a change, to fend off Notre Dame

3. QB Caleb Williams, Southern California. Williams burst upon the scene in the middle of last season at Oklahoma, and the sophomore had a glittering debut in Los Angeles, completing 19 of 22 for 249 yards and two touchdowns as the Trojans smashed Rice.

4. QB Anthony Richardson, Florida. Here’s some pretty good company: Richardson became the third Gator to rush for three touchdowns and throw for 150 yards in a game, joining Jesse Palmer and Tim Tebow. Richardson helped Florida upend Utah, 29-26, in one of the week’s most impressive victories.

5. QB Stetson Bennett IV, Georgia. Bennett is going to get Heisman attention after quarterbacking the Bulldogs to a national title. He’ll continue to receive it with more games like Saturday’s: 25 of 31 for a career-high 368 yards and two touchdowns in a 49-3 thumping of Oregon.

6. OLB Will Anderson, Alabama. The guy who was probably the nation’s best player last season (regardless of Heisman finish) had five tackles (one for loss) as the Crimson Tide had little trouble dispatching Utah State on Saturday.