There’s always a clear sign that college football season is just around the corner, and this time of year, it’s conference media days. With the SEC wrapping up its turn last week, the spotlight now shifts to the Big Ten, the other powerhouse conference in the sport. A recently released preseason media poll projects the USC Trojans to finish ninth in the conference standings. But fortunately for USC, games aren’t won in preseason predictions. They’re won on the field, where rankings don’t matter, and performance speaks for itself.
However, while preseason polls may carry little actual weight, USC’s ninth-place projection does offer a glimpse, however brief, into the current public perception of the program heading into the 2025 season.