Although there is an uptick in people in the media who view USC as a preseason top 25 team, the Trojans place as a ranked team at this point of the year is far from universal. This is something that does not ultimately matter too much. After all, with little true information to go off, opinions are guesses at best at the moment.
At the end of the day, it will be up to USC to prove those expressing an opinion either right or wrong through their results on the field.
Still, not seeing USC as a consensus top 25 team does show the extent to which the respect for the program has dropped.