Once the season begins, anything can happen. Many USC fans are bracing for a difficult year, hoping for around a nine-win season. A couple of aspects need to be taken into consideration, though.
For one, there will always be teams that take a leap from the previous year. While it would not be exactly the same as Indiana, the Trojans going from eking out bowl game eligibility to making the College Football Playoff would be entirely in the cards and would be a lesser jump than what was seen by the Hoosiers. Especially when looking at the margins of the losses, USC is significantly closer than Indiana was at this point of the program's development.