College football media outlets think LSU is a lot better than USC
The USC Trojans are being widely doubted before their 2024 college football season. Doubting USC is not unreasonable, given how badly the Trojans stumbled in 2023. USC does have a lot of questions to answer, and until those questions are answered in a satisfactory way, skepticism of Lincoln Riley is warranted. However, LSU is not in an appreciably better position than USC.
The Tigers, like USC, failed to maximize a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback the past two seasons. They didn’t win a New Year’s Six bowl or capture a conference championship. They had a terrible defense, particularly in the secondary, in 2023. They made a lot of staff changes on the defensive side of the ball. Neither LSU nor USC are in an especially strong position, something we noted earlier this week.
Yet, while USC and LSU are — on a number of levels — in the same boat as college football teams, the media outlets which cover college football are giving LSU a lot more benefit of the doubt in a two-team comparison.
Preseason top-25 college football rankings from The Athletic, CBS Sports, ESPN, and USA TODAY Sports, fused into a composite post-spring set of rankings collected by College Sports Wire, have LSU at No. 12 while USC is completely out of the top 25. If LSU was
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