Joel Klatt calls USC a 'scary team right now,' College Football Playoff contender

There was a sense that USC and Lincoln Riley would just meander through the 2025 season and be average to above-average. That seems to have changed through three weeks, per Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt.

Led by quarterback Jayden Maiava, the offense is firing off on all cylinders rihgt now. Not only that, the defense seems improved through three games, albeit not against Big Ten competition.

Still, Klatt likened this Riley USC team to his Oklahoma days. They’re scary right now as they appeared in the AP Poll Top 25 Sunday.

“I feel like I was trying to talk to you into this last week, and I feel like you’ve come around on kind of the blueprint that Lincoln Riley used to be successful at Oklahoma,” Klatt said on The Herd. “And I feel like USC is following more of that blueprint. This year, they’ve run it a lot better, even though Jaden Maiava, as you have said, has been terrific. I think it’s one of the more underrated teams in the country. Personally, right now, I think that their game this weekend against Michigan State is a perfect opportunity to beat what I think is a decent team, and then they’re going to have a monster game against Illinois, which is going to be kind of a coming out party for Maiava and this entire program as a re-emergence as a power.” 

USC on the rise again?

This year, Maiava has 989 yards, six touchdowns, zero interceptions and a 68.6% completion percentage. They’ll host Michigan State Saturday night at 11:00 p.m. ET/8:00 p.m. PT.

“They are good on defense. I don’t know how great they are, but offensively, they’re doing the right things again,” Klatt said. “They’re running the football with effectiveness and power. Maiava has been one of the best quarterbacks in the country. In fact, on Wednesday’s podcast, I broke down and I said, Okay, this was my before the year, top 10 quarterbacks. Well, this is the top 10 quarterbacks, how they’ve performed this season. He’s on it. He’s been one of the 10 best quarterbacks in the country, easily. Statistically and (because of) intangibles. 

“So I’m a believer in USC. I don’t know how far their goal they’re going to go this year, but I will tell you this, I wouldn’t want to play them because they’re a scary team right now. There’s too much balance.”