Joel Klatt reveals what kept him from picking USC to make College Football Playoff

The 2024 season for the USC Football program was a bit of a tragedy, as a path to the College Football Playoff was certainly there but it went just 6-6 in the regular season. All but one of their six losses were by a touchdown or less, and the Trojans held a fourth quarter lead in all five such games.

What could have been a return to national relevance for the program quickly turned into Lincoln Riley‘s worst record as a head coach. All three years have marked a steady decline (record-wise) since Riley took over prior to the 2022 season, as the Trojans have gone from 11-3 to 8-5 to 7-6.

Because of this stigma around the program and an extremely tough schedule, FOX Sports‘ Joel Klatt revealed that he is not in on the Trojans making a run at the College Football Playoff this season.

“(USC) has a quarterback (Jayden Maiava) that played really well late in the season,” Klatt said on “The Joel Klatt Show“. “Now, I hear a lot of the fans talking about ‘I don’t know if I like this quarterback.’ The bottom line is they played decent last year late. They also showed the ability to beat LSU early and beat Texas A&M late. So, hey, if you’re talking about momentum and the ability to play at the top level, they have that.”

Klatt does not see USC hitting 10 or 11 wins with tough schedule

“Now what they did not do is play great situationally. They turned the football over far too many times in crucial situations in one-score games. They were in NINE one-score games, which is bananas last season. They blew a fourth quarter lead for five of their six losses and I think that they can turn that around. They can flip that.”

Half of USC‘s six losses last season (No. 18 Michigan, No. 4 Penn State and Maryland) came by a combined seven points.

“Now, what do I not love? I think the schedule is very tough for USC. I think that’s a bar that’s a bar that’s a bit too high for them to get over for that 10-win or 11-win mark. They have games at Illinois, they host Michigan and they have to go to Notre Dame. They’ve got to go to Nebraska, they host Iowa and they’ve got to go to Oregon.”

“If you just look at Illinois, at Notre Dame and at Oregon, those are all teams I have ranked in the top-15 in the preseason. So that’s gonna be very difficult. The schedule is why I didn’t pick them.”