USC not worried by another year of sky-high preseason hopes

During a session with reporters at Pac-12 media day, Sarkisian made the following comment: “We fall back on our rich tradition”.

Even before coach Pete Carroll’s dynasty had died, Southern California began a yearly cycle of sky-high preseason hopes and comparatively disappointing results.

USC hadn’t been picked to win the league since 2012, when the Trojans were the preseason No. 1. Oregon certainly fared better the second time around last season when it routed Arizona in the Pac-12 championship game. USC’s recruiting prowess and its recent history as a national powerhouse are irresistible to poll voters – and to fans who grew accustomed to winning trophies during Carroll’s tenure. He said that his players understand that before they come to the program and that they should all be ready to ignore what happens off the field and put in the necessary work to prove their worth come game time. I’m wondering if you think it’s a case of overzealousness, or if there’s a lack of discipline on the teams? “Now it’s done”.

What team did Sarkisian and UCLA coach Jim Mora lose to last season?

From Kessler to the third-string defense, Sarkisian is cautiously confident he has the pieces in place to live up to those annual expectations. And while he went out of his way to say he wasn’t knocking the 2012 bunch, he said this year’s squad will focus less on the preseason praise. Studios. “It’s great. I like when people doubt us as opposed to getting pats on the back”. “I really don’t think our guys are concerned with it”. We give him only those things we know he can be successful with because we want him to start his career off on the right foot and not have any setbacks.

The USC football program is primed for a big season and has many expectations leading up to the first game of the season.

Now that the Trojans have welcomed a full class of elite high-school talent, the most probable reason for their late-game collapses could be erased. He mentioned that being a 12-team conference means a team plays every one of its division opponents, as well as four of six teams from the other division.

“We don’t need all the cameras and we don’t need all the spotlight”, sophomore first-team All-Pac-12 linebacker Su’a Cravens said.

While voting for the actual title game was fairly straight forward, it seems there’s a little more debate when deciding how each division will play out. This year, that actually becomes a positive. But Stanford beat Oregon with defense, and they lost 70% of their starters on that side.

A Heisman candidate, Kessler is coming off arguably the best statistical season for any USC quarterback ever in his junior campaign.

“Me, personally, I haven’t done anything”, Kessler said.

“But I would be remiss if I didn’t try to get the ball in his hands because he can score at any moment”.

After two tough opponents in the previous three weeks, Oregon will has an opportunity to get healthy and fine-tune some aspects of its game when it travels to Boulder, Colorado.