5 reasons to believe in the 2019 Trojans, 5 reasons to have doubts

It was the worst USC football season in 19 years, and the aftereffects remain all these months later.

That's mainly because the man in charge of overseeing that collapse is the same one the administration is now expecting to lead a revival. It seems the further one gets from Heritage Hall, the less faith there exists in that potential.

USC is nowhere near the preseason top 25 polls. The odds-makers have set the Trojans' over-under projection at 7 wins, which would be a slight improvement from their 5-7 finish last fall only because it would be hard for a program of USC's prominence to slide any further the opposite direction.

Clay Helton's name is affixed prominently to any list of college football coaches on the hot seat. One national columnist predicted this week he'd be out after six games.

That's the cloud that hangs over this season and this program at the moment -- the one that has undermined USC's recruiting efforts in this 2020 cycle so far.

Nobody knows what the future holds for this coaching staff or the narrative of this season, but one could make a compelling argument for a range of outcomes.

As the Trojans officially enter game week ahead of their opener Saturday night with Fresno State, we lay out the five reasons why there could indeed be a strong bounce-back awaiting the program … and also the concerns that could ultimately prevent that.

1. New offense, new JT Daniels

It's amazing to consider how quickly many have already given up on the 5-star quarterback and the jewel of USC's 2018 recruiting class. A year ago this time, he was being touted as the next in the line of great Trojan QBs, the prep phenom from down the road at national powerhouse Mater Dei who was so ready to be great at the next level that he moved up his arrival by a year.

Less than a month from his first actual college practice, he was starting in the Coliseum. Everybody knows what unfolded from there -- an uneven 11 starts in which he completed 59.5 percent of his passes for 2,672 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

No, he wasn't an instant star, but the reaction within segments of the fanbase to his performance -- and what it means for his potential -- has seemed … extreme.

Even if it was flawed and fell well short of expectations, Daniels' 242.9 passing yards per game ranked 31st nationally and was the most by any Power Five freshman. True story, see for yourself. (That also included a concussion-shortened appearance at Utah in which he attempted only 16 passes and threw for 89 yards before departing).

Daniels passed for 241 yards and 3 touchdowns to lead USC to its biggest win of the season, over an eventual 11-win Washington State squad. He finished the year with a 349-yard, 1 TD, 0 INT performance in a competitive loss to Notre Dame, a College Football Playoff participant.

And yeah, there was a lot of different outcomes in between. He had four games with multiple interceptions.

He also played in an offense that seemed to break down after halftime week after week. Was that likely the result of one player experiencing an inexplicable half to half dropoff most every game, or perhaps reflective of a systemic issue with a broken offense?

How one answers that question indicates on what side of the Daniels debate they stand.

Helton has stated numerous times that USC tweaked and simplified its offensive approach in that finale against Notre Dame -- a game in which Daniels reeled off 14 straight completions as part of going 26 of 31 for 244 yards in the first half.

Asked why he personally believes this will be a different season for him, Daniels pointed to two factors.

"I think the system fits the whole team and if the system fits the team, the system fits every player. Every player should have a better year if they feel comfortable and they feel more confident," he said. "Also, I just have another year of experience."

New offensive coordinator Graham Harrell is the biggest source of optimism for USC this fall. He has a lot to prove still with just three seasons of coordinator experience at North Texas, but his simplified, pass-happy scheme makes a lot of sense for the Trojans' offensive personnel.

And if USC's offense and quarterback were just a little better and a little more consistent last season (and were able to make the adjustments needed to sustain momentum into the second half), how different would last season have been?

If the first part of that equation holds true, we may get that answer.

(Continued below ...)

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