The spring football false start, the August cancellation, the delayed fall camp relaunch and all the buildup and anticipation in between and after is almost in the rear-view mirror as USC counts down the days to its season opener against Arizona State on Saturday morning.

Finally.

The Trojans will have gone more than 10 months between football games when they take the field at 9 a.m. PT against the Sun Devils in a matchup that could set the course for the Pac-12 South race.

That's one obviously storyline, but there are plenty of compelling subplots to this season opener.

We rank them here:

The storyline for USC this season is what impact new defensive coordinator Todd Orlando can have on a Trojans defense that ranked tied for 77th nationally last season (408.5 yards per game allowed) and 78th in scoring defense (29.4 points per game allowed), which continued a discouraging slide over recent years.

Not having any real spring practice, going through defensive installs over Zoom and in general not really getting much time around the players until the last couple months were all obstacles for Orlando and an entirely new defensive staff.

But the optimism remains that the veteran DC and a new defensive scheme can lead to notable improvement on that side of the ball the same way Graham Harrell and Co. were able to boost the offense last year.

To that point, though, the Trojans' offense should only be even better (if the offensive line does its part), so Orlando doesn't have to be a miracle worker -- just a stabilizing force that can produce a more physical, more consistent defense that does enough to complement USC's high-scoring playmakers on the other side.

This season opener will also provide our first true glimpse at how he sets his scheme, as fall camp has been closed to media. The expectation is that USC will lean mostly on a 3-down front with an offset pass-rushing OLB replacing a more traditional defensive end role. The Trojans' base defense will also likely include five defensive backs with the nickel position regarded as a third safety.

Arizona State, meanwhile, is rolling out new coordinators on both sides of the ball this season, but the Sun Devils at least got about half of their spring practices in and have had had fewer obstacles than most Pac-12 teams in the ramp-up to this season.

On the offensive side, Arizona State hired Zac Hill, who spent the previous three seasons as Boise State's offensive coordinator (plus one season as co-OC). The Broncos ranked tied for 48th nationally in total offense last year at 429 yards per game but 19th in scoring offense at 34.7 points per game. And Hill now gets to work with star sophomore QB Jayden Daniels (more on him next).

"You got Zak who did a great job at Boise the years that he was there. You will look at that tape. You'll look at that tape, obviously bringing in the things that he believes in and as well as some of the things that Jayden [did well] for them last year," USC coach Clay Helton said of the Trojans' scouting efforts. "So on that side, you're kind of looking dual-front personnel as well as some of the things that Jayden was successful at last year as well as some of the new concepts that could come in for Boise."

And on the defensive side, Arizona State lost coordinator Danny Gonzales, who was hired as head coach at New Mexico. To fill the void, ASU coach Herm Edwards brought in longtime NFL head coach Marvin Lewis to serve as co-defensive coordinator with Antonio Pierce, who was promoted from linebackers coach. Expectations and preseason hype out of Tempe for the defense this year have been remarkably high.

Arizona State has moved from a 3-3-5 defense to a 4-3-4, as the major change. But the details and wrinkles of that scheme remain the mystery entering this matchup -- especially considering Lewis was the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals (from 2003-18) and hasn't been a true coordinator since 2002, and Pierce is a college coordinator now for the first time.

"I think defensively it's more personnel matchups because you're looking at I think a totally different main system than they had last year," Helton said. "They may use some things, but anytime you all of a sudden go to co-defensive coordinators, Marvin's got a ton of experience, one of the better coaches in the history of our game defensively. And so, it's hard to be able to say, okay, hey, they're going to do this, this and this. It's more about the personnel matchups that we're evaluating, and like I said, doing the things that we feel good about that are us -- not trying to out-scheme everybody but out-execute in this game."

That was Harrell's sentiment as well ...

"It makes it difficult, obviously. It’s been a long time since Marvin called a defense. I’m sure he was pretty influential in what they were doing in Cincinnati. It’s not like you can go find the tape of the last year or two and see him calling it and know exactly what you’re going to get. We really don’t know what we’re going to get," he said. "I do think that’s one advantage to what we do. We don’t necessarily try to outscheme people. We try to execute what we do at a really high level. Again, I don’t know when the last time exactly he called it, but you know, the game has evolved, the defense has evolved and I’m sure he’s evolved right there with it. ...

"We don’t really know what we’re going to get, to be honest with you. And so, when that’s the case, I think you just have to try to do what you do well."

The general consensus with very few if any dissenting opinions is that USC's Kedon Slovis and Arizona State's Jayden Daniels are now the two best quarterbacks in the Pac-12 Conference.

Slovis is the sophomore from Arizona now starring in Los Angeles, while Daniels is the sophomore from California (San Bernardino) making a name for himself in Tempe.

Both are very much on the national radar after their respective breakouts seasons last fall.

Slovis, of course, passed for 3,502 yards, 30 touchdowns and 9 interceptions in his debut, while Daniels passed for 2,943 yards, 17 TDs and just 2 INTs and also rushed for 355 yards and 3 scores.

"I think what's really neat about this game is you're going to see two of the best quarterbacks in the country right off the bat on a national stage," Helton said. "And so I was extremely impressed with Jayden last year, and his production as a true freshman was evident both in the passing game and how he creates athletically. But what was even more impressive was him not turning the ball over. He protects the football, makes good decisions."

The two young standouts didn't go head-to-head last year, as Daniels missed the USC game with injury, so this is a much-anticipated matchup in that regard.

"I’m just excited for the opportunity," Slovis said. "Obviously, he’s a great player. ASU has done a great job the last couple years with coach Edwards. Like we say every week, regardless of the team we’re playing, regardless of who we play, of what scheme they run, it’s about us. We have to go out and execute and if we do that, we’re going to have a success."

Slovis was also asked if he was disappointed he didn't get that head-to-head challenge last year, as Joey Yellen (now at Pittsburgh) made the start at QB for ASU in that 31-26 USC win.

"I didn't really think about it too much because I thought [Daniels] was playing up until the snap. I didn't really get time to process what happened, but yeah, obviously playing any team you'd rather see their starting quarterback and see them at their full strength. So yeah, I'm excited for the opportunity this year," Slovis reiterated. "And like I said, the quarterback is only one guy on the field -- there's 10 other guys out there. I know the media likes to hype up the quarterbacks and make it all about them, but at the end of the day it's about the teams as a whole and who can perform better and execute better."