Weekly Roundtable: Our staff weighs in on all the storylines for USC-Rice

Nine months of hype and mounting anticipation, inflating expectations, national attention and intrigue all leads to this Saturday in the Coliseum, as No. 14 USC hosts Rice in the Coliseum (3 p.m. PT on Pac-12 Network) to formally kickoff the Lincoln Riley Era.

"I think everybody in the program, every player, every staff member, we're just counting down the minutes," Riley said earlier this week.

Fans too, of course.

It's been a long nine months of turning the page from the worst Trojans season on record in 30 years.

On the inside, for the staff tasked with reviving USC Football through an aggressive roster makeover, installing new offenses and defenses and bringing together new players from all over the country to form a collective culture and purpose, it probably feels like it's flown by.

Until the last week or so, that is.

"This is the longest week of the year. Like, you're ready. We were ready -- we went out to the Coli last Friday and did a little kind of gameday walk-through simulation there -- and we were ready to play then. It cannot get here soon enough," Riley said.

"... I just can't wait to play. To be honest, I think they're going to see a team that loves to play the game and loves to play the game with each other. I want them to see a team that plays hard as hell, plays physical as hell and a team that's embracing the opportunity to come do it here. Like I said, I'm not big on a bunch of predictions and talking and all that -- our talk will be Saturday at 3 o'clock."

Riley may not be big on talk, but he'll deliver it when pressed. Every time he's been asked about expectations for his first season, he's answered the same way -- that the expectations will always be the same, to win championships. This year, next year and every year.

If it feels like many on the outside have set the expectations too high for a program that went 4-8 last year and delivered the worst defensive season on record in program history, well, not as far as Riley is concerned.

"You don't come to USC and you don't come to Los Angeles to do things small. You've got to set your sights big," Riley said back at Pac-12 Media Day. "So I don't think [the high expectations are] too much, I don't. I believe in what we're doing. ...

"The people we brought in here, the staff we brought in here, we didn't come here to play for second. We are not wired that way. We came here competitively to win championships, to win them now and to win them for a long time. And that will always be our expectation."

It starts Saturday.

And as always, the TrojanSports.com team breaks down the matchup and key storylines from every angle in our weekly Roundtable discussion.

What kind of crowd response do you expect in the Coliseum for the first game of the Lincoln Riley Era?

Tajwar Khandaker: "I don’t expect the Coliseum to be anywhere near sold out -- my guess is that attendance will stand at 2/3 of capacity at best. With that said, it feels safe to assume that this will be the largest opening game crowd the Trojans will have had in a number of years. The student section was surprisingly lively even through the worst of last year, and there’s no reason to imagine that it won’t bring the energy to kick off the start of football (and yes, tailgate) season. I think it’ll end up being a pretty loud crowd, especially given the standards we’ve been used to at the Coliseum in recent years. There should be a lot for the fans to cheer for, if everything goes as planned of course."

Ryan Young: "I haven't heard any update on ticket sales, so I can only guess. I think Tajwar is probably right, but I do expect as this season progresses the Coliseum may start to resemble its former luster for Trojans Saturdays. You can just tell from social media engagement that there is significant renewed interest and investment from the fan base, obviously, and I think that will be reflected in the attendance. Knowing this athletics administration, I would also assume they've been aggressively campaigning for months to fill those seats for this opener. You saw what they were able to do in getting the students fully invested last year, as Tajwar mentioned. I think we might be surprised tomorrow. But definitely for some of the bigger conference games to come, I expect a return to old standards."

Jeff McCulloch: "I expect this crowd to be very loud and very engaged. The hype around this team hasn’t gone away and USC fans have been waiting for this new coaching staff for over nine months, so I expect the Trojan fans to come out in numbers and be very loud throughout the game."

What's the most intriguing offensive storyline Saturday?

Ryan: "The wide receiver rotation. We saw the depth chart, but we still have no sense for how much Lincoln Riley and Dennis Simmons plan to rotate those guys, how many will get involved, how the targets are distributed, where Caleb Williams' trust is with each, etc. Do Jordan Addison and Mario Williams get featured as true No. 1A/1B receivers or is it more balanced? I find just about every receiver on this team individually intriguing, for that matter, and all we've really had to evaluate has been the spring game. Is Brenden Rice primed for a true breakout? Do Gary Bryant Jr. and Tahj Washington still have a role? What about Terrell Bynum? How much opportunity do Kyron Hudson and CJ Williams get, if any? We haven't been able to answer any of these questions until now."

Tajwar: "I’m extremely curious to see what the chemistry in the passing game looks like. The passing attack is expected to be the backbone of this team; most already expect it to be among the nation’s best this season. However, besides the preexisting connection Caleb Williams and Mario Williams have, this is an entirely new grouping of players across the board. The Trojans’ ostensible top three receivers in Addison, Williams, and Rice are all new additions via the transfer portal, as is the quarterback himself. All of these players beside the Williams duo will playing their first game in Lincoln Riley’s offense after having just one summer (and spring in the case of those who were here early) of practice under their belts, and it’s an offense that demands a lot in the way of timing and coordination. I’m intrigued to see how in-sync the group is in this first game; will they come out firing and in rhythm, or is there still work to be done in getting the passing offense clicking smoothly?"

Jeff: "This is a tough one because there are a couple of storylines going on, especially with the depth chart being released. There are questions about how they are going to distribute the ball to all four running backs and how many receivers are used in this game and what to capacity. The bigger and more intriguing offensive storyline coming into this game is the left tackle competition between Courtland Ford and Bobby Haskins. The coaching staff has talked about this competition going throughout the season, but I don’t see that happening. Successful offensive lines need to be a cohesive group and when you have the left tackle changing every series it doesn’t help that. I believe whoever performs the best out of those two players will win the job and most likely stay in that spot."

Ryan: "Oh, yeah, we've only been asking about the left tackle situation since March. Glad one of us mentioned that!"