They do have a much harder schedule honestly. I feel like they will be better but will have a worse record. My wife is a USCjr grad so I tend to watch a lot of their games when Tennessee isn't playing.
agree. they get Ark and aTm from the West, and Clemson, in addition to GA, FL, UK and us. 5-7 is where i have them. anything better than that, imo, they've pulled off some relatively big upsets.
i rewatched our game from last year against them. i think we win that game, handily, regardless....but early in that game, there were some really key mistakes USCe made that really allowed us the opportunity to blow that game wide open. defensive penalties, turnovers....the interception in the end zone, if they scored a TD on that possession, it would have been 14-7. instead, we take the ball and a few minutes later, it's 21-0, game over.
it was bad match up for them. but it could have been a lot more competitive early, if not for the mistakes they made.. USCe was definitely one of those teams that if you got early in the schedule, the better. that was a better football team by season's end.
so while i still think we should beat them again, it's in COL, it's year 2 for both programs, and both programs feel like they're on the way up after solid year 1's on both sides. if their season goes like i think it will, it may be beneficial that we're playing them so late, sandwiched between UF and CLemson....