Greg McElroy used the latest episode of his Always College Football Podcast to break down the first half of his preseason top 25 for the 2023 college football season.

Among some of the surprises on his poll, McElroy not only had USC outside of the College Football Playoff picture, he had the Trojans outside of the top 10 entirely. That is a different angle than most analysts have for Lincoln Riley entering Year 2 at USC, particularly with Caleb Williams returning as the Heisman Trophy winner.

McElroy acknowledged his personal ranking is a lot lower than many people have the Trojans, but he maintains some concerns related to USC on the defensive side of the ball. Here’s what McElroy had to say:

It’s a lot lower than a lot of people have them. I think last year was pretty dang remarkable. If Caleb Williams is as good as he was last year, this is going to be way too low, WAY too low. But I still have questions about what they have on the defensive side of the football, and what are the odds they’re going to keep turning teams over the way they did last year? They were +22 when it comes to turnover margin last year… If you can guarantee me you’re still going to turn teams over at that high rate, then yeah, I’ll be a lot more bullish on you, but I don’t know if that’s sustainable.

McElroy went on to note USC will be just fine offensively with Williams under center and a host of weapons. He’s not sure that will be enough this time around, particularly with the Trojans playing in what should be a deep and very competitive Pac-12 this season.

Here’s McElroy’s full podcast episode with USC talk beginning around the 40-minute mark: