Greg McElroy is back with another episode of Always College Football Podcast from Friday, revealing a host of “Summer Superlatives” across the sport.

McElroy’s episode covered a wide range of topics including surprise teams and players for the 2023 season. He also tabbed a couple of teams with the potential to make the College Football Playoff for the first time.

While McElroy particularly noted Washington and Florida State — on the heels of breakout seasons — are not included due to past Playoff trips, he did pick USC as a team on the cusp of breaking through. He particularly noted the early successes for Lincoln Riley in his first year with the program.

“The USC Trojans, they were within a game of getting (to the Playoff) last year, but first-year Lincoln Riley didn’t have the depth,” said McElroy. “I don’t think at this point they necessarily had the personnel on the defensive front to get over that hump. And you look at the offensive line, while they played great in the first 10-11 games of the season. They didn’t do what they needed to against Utah in order to ultimately punch their ticket.”

As for 2023, McElroy sees the potential for further growth from Heisman winner Caleb Williams and a better understanding of Riley’s system as reasons the Trojans can breakthrough:

“I think another year in the system, another year getting comfortable, another year figuring out how Lincoln Riley’s going to do things and assuming even more growth at the QB spot which is almost impossible to predict, would you bet against Caleb Williams at this point? Cause I will not,” Riley explained. “I think he will be even better in 2023 than he was in 2022… They could definitely emerge from what could be a loaded Pac-12 field.”

Here’s McElroy’s latest episode, USC talk begins around the 12-minute mark: