USC getting little respect heading into first Big Ten football season
It became routine to see the USC Trojans picked as the preseason Pac-12 champion or at least land among the top two or three teams, and put at least a handful of players on the preseason All-Conference team. That isn’t the case this season as Lincoln Riley’s program heads toward its first season in the Big Ten Conference.
None of the preseason media hype means anything once the games start, but the picture of just how the USC program is viewed by Big Ten media is clear.
On Tuesday, the Big Ten Conference announced preseason honors for 12 players. None are Trojans.
The list includes four from Ohio State (S Caleb Downs, WR Emeka Egbuka, RB Treveyon Henderson and DE JT Tuimoloau), three from Michigan (DT Mason Graham, CB Will Johnson, TE Colston Loveland), two from Oregon (QB Dillon Gabriel and WR Tez Johnson) and one each from Iowa (LB Jay Higgins), Penn State (DE Abdul Carter) and Rutgers (RB Kyle Monangai).
The conference doesn’t produce a preseason poll or preseason all-conference team from media members like the Pac-12 did and other conferences do. But there are some longstanding preseason lists that are put together.
The USA Today Sports Network Preseason team is put together by 14 beat writers who cover the conference for USA Today Sports Network.
In total, there were 25 players named to the team and an additional 38 players who also received votes. Of the 63 players mentioned, just three are from USC.
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Zachariah Branch was the only Trojan named as a starter, making it as an all-purpose player. Offensive lineman Jonah Monheim and defensive lineman Bear Alexander received votes.
Coach of the Year went to Ohio State’s Ryan Day. Player of the Year went to Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel.
Cleveland.com also announced its 14th annual preseason Big Ten Football Poll, with 27 voters contributing to the poll. Ohio State easily landed at No. 1, grabbing 21 of 27 first-place votes. The other six went to Oregon.
USC finished at No. 6, between No. 5 Iowa and No. 7 Wisconsin.
The full Cleveland.com poll:
- Ohio State (21 first place votes)
- Oregon (6 first place votes)
- Penn State
- Michigan
- Iowa
- USC
- Wisconsin
- Nebraska
- Rutgers
- Washington
- Maryland
- Minnesota
- Illinois
- Northwestern
- UCLA
- Michigan State
- Indiana
- Purdue
Another example of USC’s difficult 2024 schedule is the Trojans play just one of the bottom six teams in the preseason poll.
