{"id":135996,"date":"2025-08-11T03:51:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T03:51:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/135996\/"},"modified":"2025-08-11T03:51:13","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T03:51:13","slug":"2025-usc-football-predictions-trojans-ranked-26th-in-rj-youngs-ultimate-136","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/135996\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 USC Football Predictions: Trojans Ranked 26th in RJ Young&#8217;s Ultimate 136"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/personalities\/rj-young\" class=\"contributor-wrapper pd-t-b-10 flex\" data-v-d8ab971f=\"\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1754884271_85_RJ-Young-727x727.png\" alt=\"RJ Young\" class=\"contributor-headshot\" width=\"36\" height=\"36\" data-v-d8ab971f=\"\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>RJ Young<\/p>\n<p>FOX Sports National College Football Analyst<\/p>\n<p> <\/a>   <\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\">This isn&#8217;t your average college football ranking.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\">My Ultimate 136 is a set of rankings that is fluid, but it&#8217;s my job to look ahead and make a claim for all FBS teams based on what I know and why I know it. Here are the three pressing questions I started by asking when putting together this list:<\/p>\n<ul displaynav=\"true\" class=\"mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\" data-v-7259cf83=\"\">\n<li class=\"ff-h\" data-v-7259cf83=\"\">Who do I think is good?<\/li>\n<li class=\"ff-h\" data-v-7259cf83=\"\">Why do I think they&#8217;re good?<\/li>\n<li class=\"ff-h\" data-v-7259cf83=\"\">What are the chances they will finish above or below my expectations?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\">Here is a look at where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/college-football\/usc-trojans-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">USC<\/a> lands in my Ultimate 136.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\"><strong>USC ranking:<\/strong> 26<br \/><strong>Last year\u2019s ranking:\u00a0<\/strong>17\u00a0<br \/><strong>Top player<\/strong>: WR <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/college-football\/makai-lemon-player\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Makai Lemon<\/a>: Recorded 764 receiving yards along with 514 kick return yards, ranking 10th among all Big Ten players in all-purpose yards (1,278); his eight receptions of 30-plus yards ranked fifth in the Big Ten.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\"><strong>[<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/college-football\/usc-trojans-team-schedule\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>USC&#8217;s 2025 schedule<\/strong><\/a><strong>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\"><strong>RJ&#8217;s take:<\/strong> Lincoln Riley returns <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/college-football\/jayden-maiava-player\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jayden Maiava<\/a>, who threw for 1,201 yards, 11 TDs and six INTs in four games last season. He bombarded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/college-football\/notre-dame-fighting-irish-team\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Notre Dame<\/a> for 360 passing yards and led a comeback win against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/college-football\/texas-am-aggies-team\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Texas A&amp;M<\/a> in the Las Vegas Bowl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\">USC&#8217;s 4-5 start last year could&#8217;ve easily been a 9-0 start if just half-a-dozen plays went the other way. The Trojans could&#8217;ve been the team we talked about like we did <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/college-football\/indiana-hoosiers-team\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Indiana<\/a>, who made the CFP before USC did. And that, like everything you upload to the Internet, really is forever.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\">This season, the Trojans won&#8217;t have to play against <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/college-football\/ohio-state-buckeyes-team\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ohio State<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/college-football\/penn-state-nittany-lions-team\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Penn State<\/a> or the aforementioned Hoosiers. They go to Purdue, Illinois, Nebraska and Oregon for Big Ten games, so the travel across two time zones might cost them one or two games.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\"><strong>[<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxsports.com\/stories\/college-football\/2025-college-football-rankings-rj-youngs-ultimate-136\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><strong>Check out RJ Young&#8217;s Ultimate 136 College Football Rankings here<\/strong><\/a><strong>]<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\"><strong>USC Win Total Odds:<\/strong> Over 7.5 (-158) Under 7.5 (+128)<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\">Have an issue with my rankings? Think your alma mater is too low, or your school&#8217;s rival is too high? Get at me on X, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RJ_Young\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@RJ_Young<\/a>, and I&#8217;ll select my favorite tweets and respond to them in a future article.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ff-h fs-16 lh-1pt6 mg-b-15 article-content\" data-v-8d19012c=\"\">RJ Young is a national college football writer and analyst for FOX Sports. Follow him at <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RJ_Young\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">@RJ_Young<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> FOLLOW Follow your favorites to personalize your FOX Sports experience      <\/p>\n<p>\n        recommended\n      <\/p>\n<p> Arrow pointing to the leftArrow pointing to the right <\/p>\n<p>Item 1 of 3<\/p>\n<p>   <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/NCAAFootball.vresize.160.160.medium.0.png\" alt=\"College Football\" class=\"team-logo\" width=\"80\" height=\"80\"\/> Get more from the College Football Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more     <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RJ Young FOX Sports National College Football Analyst This isn&#8217;t your average college football ranking. My Ultimate 136&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":135997,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-135996","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115008103535374430","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135996"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135996\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}