USC Football: 5 Reasons Why USC Should Be No. 1, Not LSU

We may still be six months away from the college football regular season kicking off, but the USC Trojans are the team that should be ranked No. 1 when it finally arrives.

Alabama won last year's BCS National Championship, but many believe that the LSU Tigers should be the top team when the preseason AP preseason poll is released.

It will likely come down to these two teams, but there is no question who the team ranked No. 1 should be, and it's not the LSU Tigers.

Here are five reasons why the Trojans should be the top team in the polls heading into next season.

Could've Played in Last Year's National Championship

Let's be honest, there weren't too many that wanted to see a rematch of two SEC teams that already played in the regular season. But with the other teams not having much of a case, it was pretty much forced to happen and provide us with a matchup in the national championship we already saw.

But what if USC wasn't banned from postseason play. Couldn't you have made a strong case for them to have been in the national championship?

Sure, they lost two games in the regular season, but there weren't too many teams that were playing better down the stretch than the Trojans. If they weren't banned, they would have also participated in the Pac-12 Championship against the Oregon Ducks (a team they had already beaten a couple of weeks before). That would have also strengthened their schedule and made a case that much stronger.

Now, there's no guarantee that USC would have been in the national championship last year, but they would have had an excellent shot. And if that would have happened, who knows what the outcome would've been. We might not even be having this argument right now.

More Returning Starters

This is always a key heading from one season into the next: How many starters does your team return from last year?

If it's a lot, there are a lot fewer questions that have to be answered and there's a great chance your team is even better than it was the year before. More experience also can only help your team.

Now, while both of these teams are extremely talented and will have great talent replacing the players that left, LSU only returns a total of 11 starters, while USC returns 16. That includes the fact that USC is only missing a total of two starters from an offense that averaged over 400 total yards and nearly 36 points per game last season.

LSU is missing six starters from their dominant defense and five starters from an offense that was already short on playmakers.

Like I said before, these two teams recruit extremely well and talent is far from an issue, but I'd take the team that's already played together over a team that will have a lot of new faces next season.

Fewer Questions

To continue what we were saying before on the last slide: You have more players returning, you have fewer questions to answer heading into spring ball.

For LSU, their main question is at the quarterback position. And while Zach Mettenberger may have all of the physical tools to be great, he lacks experience on the field. That's not exactly a good thing when he's going to be squaring off against SEC defenses every week.

The Tigers also lost two of their three starting linebackers, and they lost depth in their secondary with Morris Claiborne heading to the NFL and Brandon Taylor graduating. 

The only real question the Trojans have to answer is on the defensive line, with three starters no longer on the roster. This is an area of concern, but having seniors Devon Kennard and Wes Horton on the roster makes for a much easier transition.

Even the best teams in the country have concerns, but on paper, the Tigers have a few more than the Trojans do at this point.

Didn't Lose the National Champinship

Now this may be a little unfair considering USC didn't play in a bowl game, but how can LSU be No. 1 after they lost the last game we saw them play. And it's not just the fact that they lost, they got destroyed in the game by a score of 21-0 and didn't even total 100 yards on offense. They also let a first-year starting quarterback throw the ball on them for 234 yards.

I would say that the Tigers team last year will likely be better than the Tigers team this year, especially with two senior quarterbacks running the show. If they couldn't finish the job with that team, what makes us believe they're the true No. 1 team this year with 11 starters missing?

All I know is that USC finished their final four games of the season by a combined point total of 101 points and that they're returning majority of that team. You could say they were against weaker opponents than LSU faced, but USC didn't fail to show up and get creamed by any opponent either.

Matt Barkley

The most important reason for why USC should be No. 1 is the fact that they have the best overall player on their team. Seriously, can you name one player in college football who will have as big of an impact on their team than quarterback Matt Barkley?

He would have been a top pick in the NFL draft this season, but he decided to stay for his senior year to win a national championship. The scary part is that he played out of his mind last year and has all of his weapons once again.

He completed 69 percent of his passes, threw for 3,528 yards and 39 touchdowns. This is all while he finally lowered his interception total to only seven thrown in 446 pass attempts.

Barkley is a difference-maker that will lead the Trojans team as far as he takes them. He makes plays and is without a doubt the best quarterback in college football right now. There aren't too many players that will make as big of a difference as Barkley, and LSU for sure doesn't have a guy like this on either side of the ball.

Randy Chambers is a B/R featured columnist that covers college football and the NFL. You can contact him @Randy_Chambers or [e-mail].