2010 USC Football Season: What Fans Can Realistically Expect

This is not a doomsday article, and it isn't being written by someone on the east coast.

I'm writing this article from the USC area, and after spending countless weeks getting tabs on what is going on, I felt it necessary to give Trojans and those who are USC fans a realistic picture of what the upcoming season will hold.

Obviously, everyone now knows that USC will not be a part of the 2010 USA Today Coaches Poll, which is not that big of an issue as there is no need to factor us into the BCS discussion. We wouldn't be playing in the postseason anyway.

Of course, that does not demean the importance of USC's football season.

We will still be voted on in the AP poll, and frankly, over the past few years most fans have realized that the BCS is a ludicrous joke.

I would give the AP vote more credence than I would the BCS system.

But fans can take a lot of solace in the fact that of all sports, college football has the most meaningful regular season.

If this is a year when USC is the best team in the country, we'll be able to tell, and so will the AP. It is a bit of a long shot, but it definitely is possible.

For the most loyal Trojans, and for most of the players on the team, these sanctions have been energizing.

They understand that they didn't do anything wrong, and they are using the unjust punishment of innocents to fuel their football fire. I expect we will see a team playing with a heart and determination that has been absent from the field for quite some time.

They know little is expected from them by the masses.

Now unfortunately, I need to relay some bad news.

I have it from a reliable source that USC is expecting 10-15 players to either transfer or simply not show up. So the trickle out effect is likely to continue.

I would say that isn't as bad as I was really expecting. I'm not happy about it, but it could have been worse. I was surprised by how long it took for multiple players to announce intentions of leaving.

All of that could be changed if the appeals process moves through rapidly.

These next two years are going to be a strange flux period for the PAC-10 simply because of the fact that we're adding both Colorado and Utah. I do expect, however, that USC football will maintain its position as the dominating powerhouse.

If the giant of any of the other three major college powerhouse conferences faced similar sanctions, it wouldn't doom them. So if you're expecting doomsday, you're not going to get it.

This coming season, at worst, will be another eight or nine win year. At best, I think we could still run the table.

Consistency is going to be key in us weathering this storm.

As long as we remain an eight-nine win team, we'll always be a year away from a national championship.

That's about as long as it takes to make up the ground from having nine wins to going undefeated. That is, if you have a great coaching staff.

With a flaky though accomplished Lane Kiffin at the helm, one of the all-time greatest defensive coordinators ever in Monte Kiffin, and the best recruiter in the history of college football, our coaching staff could be among the best in the country.