USC lands in top 25 of preseason AP Poll

The USC Trojans landed as the No. 23 team in the nation in the AP Top 25 College Football Poll released Monday morning.

It’s the same ranking Lincoln Riley’s program received in the preseason Coaches Poll. Riley continues his streak of Top 25 starts as a head coach. But last year’s USC team was the first time he finished a season unranked. USC was as high as No. 5 in the country in the Week 4 AP poll, then dropped five straight weeks down to No. 24 before leaving the poll for good in Week 11.

The Trojans will have a chance to rise quickly in the polls this season thanks to a schedule with some big-time matchups on it.

USC will open the season in Las Vegas against the No. 13 LSU Tigers. The Trojans will also take on three top-ten teams in the AP poll in No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 8 Penn State and No. 9 Michigan. Other USC opponents this season include Washington, Nebraska and Wisconsin, which all received votes in the poll.

The Trojans have earned a top-25 ranking in the AP Poll every year since 2002, but USC hasn’t finished the season as a top-ten team in the AP Poll since the 2016 season, when the Trojans finished No. 3. They’ve finished inside the top 20 just twice since then, incluing No. 12 after the 2022 season.

Complete 2024 preseason AP Poll

Georgia (46 first-place votes)

Ohio State (7 first-place votes)

Oregon

Texas (1 first-place vote)

Alabama

Ole Miss

Notre Dame

Michigan (1 first-place vote)

Penn State

Florida State

Missouri

LSU

Utah

Clemson

Tennessee

Oklahoma

Kansas State

Oklahoma State

Miami

Texas A&M

Arizona

North Carolina State

USC

Kansas

Iowa

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