USC Football: Trojans Dropped From AP College Rankings After Defeat By Ducks

We knew this was coming.

After slipping to a 7-4 record and dropping four of their last five games, your USC Trojans find themselves unranked for the first time in the Lincoln Riley era.

They still received five votes, but the Trojans now find themselves on the outside looking in of even a high-end bowl game. 

This is to be expected, however, as they'd be the only four-loss team ranked. The idea of them not being one of the five Pac-12 teams ranked (Washington, Oregon, Oregon State, Utah, Arizona), however, sounded so far-fetched even just a few short weeks ago when they defeated Arizona in triple-overtime. 

Now, around a month later, in spite of having the reigning college football Heisman winner and the most accomplished coach in the conference, they share the same amount of losses as teams like the 6-4 UCLA Bruins, who've had a revolving door of quarterbacks this season, and more losses than Arizona, whom they've not only beat, but who also underwent a quarterback change mid-season, now starting true freshman Noah Fifita.

This season is going to go down as one of the most disappointing in Trojan history, and there really isn't a silver lining. Caleb Williams was one of the best college quarterbacks of this generation, and USC's inability to ride his back to the College Football Playoff will forever be inexplicable. 

With rivalry week coming up, we at least have one more game to look forward to as the Caleb era ends, given that he's unlikely to play in the low-level bowl game USC is slated to end up in. 

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