How is Southern California football looking early this season?
- Aaron Garcia
- Oct 17
- 6 min read
The NFL Season and College Football season both kicked off September 4th and August 28th respectively. This article is an opinion piece containing a brief summary of the season trajectory of the local football teams at the collegiate and professional level backed by ESPN statistics.
LA Rams:
The Los Angeles Rams have looked just okay this season.
They had a few good showings and certainly some bright spots to feel good about this season. For starters, 3rd year star receiver Puka Nakua has shown up big time this season proving himself to be the best wide receiver in the entire NFL as of right now. Everything else however seems rather average.
The Rams have a good pass attack and their rushing attack can get their offense moving but fumbles have been a big issue this season with the Rams featured running back Kyren Williams fumbling the ball on the goal line in the 4th quarter leading to the Rams being defeated by the San Francisco 49ers 23-20.
In addition to some offensive struggles, their special teams has also made mistakes with 2 blocked field goals against their week 3 matchup with the Superbowl defending champion Philadelphia Eagles which ended up being the difference in the game allowing the eagles to successfully make a comeback after being down 12 points at the halftime, ending the game with a rams loss 26-33.
The Rams currently sit at 4-2 and face some tough opponents later in the season including a competitive race within their own division against the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. Whether or not the Rams can clean up their mistakes moving forward will prove to be the difference maker between just a playoff team, or a true Superbowl contender.
LA Chargers:
The Los Angeles Chargers look worrying.
The Chargers started off hot, going 3-0 all against divisional opponents giving them a comfortable cushion to remain at the top of the AFC West division, however 2 straight losses against opponents in matches they were favored in isn’t a good look for the Chargers.
The main reason the Chargers have lost this season is due to a plethora of injuries. The injury bug started before the season did when their recently resigned star left tackle, Rashawn Slater, ruptured his patellar tendon leaving him out for the season. Furthermore, in week 4 against the New York Giants their other star tackle Joe Alt was carted off with a concerning ankle injury causing him to miss out on the next few games.
These injuries along the chargers offensive line have left big holes for the chargers to try and fill up and they have not been able to do so as Their star qb Justin Herbert has climbed towards the top of the league in sacks with 17 and pressure rate and even those numbers are slightly helped by Herbert’s extraordinary play extending ability to escape pressure.
The final nail in the coffin for this Chargers offense came with their emerging star rookie running back Omarion Hampton exiting in week 5 with a low ankle sprain that landed him on Injured Reserve, a status for players who are set to miss 4 or more weeks with injuries. The Chargers have won their last game against the Miami Dolphins who after the loss are now sitting with a 1-5 record. This game was meant to be a pick me up for the Chargers, but the fact that it was close is certainly cause for concern.
Riddled with injuries early in the season the chargers are looking to hang on and stay competitive while their star players recover. Their next matchup is against the Indianapolis Colts who are coming in hot off a win and sitting at 5-1. If the Chargers can stay afloat and continue to win games while their star players recover, this team certainly has all the potential to be up there among the best teams in the NFL.
USC
The USC Trojans look really good heading into week 8 matchup against a ranked #13 Notre Dame. This is the 3rd ranked team USC will play this season and it will serve as their greatest test yet. In their week 7 match vs a previously ranked #15 Michigan USC won comfortably against a team many believed was on the verge of being playoff caliber.
They dominated the game against Michigan, mainly on the ground totaling 224 rushing yards. A heavy dose of the run paired with a defense that never really let a normally lethal Michigan run game get going made for an easy win for USC. Despite having played 2 ranked opponents this season, USC hasn't really faced a top tier playoff contending team yet. Their next match against a ranked #13 Notre Dame will serve to change that.
Despite USC only having 1 loss this season to a #25 Illinois, they have the potential to be eliminated from playoff contention with a loss this week. USC’s schedule later on this season is not easy with top ranked opponents like #8 Oregon and #3 Indiana still remaining.
A win this week against #13 Notre Dame gives the Trojans some leeway if they lose to one other tough opponent remaining in their schedule. A loss this week means if USC wants to make the playoffs, they need to run through a gauntlet of the toughest teams in the nation. It's best to tune in this week into what looks to be a really good game with major playoff implications for 2 playoff contenders.
UCLA
The UCLA Bruins are looking to have one of the greatest turn arounds in College football history.
The UCLA Bruins season started off as a hot disaster, losing their first 4 games only 1 of which came from a now ranked #23 Utah. The season's early failures along with a bad first season record left the UCLA Bruins Head coach Deshaun Foster with a 5-11 record, leading to him being fired as the head coach along with his coaching staff. Firing your coach not even halfway into the season isn't a good look for any team but the Bruins have won their last 2 games since the coaching change which brings up the question. Was the coaching staff change all UCLA needed to make a turnaround?
So far that seems to be the case as in their week 5 Big 10 Conference game against a #7 ranked Penn State hit the road to face UCLA in the Rose Bowl to a half empty stadium. The result being the most shocking upset in FBS History where A Penn state lions team was favored to win by over 24 points was playing from behind all game and eventually lost 37-42. This upset knocked Penn state out of the rankings and made UCLA look sneakily competitive. Still, many fans were left skeptical by UCLA, throwing the win up to mere luck. New UCLA head coach Tim Skipper made sure to ask his players one question after the match. “Are you a one-hit wonder?”
The question must've lit a fire under the Bruins team because the very next week they played another conference opponent in Michigan state and proceeded to beat them handedly as well 38-13.
These past 2 weeks it is apparent that this UCLA team is not the same team that started 4-0. A new bright young offensive coordinator and interim head coach seem to have this UCLA Bruins team fired up and ready to play spoiler to any team they face the rest of the season. Whether or not this team is for real is still a question but it won't be a question for long as UCLA has some big opponents on their tough schedule such as #3 Indiana, #1 Ohio State, and #20 USC to finish their season.
Unfortunately for the Bruins this miraculous turnaround has come too little too late as their 4 loss record has completely eliminated them from playoff contention with the college football playoffs only featuring hyper competitive top 12 teams with 3 losses AT MOST. UCLA is playing for more than playoffs now, with nothing to lose.
This Bruins team has some major games to play and they are playing with house money. Expect UCLA to play the rest of their season with everything they've got and play spoiler for any playoff hopeful teams who don't take them seriously.
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