Over the next 30 “business days”, I will be counting down my top 30 for the 2009 College Football season. After hours of studying game film, breaking it down matchup by matchup, and predicting upsets, I’ve come up with the teams I believe will be the 30 best in the country by season’s end. Will your team be included? (Hint: If you prefer Tennessee, No.) So Cal!

30. Iowa Hawkeyes
29. Oregon State Beavers
28. Southern Miss Golden Eagles
27. Nebraska Cornhuskers
26. Kansas Jayhawks
25. North Carolina Tarheels
24. USF Bulls
23. Michigan State Spartans
22. UCLA Bruins
21. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets
20. FSU Seminoles
19. TCU Horned Frogs
18. Illinois Fightin’ Illini
17. BYU Cougars
16. Rutgers Scarlet Knights
15. Oklahoma State Cowboys
14. Georgia Bulldogs
13. LSU Tigers
12. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
11. Ole Miss Rebels
10. Cal Golden Bears
9. Virginia Tech Hokies
8. Boise State Broncos
7. Ohio State Buckeyes
6. Alabama Crimson Tide
5. Penn State Nittany Lions

The Story: USC is due for another National Championship. They have too much talent to keep missing the boat year after year. Right? But for the third year in a row, we’re talking about a USC team that dropped a game they shouldn’t have, this time the victim to a very young Oregon State team. The Trojans haven’t won less than eleven games since 2001, thanks to depths of talent that is simply unmatched by any other program in the country. Reloading again, these Trojans are serious National Championship contenders.

The Glaring Stat: 3. Defensive starters from last season’s 2nd ranked defense returning.

The Outlook: As you clearly see with the number above, the USC defense takes a major hit. But as everyone has repeated countless times, they have the ability to plug in using their deep talent base that comes from locking down the talent rich state of California. If you’re expecting the Trojans to fall completely apart because there are a quite a few new faces on this side of the ball, keep wishing…

The biggest hit comes to last season’s excellent linebacking corp where all three starters went on to get drafted…Sure there will be some drop off in the small things that they did so well, but defensive coordinator Rocky Seto believes his new guys are a lot faster than his prior group and will adjust quickly. Michael Morgan saw the field quite a bit as a key reserve last year, but the coaches believe that Chris Galippo andMalcolm Smith could be two of best ever at USC. The lack of in game experience will cause some problems early on, but once this new group gets a good feel for things, they will be extremely dangerous.

The defensive line didn’t escape losses either, but probably will recover faster. In 2007 Everson Griffen was an Freshman All-American and  as a backup last fall recorded 4.5 sacks. Entering his junior season Griffen will finally be the man at defensive end and will see a huge year statistically. The Trojans also added top JUCO defensive tackle Hebron Fangupo who sits at 330 lbs and has had coaches praising him n9onstop throughout fall camp. His addition might have saved the Trojans from the pitfalls of having to start a much younger feller.

The strength of the defense will be in their secondary. All-American Taylor Mays? The best free safety in the county LAST YEAR (somehow he returned), and a specimen of a human being that will have the most composed scouts drooling in Indianapolis next spring. I’d liken his style to former Trojan Ronnie Lott, a great tackler and a guy that makes opposing receivers think about getting blown up  by a human truck when running their routes. As long as he’s back there, the USC secondary and defense should be just fine.

The offense is a completely different story. Nine starters return, only losing Mark Sanchez and receiver Patrick Turner. Both were great players at USC, but are believed by the coaching staff to be replaceable. Sanchez started one year for the Trojans…put up impressive numbers, and left against the urging of his coach. Now Pete is looking square in the face of three quarterbacks to replace Hollywood. Aaron Corp, freshman Matt Barkley, and disgruntled Arkansas transfer Mitch Mustain. As of today, it looks like Corp will be the guy under center opening day, the 6′4″ 200 pound quarterback comes with a very accurate arm and rather mobile legs, something USC quarterbacks haven’t really had. Should he not work out, things could get interesting between one time all world recruit Mitch Mustain and Matt Barkley.

A deep stable of running backs returns, each knowing their roles. USC had three guys rush for over 600 yards last fall led by senior Stafon Johnson andhis 728.  With the Trojans breaking in a new quarterback I’d imagine the platoon will only see the ball more, and potentially push for even bigger numbers. Joe McKnight’s versatility has been compared to that of Reggie Bush, and it has allowed USC to spilt him out wide at times. Although All-Pac 10 receiver (and Mustain’s high school teammate) Damian Williams returns along with steady Ronald Johnson moving into the starting lineup, I wouldn’t be surprised to see McKnight split out a little bit more to use his deadly speed.

Underrated? The offensive line. They return all fiver starters from last fall, which includes the best center in the country, Kristofer O’Dowd. Ultimately the two deep of this unit will only benefit whoever  is at quarterback and allow those three running backs to put up Madden-like numbers. If USC loses a game this year, it WON’T be because the offensive line couldn’t hold up.

The Schedule:
9-5-09 SAN JOSE STATE
9-12-09 at Ohio State
9-19-09 at Washington
9-26-09 WASHINGTON STATE
10-3-09 at California
10-17-09 at Notre Dame
10-24-09 OREGON STATE
10-31-09 at Oregon
11-7-09 at Arizona State
11-14-09 STANFORD
11-28-09 UCLA
12-5-09 ARIZONA

The opening game against San Jose State might provide some challenges when breaking in a new quarterback…but they’ll still win by a minimum of 40. We’ve talked about the week two game with Ohio State…I know where I’ll be on 9-12-2009 at 8pm. And of course there is their annual beat down of the Irish rounds ou the out of conference schedule.

What I find most interesting about this schedule is the set up on the road games. They are on the road SIX times in EIGHT weeks, and the breaks only come early….at Cal, at ND, Oregon State, at Oregon, and at Arizona State? For a team that has been upset the last three years, that’s a streak to watch.

GatorTrey is a contributor to SpartyandFriends.com. He can be reached at GatorTrey (at) spartyandfriends.com as well as on twitter @jflynn05.

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