Inside Scoop: Southern California

The Holiday Bowl is almost here, which means it's time to take a closer look at the USC Trojans before they take on the Wisconsin Badgers on Wednesday night.

Adam Maya covers the Trojans for TrojanSports.com, and was kind enough to answer a few questions I had about USC. His answers are included below, and you can follow him on Twitter at @AdamJMaya.

ADAM MAYA: The answer is complicated. I didn’t see a College Football Playoff team. I saw a lot of potential but a lot of what-ifs in key areas, namely coaching, quarterbacking and both sides of the line. I expected USC to improve from the year before yet still win between 8-10 games because of a tougher schedule. What I didn’t anticipate was the Trojans taking a step backward on offense. The passing game really plateaued in the second half of the season despite a multitude of weapons in the receiving corps. The defense made some serious strides, though it was overmatched by the powerful offenses of Stanford, Notre Dame and Oregon.

Of course, there was also that midseason coaching change, which completely changed the context of the season. Winning the Pac-12 South Division with an interim coach following a 3-3 start exceeded just about everyone’s expectations. The team’s charge coming into the season was to go from good to great. Instead, the Trojans usually oscillated between good and OK while sprinkling in some great and bad. Throw out the Washington game and USC essentially beat every team it was better than and lost to the few it was inferior to, which seems very similar to Wisconsin.

MAYA: The coaching change happened the same week USC traveled across the country to play arguably its biggest rival, which also happened to be one of the top teams in the country. That whole experience coupled with a second-half surge on the field galvanized the locker room and gave the team something to fight for in light of losing both its coach and a chance at a national title. I’d say USC became a more passionate, prideful bunch. In terms of style, Helton’s Trojans ran the ball more, controlled the clock, forced turnovers and played a more physical brand of football on both sides. Helton has also proved to be more adept at making in-game adjustments. I expect the evolution to continue now that he’s the permanent coach. He’s already stated he will no longer call plays after the Holiday Bowl and is looking for a defensive coordinator who’s extremely aggressive. That’s a far cry from former coordinator Justin Wilcox’s system.

MAYA: The numbers can be very misleading. I think a lot of national pundits made the mistake of looking at Kessler’s final stat line from last year without watching him play much, particularly against ranked opponents, and thus crowned him a Heisman Trophy contender. He had a number of spectacular games in 2014; they just happened to mostly come against weaker opponents. USC didn’t even get that Kessler in 2015. He was less accurate, more averse to taking chances downfield, and he became overly dependent on JuJu Smith-Schuster, who eventually commanded an extreme amount of attention from opposing secondaries and broke his hand in late October. Kessler’s biggest weaknesses: he holds the ball too long and isn’t athletic enough to get away with it (a la Russell Wilson), he doesn’t utilize his playmakers beyond his go-to receiver or first read, and he doesn’t play to the score and situation. This makes USC’s passing offense painfully predictable at times.

MAYA: It’s somewhat of a mystery. Linebackers coach Peter Sirmon, who’s spent the bulk of his college coaching career with Wilcox, is the interim DC. He’s not in contention for the permanent post, but is looking to prove he’s a viable candidate down the line. He made note of the fact that his background prior to Wilcox included the likes of Jeff Fisher and Greg Williams, basically inferring that he’ll go about things a bit differently than his conservative predecessor. The defense has carried the team at times this season, especially with Helton at the helm, as it’s forced a few teams to throw more than they wanted after USC contained the run game. I’m thinking the Trojans will look to load the box and play a lot of man with a single safety.

MAYA: USC took two entire weeks off after the Pac-12 title game and then held the majority of its bowl practices in light pads or no pads. (Helton felt like the players needed the time off to get healthy and recharge.) The coaching staff includes a handful of graduate assistants and administrative assistants who will be assuming responsibilities they’ve never had before. It’s really anyone’s guess what will happen. The Trojans, of course, played in the Holiday Bowl last year and accorded themselves well against a traditional power from the Big Ten. That probably makes them confident they will do so again. I actually think we’ll see more points than most expect given that these two teams are so unfamiliar and dissimilar and there’s really nothing to lose. In talking to some of the USC players, they respect Wisconsin’s size and physicality. Those traits don’t bother them as much as some people think, which leads me to believe the disparity in athleticism could be the determining factor. It should be a competitive game, nonetheless. I’m calling it USC 30, Wisconsin 20.

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John Veldhuis covers Wisconsin football, basketball and recruiting for BadgerBlitz.com on the Rivals.com network. Follow him on Twitter at @JohnVeldhuis.