USC Football: Star Offensive Player Falling Short Of Last Year's Model

He has some work to do to catch up to last season.

2023 was supposed to be the year that the USC Trojans put it all together on the football field. After coming ever so close to reaching the College Football Playoff a year ago, many believed that another year under head coach Lincoln Riley would see the Trojans take off.

USC is still a good team with a record of 6-1 on the year, but they haven't looked the part of a top program this year. It seems that this year, they could be falling behind that of the 2022 team in many ways.

One of those is within their running game, despite bringing over some quality transfers to the team. One of those is back MarShawn Lloyd, who came from South Carolina.

He is having a solid year for the Trojans, but one writer believes that he is still falling behind that of what the USC running backs did last season.

“MarShawn Lloyd has been very, very good for USC this season, but is he better than Travis Dye? I don’t think a majority of experts would say he is. That’s no knock on Lloyd, who has been a good addition to the Trojans, but Dye was indeed better. That’s another case of the 2023 roster being less than the 2022 roster.”

Per Matt Zemek of Trojans Wire

Through the seven games that Lloyd has played this year, he has put up 565 yards on 75 carries. He also has scored five rushing touchdowns and has added 80 receiving yards on top of that.

Dye put up 884 yards and ten touchdowns in ten games for USC last season. So, if Lloyd is to surpass him, he has some work to do.

The running game for the Trojans has taken a minor step backward from a year ago, and that could attributed to their problems along the offensive line this year. Last season, they didn't have these issues, and it seems to be playing a significant role in multiple facets of the team.

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