USC football: Trojans come in at No. 10 in ESPN's 2023 preseason SP+ rankings

SP+ is based on a program's returning production, recent recruiting and recent history

ESPN staff writer Bill Connelly released his first set of SP+ preseason rankings ahead of the 2023 college football season earlier this week.

USC came in at No. 10.

SP+ is based on a program's returning production, recent recruiting and recent history. 

It's defined as "a tempo and opponent adjusted measure of college football efficiency. It is a predictive measure of the most sustainable and predictable aspects of football, not a résumé ranking, and, along those same lines, these projections aren't intended to be a guess at what the AP Top 25 will look like at the end of the year."

Connelly will update the rankings in May and August to adjust for roster changes. 

Here's the complete SP+ top ten as of Feb. 14:

1. Georgia

2. Ohio State 

3. Michigan

4. Alabama

5. Penn State

6. Tennessee

7. LSU

8. Oregon

9. Texas

10. USC

THE PAC-12 TITLE RACE

These early SP+ rankings predict a very tight Pac-12 championship race. Oregon and USC are separated by just .3 in the rankings — Oregon received a 21.6 ranking and USC is at 21.3. Utah came in at 19.0, which is good for 13th overall nationally. Washington is at 18.7, which is 16th. UCLA and Oregon State round out the top six with rankings of 15.0 and 12.3 respectively. 

USC plays Utah, Washington, Oregon and UCLA in a five-week stretch to end the 2023 season. If the Trojans go through that gauntlet undefeated, then there's a very strong chance they'll make it back to the Pac-12 title game.