College Football Blitz, Week 2: Lamar Jackson is the best in the country

Pac-12: This is the USC team we were looking for

“Hey, USC, what … um … what exactly you think you’re doing over there?”

This was a sentiment shared by a lot of fans during Week 1 of the college football season as many’s national champion favorite, the USC Trojans, struggled mightily at home to start the season against the Western Michigan Broncos. Sam Darnold didn’t even toss a touchdown pass and the team as a whole just looked completely out of sorts as they were able to escape with the win. This, of course, led to some believing — even yours truly included — their Week 2 matchup against the Stanford Cardinal could bring about some damning results, especially when you saw how badly they struggled against Western Michigan’s run game.

Yeah, well, when it comes to the 2017 Trojans, everything seems just fine now.

Everything seemed to come together for this USC team on Saturday in the 42-24 win over Stanford. Sam Darnold looked every bit the Heisman contender he’s lauded to be, going 21-of-26 for 316 yards and four touchdowns; the backfield tandem of Ronald Jones and Stephen Carr were dominant, each going over 100 yards on the evening; Deontay Burnett had an outstanding receiving day with 121 yards on nine catches and two touchdowns; and the USC defense played physical football which held the Cardinal offense at bay for most of the game.

There was reason for legitimate concern after that Week 1 scare out in Los Angeles, but after their first Pac-12 test on Saturday, it seems the USC we were all waiting for has joined the rest of us for the 2017 college football season.