The USC Trojans will open their 2018 college football season on Saturday, Sept. 1 as they welcome the UNLV Running Rebels to town.
So much hype was being thrown around regarding the USC Trojans entering last season. After all, they had the great Sam Darnold returning at quarterback — how could they be touched? Well, for reasons both out of and in his control, he regressed a bit and the Trojans weren’t quite on the level many had hoped. He’s gone now, however, and now the Trojans will face more questions in 2018 as they open up the season at home on Saturday, Sept. 1 against the UNLV Running Rebels.
Taking over for Darnold at the helm of the USC offense will be freshman quarterback J.T. Daniels. Daniels was one of the top recruits in this year’s class and he clearly did enough to prove himself and earn the job from head coach Clay Helton. He obviously has big shoes to fill, but with a group of hungry young weapons around him like Amon-Ra St. Brown, there is hope he can make a big impact right away.
The USC defense still has plenty of talent to speak of as well, as they returned two key components from last year, among others. However, it’ll certainly be cornerback Iman Marshall and linebacker Cameron Smith that lead this unit both vocally and with their play this season.
UNLV is certainly not untalented, even if they aren’t up to par with a team like the Trojans. Armani Rogers at quarterback garnered valuable experience starting as a freshman last season. Now the dual-threat signal-caller would love to put his stamp on 2018 by starting out the year leading the Rebels to a massive upset victory.
Details for Saturday’s game are below:
Date: Saturday, Sept. 1, 2018
Start Time: 4:00 p.m. ET
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Stadium: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
TV Info: Pac-12 Network
Live Stream: FuboTV
We always expect USC to be one of the top teams in the country, but there are viable questions about Helton’s team this season. Having said that, UNLV shouldn’t present too much trouble for the Trojans. What will be critical for the home team, however, is to get things in order as they prepare for a date with the Stanford Cardinal next week.