THE APEX TIMES
Preseason prediction: USC eyes College Football Playoff berth in 2026
A writer associated with The Athletic is among the growing chorus of voices picking the Trojans to break through into the sport’s postseason bracket, with the upcoming season serving as a make-or-break runway for USC’s playoff goals.
With the 2026 college football season nearing kickoff, preseason projections are stacking up, and one storyline has returned to the forefront for USC: the Trojans’ pursuit of a first College Football Playoff appearance. In a preseason piece distributed by Yahoo Sports, a writer connected to The Athletic picked USC to make the playoff this fall, framing it as a breakthrough possibility that has long hovered just outside reach.
The College Football Playoff, run through the end of the FBS regular season and conference championship weekend, is where the sport’s top teams are sorted into four semifinal spots. For a program like USC, the distinction matters. A playoff appearance is often treated as both a validation of year-over-year team building and a recruiting accelerant, particularly for marquee programs trying to translate preseason expectations into postseason results.
In the Yahoo Sports presentation of The Athletic writer’s view, the central question is simple: could USC finally “give everybody” a first playoff showing in 2026? The prediction is positioned as one of many preseason takes, but it carries extra weight because it is aimed directly at the playoff objective, not merely a winning season or a conference-title bid.
USC’s place in the national conversation has been shaped by the gap between expectation and execution that tends to define elite programs across any era. A playoff pick can be interpreted as a belief that the Trojans are close enough, as a complete unit, to survive the late-season conditions that usually determine playoff trajectories, including performance against other contenders and consistency when momentum shifts.
Still, preseason predictions are not forecasts in the technical sense. A single writer’s playoff pick does not tell the full story of depth charts, the week-to-week variability that follows every long season, or how quickly teams respond to early-season lessons. Even when a program is widely expected to contend, the playoff picture typically hinges on a handful of outcomes that can swing quickly, especially when multiple top teams are chasing overlapping spots.
What to watch next for USC is less about the novelty of the prediction and more about whether the Trojans can repeatedly produce the specific kind of football that builds a playoff résumé: sustained offense, reliable situational execution, and the ability to keep games within reach when opponents tighten the margins. As 2026 unfolds, the credibility of this particular preseason claim will depend on what USC looks like as stakes rise, not just how persuasive it sounds at media-day.
Why It Matters
- A playoff berth would serve as a major postseason breakthrough for USC and a report that preseason expectations can be converted into national results.
- For a flagship program, playoff consideration can strengthen recruiting narratives and program momentum going into future cycles.
- USC’s 2026 path will be tested by the same factors that usually decide playoff spots, making early-season performance and late-season consistency especially important.
Sources
Key Facts
- Yahoo Sports published a preseason projection that a writer from The Athletic picked USC to make the College Football Playoff in 2026.
- The prediction is framed around the possibility that USC could reach the playoff for the first time.
- The 2026 season is described as close to kickoff, with many preseason picks being released.