Hernández: USC has become a Big Ten power and should reach the College Football Playoff

Suddenly, the fantasy feels grounded in reality. Suddenly, the best-case scenario feels entirely possible.

USC can reach the College Football Playoff.

Let’s rephrase that.

USC should reach the College Football Playoff.

The No. 13 Trojans’ path to the 12-team championship tournament opened up on Saturday like one of those gargantuan holes through which running back Woody Marks ran in a 48-0 victory against overmatched Utah State at the Coliseum.

The lopsided win over a visitor from Mountain West Conference wasn’t particularly informative. What happened elsewhere in college football was.

No. 10 Michigan, which USC will visit in two weeks for their Big Ten opener, further amplified concerns about its offense in a 31-12 defeat to No. 3 Texas.

No. 8 Penn State, another Big Ten opponent that USC will host Oct. 12, had to come from behind to claim a 34-27 win over Bowling Green.

Read more: USC dominates Utah State, stokes playoff talk and believes it can still get better

No. 5 Notre Dame, which the USC plays in its regular-season finale, was upset by Northern Illinois, 16-14.

The Red Sea is parting. The road to the CFP is becoming visible.

So much has changed in two weeks.

Before the start of the season, a pessimistic examination of the schedule could have produced visions of a six-loss season. The Trojans erased one of those potential L’s in their season-opening win over Louisana State in Las Vegas. A week later, the teams that represented their three greatest challenges revealed their vulnerabilities.

Michigan doesn’t have a quarterback. Penn State doesn’t have a defense. Notre Dame just stinks.

The Trojans didn’t prove anything by crushing a four-touchdown underdog, but they didn’t sound any alarm bells either and that counts for something.

They didn’t win the kind of game they won last year against Colorado or Arizona, the kind of win that offered indications of shortcomings that would ultimately crater their season. In other words, they didn’t do what Martin Jarmond University did last week in its near-embarrassment in Hawaii.

The Trojans did what they were supposed to do against the Aggies. The defense, which led them to their win over LSU, was once again dominant under first-year coordinator D’Anton Lynn. The shutout was USC’s first since a 50-0 blanking of UCLA in 2011.

“It’s a new staff,” coach Lincoln Riley said. “There’s a lot of new players, more new players on that side of the ball than the offensive side of the ball. Just to see that group come together and play as one early is very important.

“There’s just a long ways to go, man, but, shoot, we couldn’t be more excited about what they’re doing, they way we’re playing defensively right now.”

If their victory last week was evidence of an improved defense and Miller Moss’ preparedness to replace Caleb Williams, the triumph over Utah State was a showcase of the Trojans’ ground attack.

With their starters on the offensive line weighing an average of 320 pounds, the Trojans had no problems running the ball.

They rushed for 249 yards, an average of 6.7 yards per attempt.

Marks, a senior transfer from Mississippi State, rushed for 103 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Quinten Joyner, a redshirt freshman, was credited with 84 yards and two scores on 10 carries.

Read more: USC finally has a defense under Lincoln Riley. Let the playoff dreaming begin

The Trojans had a 27-0 lead at halftime. By the end of the third quarter, backup quarterback Jayden Maiava was in the game. By the fourth, the Coliseum stands were mostly empty.

Asked about the offense’s potential, Moss replied, “I don’t think we want to get caught up in where we can go. I think we’re more focused on the present moment.”

Moss pointed to “what we left out there” in the first half — some dropped passes and missed throws.

“I think the offensive line played their butts off,” Moss said. “I think that kind of showed itself in the balance we had offensively … but skill players, myself included, got to clean some stuff up.”

But Moss still hasn’t turned over the ball. In fact, USC’s only turnover this season came on Saturday when tight end Lake McRee fumbled in the second quarter at the end of a 34-yard reception.

Moss has passed for 979 yards in his first three starts, counting the Holiday Bowl last year.

“I don’t know how much it says about me,” Moss said. “I think I’ve been put in really good situations.

“Lincoln Riley is the best offensive coach in college football, if not coach, but we’ll leave that up for debate a little bit more.”

Riley joked last week that his team played “some pretty good Big Ten football,” and he was right.

His team has a new identity. What was once a soft team that was overly reliant on Williams has transformed into the most physical group this program has fielded since Pete Carroll was the coach.

These Trojans won’t beat themselves. These Trojans can win a game in which they’re not their sharpest. These Trojans should reach the CFP.

The road is clear.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.