As Colorado (1-3, 0-1 Pac-12) prepares to welcome Southern Cal (2-2, 1-1 Pac-12) to Folsom Field on Saturday, TrojanSports.com publisher Ryan Young provided a comprehensive look into USC ahead of the matchup.

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Q: Considering the season CU has gotten off to, Buffs fans would probably do horrible, horrible things to be losing games by a score of 42-28 or 45-27, like USC recently has to Stanford and OSU.

Of course, the Trojans and Buffaloes are two very different programs with two very different sets of expectations, as well as a tolerance for failure.

One of the aforementioned losses led to the dismissal of Clay Helton. The other, falling to the Beavers at the L.A. Coliseum, hadn't happened since 1960.

What is the current state of USC football? What're your personal expectations for what this team can achieve in 2021?

Ryan Young: I sense after last week most USC fans are checked out on the rest of this season and have their full attention set on the future with a new head coach and an exciting young quarterback in Jaxson Dart, who was incredible in his debut off the bench vs. Washington State despite tearing his meniscus in the process.

There was some guarded optimism that maybe, just maybe interim coach Donte Williams could jolt this team back on the track of preseason expectations, but the loss to Oregon State revealed that USC’s problems are too deeply ingrained to be fixed on the flu this year.

The Trojans will surely collect some more wins, maybe even have everything click for a game, but they’re too inconsistent and honestly probably lacking the personnel to be the team many of us were expecting.

The excitement is that in two months USC will have a new coach and no uncertainty hovering over the position for the first time in a number of years.

Q: USC certainly seems to have far from a shutdown defense, given how Stanford and OSU were able to rack up big yardage and points.

Granted, Colorado's offense hasn't been capable of doing much right of late, but still, what're the strengths/weaknesses for the Trojans on D?

If you were CU's offensive coordinator, how would you attack this SC defense?

RY: That would be an accurate assessment. For whatever reason, the pass rush — which projected to get the strength of the unit — just hasn’t been able to get to the QB (no sacks in three out of four games).

And that’s a problem because defensive coordinator Todd Orlando’s defense relies a lot of aggressive pressures up front while leaving defensive backs in man coverage, and unfortunately the coverage has been very erratic as well.

Add to that an underwhelming linebacker group and an unusual situation at nose tackle — in which USC lost its top three options at the position (Brandon Pili to an Achilles in the spring, Jay Toia via transfer to UCLA and Alabama transfer Ishmael Sopsher to a prolonged recovery from compartment syndrome in his leg — and there just isn’t a lot to count on from a consistent week to week basis.

Q:Offensively speaking, USC looks as if it has all the tools necessary to put up points.

Just how solid has Drake London been this year, and has there been anyone yet this season to really neutralize him?

Secondly, who are some other playmakers at the skill positions and how would you evaluate the o-line?

RY: Drake London has somehow exceeded already lofty expectations. USC hasn’t really had a consistent No. 2 WR emerge, so that has led to probably unsustainable target shares for London, but he’s making his case for serious Biletnikoff Award consideration.

Sophomore wide receiver Gary Bryant has started to come on the last couple games and is a former top-50 national prospect who could break out at some point.

Running back Keaontay Ingram seemed to break away from the tandem approach the Trojans started the season with, dominating carries last week and maximizing that opportunity.

I’d expect them to try to lean on him a lot early and see if he can get rolling to take pressure off the passing game. As for the offensive line, it’s not great.

The Trojans start two redshirt freshman tackles, and right tackle Jonah Monheim has had a lot of ups and downs. The unit has also been very hit and miss in run blocking, being totally shutdown in that regard by Washington State.

Q: How has former Buffalo wide receiver K.D. Nixon been doing up your way? Has he made any sort of blip on the radar as a receiver or specialist?

RY: Sorry to report, but Nixon has been a total non-factor. He didn’t have a good spring and was a little better in fall camp, but the Trojans have better options.

They’ve tried to get him involved here and there, surely out of respect that he transferred in as a redshirt senior, but he is not a big part of the offense. (He has 2 catches all season.)

He also had a couple bad decisions in the punt return game in Week 1 and has since been usurped there by Bryant.

Q: What's the morale in the locker room like amongst the players? Do you think they're impacted by all the negative headlines and disappointed fans?

How have they rallied around Donte Williams and segwaying a bit, but do you think any current assistant coaches could stay on with whomever is hired next as head coach?

RY: It’s hard to say. They really seemed to rally around Williams that first week, going on the road and shaking off a 14-0 deficit to score 45 unanswered points.

But then last week was a disaster all around. I have no idea how they’re going to bounce back from that. This week will tell us a lot about whether this season still has life or if it’s going to be a downward spiral.

Williams will almost certainly be on staff next year. I could see defensive line coach Vic So’oto and special teams coordinator Sean Snyder potentially returning, as well.

Q: What do the Trojans need to do well to win this game Saturday and do you have a score prediction in mind?

RY: They need to be able to run the ball and stop the run. That’s what it comes down to. I know Colorado isn’t having the same success on the ground this season as last, but after last week the Trojans have some major questions to answer there.

And they need to take pressure off QB Kedon Slovis. Based on what Colorado has shown so far, I’ll take USC, 27-21, but no outcome would surprise me.