The Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic

USC Trojans (10) vs. Tulane Green Wave (16)

USC has been completely transformed this year. Head coach Lincoln Riley stunned the college football world last summer when he decided to leave perennial Playoff contender Oklahoma for the sunny skies of Los Angeles. With him, he brought superstar sophomore quarterback Caleb Williams, along with an army of transfers that included 2021 Biletnikoff winner Jordan Addison. The Trojans essentially had a brand new team this year, allowing them to do a complete 180 from their 4-8 finish last year.

USC rolled through their schedule early, starting 6-0 thanks to Williams’ spectacular play. They hit a snag with a 43-42 loss at Utah but were able to secure back-to-back ranked wins against Notre Dame and UCLA. This put them at the No. 4 spot in the top 25 and positioned the Trojans for a College Football Playoff berth if they could get past Utah in the PAC-12 championship.

Unfortunately, the Trojans were completely embarrassed by the Utes. Williams got injured after a fantastic first half, and the Utes hung 49 points on USC’s defense. This knocked the Trojans out of the playoff, but they’re still in a New Year’s Six.

Offensively, the Trojans are led by Williams, who won the Heisman Trophy, the most prestigious award in college football. Williams has racked up 4,075 yards and 37 touchdowns through the air, with 10 more touchdowns on the ground. However, Williams isn’t the only player making a difference offensively. The Trojans have an all-star cast at receiver, led by Jordan Addison, who won the Biletnikoff Award for Pitt last year. He’s accompanied by Colorado transfer Brenden Rice and Oklahoma transfer Mario Williams, giving Caleb plenty of weapons to throw to. In the backfield, star running back Travis Dye went down with an injury mid-season. However, Stanford transfer Austin Jones and freshman Raleek Brown have filled in admirably.

While the offense is the star of the show, the defense, while suspect at times, has been able to hold its own. The Trojans have forced 28 turnovers, which is tied with Louisville for 3rd in the nation. This opportunistic style of defense has saved the Trojans multiple times, most notably against Oregon State. Williams had his worst game of the season, but it didn’t matter, as the defense intercepted Chance Nolan 4 times to win 17-14. However, despite their ability to force turnovers, the defense has been badly exposed at times. USC’s success in this game may come down to whether their defense can stop the Green Wave.

Tulane has been a Jekyll-and-Hyde type of program over the last couple of years. They enjoyed a quality pandemic-shortened 2020 season before enduring an absolute nightmare last year. The Green Wave were a putrid 2-10, and seemingly everything that could go wrong went wrong for Tulane.

However, this year they’ve flipped that record around, going 10-2 and winning the AAC, which is the toughest non-power five conference. Tulane opened their season with a shocking 17-10 upset over Kansas State, the eventual Big 12 champions. They then turned around and were upset by Southern Miss. But after this, the Green Wave cruised through the rest of their schedule, with the highlight being ending Cincinnati’s 32-game winning streak at home. Their only other loss was a 38-31 slip-up against UCF, but they were able to avenge this and defeat the Golden Knights in the AAC championship to advance to the Cotton Bowl. 

Offensively, Tulane is a balanced group. Everything runs through junior Michael Pratt, a dual-threat quarterback who makes plays with his arm and his legs. Pratt passed for 2,776 yards and scored 35 total touchdowns this year. However, the star of the show is running back Tyjae Spears, who racked up over 1,500 scrimmage yards and 17 total touchdowns. 

On defense, the Green Wave is led by the linebacker tandem of Dorian Willams and Nick Anderson. Both had over 100 total tackles, while Williams also had five sacks, two interceptions, and two forced fumbles. Safety Macon Clark is also a major contributor, with 64 tackles and five forced turnovers.

Brooks: Tulane has been a fun story, but USC is simply far more talented than the Green Wave. Caleb Williams is the best player in college football, and he might make this one a blowout. The Trojans will win 45-14.

Brett: Each of these teams just came off conference championships that ended very differently. While USC lost in a nail-biter, and Tulane is enjoying the high of an American Athletic Conference (AAC) victory, I see the Trojans taking this one. With Caleb Williams coming off a Heisman victory and being welcomed into that prestigious group of players, I see him playing with a swagger that can’t be stopped by the Green Waves in a 54-24 rout.