2026 Season Preview: Three Questions on Offense
The line has to hold up, the run game has to become real, and someone has to take the top off a defense. Our early read on the Trojan offense.
Camp is closing and the picture is getting clearer. Here are the three things that will decide whether this offense is good or great.
1. Can the interior of the line hold up?
The tackles are set. The guard and center rotation is not. Against Big Ten fronts, you don’t get to scheme your way out of a bad interior — you get moved off the ball on early downs and you play behind the chains all afternoon.
Watch the first two non-conference games for how often the running back is meeting a defender two yards deep. If that number is low, the whole operation opens up.
2. Is the run game a real threat or a tax?
Play-action only works if the safeties have to respect the run. Last year they didn’t, and the middle of the field stayed closed. A back who can turn a five-yard gain into twelve changes the math on every third down.
3. Who is the vertical threat?
Somebody has to make a corner turn and run. The slot production is there. The outside-the-numbers, over-the-top production is a question mark until we see it in a live game.
None of these are panic buttons. They’re the difference between a nine-win team and a playoff team.