This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

Trojan Nation was assigned the No. 1 starting position and the worst odds of winning Saturday's Kentucky Derby.

The horse, named by UCLA fans in honor of a father who loyally supported USC, symbolizes the state of USC football. He's never won a race, yet his connections expect him to perform well on the sport's biggest stage — never mind his initial 50-1 odds.

Trojan Nation's track record is not an exact match for Trojan football, considering USC won the Pac-12 South title last season and competed for the first time in the conference championship game, losing to Stanford. That was a nice achievement for interim coach Clay Helton, who earned the permanent job and now has a chance to give the Trojans the continuity they have lacked in this decade.

With spring practice having concluded last weekend in the Pac-12 with Oregon's final event, I'm posting my 2016 picks for the league. USC will always be the starting point of the discussion in the South. Maybe I've mythologized the Trojans, who in reality have fallen back into the pack of the division, via some combination of NCAA sanctions and coaching mismanagement. Or maybe the program truly is back where it belongs, and Utah failed to exploit the best opportunity it will ever have to win the South — sharing the title with the Trojans last season and losing the championship-game berth via a tiebreaker, having lost 42-24 at USC.

I know this: USC's visit to Rice-Eccles Stadium on Sept. 23 (a Friday) will tell us a lot about both teams in 2016. By then, the Trojans will have played Alabama in Arlington, Texas, hosted Utah State and visited Stanford. Comparatively, the Utes will have eased into the schedule by hosting Southern Utah and BYU and visiting San Jose State.

Helton already is the fourth USC coach to have faced Utah in the Pac-12 era, following Lane Kiffin in 2011 and '12, interim coach Ed Orgeron in '13 and Steve Sarkisian in '14. The Utes beat only Sarkisian, thanks to a fourth-down stop and a last-minute touchdown drive led by Travis Wilson.

USC will be interesting, as always. Like most Pac-12 teams in 2016, the Trojans will feature a new quarterback. Max Browne is Cody Kessler's likely successor, although Sam Darnold pressed him in the spring. "That's what happens when you sign the best of the best … it turns into a heck of a competition," Helton said during the Pac-12 coaches' media teleconference.

The Trojans have two of the league's best players. Receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster caught eight passes for 143 yards against Utah last October. Adoree' Jackson, who returned a kickoff 100 yards for a touchdown against the Utes in 2014, can play receiver or cornerback. He missed spring practice to pursue a track and field career.

USC has some issues on the defensive line, with Kenny Bigelow having injured his knee in March. The Trojans will be young up front, and Helton said, "We're going to have to play above our head" at that position.

The Trojans have a strong coaching staff, with former NFL defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast, longtime special-team expert John Baxter and offensive line coach Neil Callaway.

Helton liked the way the offensive line came together in the spring, representing the bonding that occurred throughout the program. "There's a sense of 'team' right now with these kids," he said. "I could feel it the entire camp."

The feeling of urgency generated by the prospect of a season opener vs. Alabama also is driving the Trojans. Even in routine drills, USC players would tell teammates, "That's not going to beat Alabama."

The bigger issue, actually, is whether the Trojans will be good enough to beat Utah.

Twitter: @tribkurt —

Kurt Kragthorpe's Pac-12 projections

South

Team Comment

USC Trojans will be tested Sept. 23 at Utah

Utah Utes went 4-0 vs. North in 2015

UCLA Loss of five juniors in NFL draft has to hurt

Arizona State Sun Devils gave up too many plays last year

Arizona Will four-game winning streak over Utah end in October?

Colorado Someday, Buffaloes will climb into South's top five

North

Washington Jake Browning is No. 2 QB in state — and conference

Stanford Sept. 17 conference opener vs. USC is big game

Oregon Relying on another Big Sky transfer to become starting QB

Washington State Logan's Luke Falk primed for another big season

California One winning season in Goff era; when will next one come?

Oregon State Long way to go in Gary Andersen's rebuilding job