Caleb Williams’ Heisman honeymoon has been anything but pleasurable through the first eight games of the season. USC has lost two games, which eliminates the Trojans from College Football Playoff contention with games against Washington and Oregon still on the schedule, and the other six wins have not been a cakewalk.
Colorado mounted a massive second-half comeback and lost by seven. Arizona lost by two in overtime.
USC could easily be sitting at 4-4, but it has two losses.
Caleb Williams has played the two worst games of his career in back-to-back weeks. He threw three picks against Notre Dame and did not score against Utah.
A lot of the issues are not Williams’ fault. The Trojans’ offensive line has been bad. Their defense can’t stop a nosebleed. The play-calling on both sides of the ball has been questionable.
That doesn’t excuse Williams, who is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. His performance in each of USC’s two losses was unacceptable.
As could be expected, Williams is not pleased with the recent results. That was made abundantly clear through his body language after losing to the Irish, and his disgusted reaction to the loss against the Utes.
There is a lot of chatter around the idea that Williams could sit out the rest of the college football season to prepare for the NFL. Emmanuel Acho even suggested that it might be a good idea.
It would be wild if Williams was to skip the next four games and the postseason. It probably would not go over well with the league front offices.
However, Williams is so good that he would likely still end up being picked in the first round.
Caleb Williams made a big statement.
Although Williams did not speak directly to the idea that he might sit out the remainder of regular season to prepare for the NFL Draft, he was asked about USC’s approach to the next four/five games. There was hope in his answer.
Perhaps most telling, he said that “you keep going, you keep fighting.” That would allude to what is expected being reality — Williams will finish the season.
Could things change? Sure. Anything can change at any time.
It seems unlikely. Especially after his statement prior to Saturday’s game at UC Berkeley.