This annoys me, it is the narrative for the PAC-12 power rankings on ESPN.
In 2016, USC started 1-3, then switched quarterbacks and everything changed. They had been written off only to finish the year with a memorable win in the Rose Bowl and a No. 3 ranking in the final AP poll. The Sam Darnold effect was obvious from the start, and Kedon Slovis‘ debut for the Trojans feels awfully similar.
It was only one performance, so the standard caveats apply, but as Slovis dissected Stanford with such ease on Saturday, it became easy to envision the Trojans as a serious threat to win the Pac-12. — Kyle Bonagura
https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/27567435/college-football-conference-power-rankings
Nothing on current stats on performance – a young QB has a great day and now USC can win it all becuse they did it with a totally different team in 2016. God forbid he look at actual performance across the league and pull together some insightful comments.