It sure didn't help that USC team was very poorly coached on one side of the ball, though it should also be noted Caleb Williams played much of that game injured.
There are definitely different levels of coaching competency throughout, and sometimes a well-coached team with a great gameplan can overcome a talent disparity. Still, at the end of the day talent is the biggest difference-maker, especially over the course of an entire season, and the list of national champions demonstrate that. Put another way, does Nick Saban have 6 national championships without all those Top 5 recruiting classes he stacked at Alabama?
Yeah I mean I don't think anyone believes Maryland will be Bama haha but I think most people would agree the more stable way to be a program regularly around 9-3/10-2 is solid recruiting and excellent in-game coaching/development compared to getting a good amount of Dudes but not really being impressive with scheme/development, if you did a CFB coach fantasy draft I'd imagine Kyle Whittingham is getting taken ahead of Brian Kelly
