It wouldn't surprise me to see our defense fall a bit next season and we only win 8-9 games. But then, I expected our defense to drop off a bit from last season due to losses of Taylor, Swearinger, Holloman, and our entire LB depth.

And yet while our defense DID decline in some areas, most of them was almost neglible:

Scoring Defense:
2012: 13th (18.2 ppg)
2013: 15th (20.0 ppg)

Rushing Defense:
2012: 17th (120.69 ypg)
2013: 33rd (142.25 ypg)

Passing Defense:
2012: 21st (194.8 ypg)
2013: 18th (202.8 ypg)

Total Defense:
2012: 11th (315.5 ypg)
2013: 17th (345.0 ypg)

Obviously we still have a game to play, but I was expecting our defense to fall to the 20-40 rankings overall, but felt that our offensive improvements, a weaker SEC schedule, and a dominant Jadeveon Clowney would help cancel all that out. Clowney didn't have the year we all expected, and our LBs did have issues earlier in the season (I feel our run defense has suffered due to inexperience there), but overall we again had a stellar defense overall...

Next season as was posted above we bring back almost all of our offensive 2-deep. We lose Shaw who was the best QB USC has ever had IMO, but will have a very experienced replacement in Thompson.

Our RB depth will be among the deepest in the SEC for next season, and we return our entire WR depth and TE depth (unless someone leaves early which no one has truly earned the right to consider it yet).

There has been some rumblings during the season that almost our entire starting underclassmen OL depth may all mass bolt for the NFL, but Cann, Shell, and Robinson have never publicly stated that they are even considering it, and USC insiders have never gotten a whiff of anything. So if they all return for 2014, we will for the 2nd consecutive year have 4 of our returning 5 starters on a very solid OL back for the next season...

As for defense we have a lot of rebuilding to do but will return a lot of depth and experience. Our young LBs have proven to be as talented as we all expected, and now have a season of experience. They should be a strength for us in 2014. We lose both of our CBs but return all safeties with increased experience.

Our interior DL should be fine with Surratt, Dixon Jr., Dukes, Griffin, and Green all returning. The DE spot is what most concerns me, but IMO I thought Sutton underachieved this season and backup Mason Harris showed more promise in his limited opportunities...