Can the Trojans Win Three In a Row?

USC has repositioned itself after stumbling through a couple of bad losses and now has a decent shot at making the playoffs for the first time

Ryan Kartje (LA Times)  —  USC and its playoff hopes were battered, bruised and left for dead at various points of this college football season. And yet, in spite of it all, the Trojans are still very much alive in their pursuit of their first College Football Playoff bid.

Now, let’s be clear: the odds of USC actually making the playoff are still pretty long at this point. USC needs to win all three of its remaining games, two of which are against top-six teams. This week, it’ll have to beat the defending national champions on their own field. As of Sunday, DraftKings put the Trojans’ chances of sneaking into the playoff at 20%.

A couple of weeks ago, coming off of their loss to Wisconsin, that number was much closer to zero. But now, looking ahead at what’s to come in these next three weeks, I’d argue USC has an even better chance to be a playoff team than you might think.

Any hope of that happening hinges on how things go in Bloomington this weekend. And we should note, first and foremost, that the road has been a mixed bag for USC. Lincoln Riley has just one true road win over a ranked team at USC, and that was back in 2022, his first season. To ask him to get another against Curt Cignetti on his home turf is, admittedly, a tall order.

But make no mistake, this Indiana team is not the same one that ran the table last season. The Hoosiers have played just one game against a ranked opponent and lost — to Ohio State at home. Five of Indiana’s six Big Ten games so far have been decided by one score or less.

That’s because, in part, to a passing attack that has struggled of late, to the point that it’s not clear who’s starting at quarterback Saturday — either Josh Hoover, the high-priced transfer, or Grant Wilson, his backup. If USC comes out fast and Indiana falls behind, the Hoosiers will have a hard time catching up.

Of course, that’s easier said than done against a defense that allows the fewest yards per play (4.08) of any team in college football. And it’s not as if USC has been as dynamic on offense as it has been in seasons past under Riley. The Trojans are just sixth in the Big Ten in yards per play (6.25) and explosive play rate. This probably isn’t the week to expect the run game to get going.

But on the other side of the ball, things have started to stabilize. Over USC’s past four games (Washington, Penn State, Wisconsin and Ohio State), the Trojans’ defense has allowed just 5.13 yards per play. That’s a full yard improvement from the four games prior. USC has also rejuvenated its pass rush, with 11 sacks over that same four-game stretch.

It’s not that hard to convince yourself of a scenario where USC leaves Indiana with a statement win, and suddenly, everyone is talking about the Trojans’ playoff hopes.

Then, after a presumably convincing victory over Maryland, we’d have ourselves one of the more meaningful and deliciously intriguing crosstown rivalry matchups in recent memory: USC, at 9-2, against 11-0 UCLA, with the Trojans needing a win over the Bruins to clinch a berth the Playoff — and to potentially save Riley’s job.

Absolute cinema!

UCLA, like Indiana, hasn’t really faced a gauntlet to reach this point. The Bruins beat Oregon and Wisconsin — two things USC couldn’t manage to do — but those are the only quality wins on UCLA’s resume.

Also like Indiana, UCLA has a great defense. But after its offense exploded out of the gate with a seemingly unstoppable ground game, UCLA’s rushing attack has actually been decidedly mediocre of late. It’s also still operating with a backup quarterback, albeit one who just threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns on eight completions.

USC has what it takes to outpace its next three opponents and win these next three games. But does its coach have what it takes to get the Trojans there? We’re going to find out soon enough.

Extra points

—USC took a much different approach to its second bye week. Lincoln Riley didn’t mince words coming out of the Trojans’ win over Ohio State. Whatever they did in their first bye week, they were going to do the opposite in this one. The primary difference is that USC is much less banged-up this time around. The first time, the Trojans took a break at the start of the bye week and focused on getting healthy. This time, USC was back practicing Sunday, the day after the win over Ohio State. “It’s a lot [different],” Riley said. There’s a lot more differences than there are similarities between the two.”

—Twin freshmen Adonis and Darius Ratliff looked better than advertised in their USC basketball debuts. When they first signed, the expectation was that the Ratliffs would take some time to find their stride as a pair of tremendously talented, yet still raw prospects. But that didn’t look like the case in USC’s opener against Milwaukee. With 7-footer Eric Reibe out, USC played Adonis for 24 minutes and Darius for 28, while Jacob Cofie only got 10 minutes on the floor. Eric Musselman likes to mess with his lineup during the nonconference slate, so don’t be surprised if we see those minutes shift in the coming weeks. But this was definitely an encouraging debut for a team that doesn’t have depth to spare in the frontcourt.

—-JuJu Watkins is back and better than ever. In her first official game back at Galen Center, the USC superstar put on a show in a blowout win of Utah State. Watkins had one of the best stat lines of her already extraordinary college career, with 32 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and five steals. She’s the first Big Ten player in a quarter century to stuff the stat sheet in such a way. And her supporting cast has looked just as strong in the early going. Jazzy Davidson and Saniyah Hall shot a combined 17 of 19 from the floor in the Trojans’ season opener, while Hall has back-to-back 20-plus point games to get her USC career started. Altogether, this is a lethal trio.

—USC parted ways with women’s soccer coach Jane Alukonis. The Trojans were just 2-10-6 in 2026, with their fewest wins in a season since the program began in 1993. In five years at USC, Alukonis was 50-26-19 as coach, with the high-water mark coming in 2024, when the Trojans went 18-1-4 and won their first-ever Big Ten title. Since then, USC opened a brand new soccer stadium in 2025, and signed the top recruiting class in the nation, in 2026, but took a major step back. This season, USC went almost two months without a win. It was time to make a change.

latimes.com

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