The No. 19 USC Trojans get a week 7 breather, but that doesn’t mean Trojans fans will be short on meaningful football to watch. With Lincoln Riley and his team on the sideline, there are still a handful of Saturday games that could shape USC’s path the rest of the way.
The clearest must-watch matchup is No. 4 Ohio State against No.
5 Indiana. It brings together the highest-ranked teams on the week 7 slate, and it also features USC’s two highest-ranked remaining opponents.
The Trojans will host Ohio State on Oct. 31, then head to Indiana on Nov. 14.
If USC is going to strengthen its College Football Playoff case, an upset over either team would help a lot, so this game should tell Trojans fans plenty. Indiana has survived some tight moments against Northwestern and Nebraska, while Ohio State has mostly looked dominant despite its loss to Texas in week 2.
The big question: does one of these teams leave the matchup looking a little more vulnerable?
USC fans should also keep an eye on Wisconsin vs. No.
12 UCLA. Like Ohio State-Indiana, this one involves two upcoming Trojans opponents.
It could even turn into the kind of game that matters for USC’s own schedule, especially if the Trojans are tempted to look ahead to Ohio State. Wisconsin will be worth evaluating for that reason alone.
UCLA, meanwhile, is dealing with a major change after losing starting quarterback Nico Iamaleava to a season-ending injury in the Bruins’ upset win over the Oregon Ducks. How the Bruins handle that adjustment against the Badgers is something USC fans can learn from on Saturday.
There’s also a notable top-10 showdown between No. 8 BYU and No.
2 Notre Dame. With USC and Notre Dame no longer continuing their rivalry after failing to reach a scheduling agreement, the Fighting Irish filled that open spot by adding BYU.
This will be the first game in a home-and-home series between the two programs, and it will send the Cougars to South Bend in 2027. Both teams are undefeated and ranked in the top 10, which helps give the matchup some of the juice that disappeared when Notre Dame’s series with USC was paused.
Finally, Oregon vs. Nebraska could draw plenty of attention from USC fans for a different reason.
The Ducks are the Trojans’ only loss on the schedule, so their standing matters to USC’s resume. If Oregon beats Nebraska, it could eventually help USC by giving that defeat more weight as a “quality loss” if the Ducks climb back into the AP Top 25 Poll.
That’s not exactly an easy rooting interest, especially with Oregon coach Dan Lanning on the other sideline, but it gives Trojans fans a strange kind of hedge. If the Ducks win, USC gets a slight boost.
If they lose, West Coast rival or not, plenty of Trojans fans probably won’t mind at all.
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Bear Bachmeier has already shown he can keep BYU moving when the load falls on his shoulders, but the question now is whether that formula can hold up for long. Relying so heavily on one player is always a dangerous way to live, and the concern gets sharper with Notre Dame looming, because the Cougars may need more than a single high-level quarterback effort to keep the offense functioning at the same level. [Read more 🡒]
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BYU Finally Gets The Notre Dame Showdown Provo Waited Years For
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Scheduling friction has been part of the backdrop all along, from Notre Dame previously backing out of a planned trip to Provo to the schools working through a neutral-site meeting in Las Vegas in 2022. Recently, Notre Dame reached out about a two-game series, a move tied in part to the Irish needing a game that could help strengthen their playoff resume after USC backed out of their rivalry, giving BYU another high-profile opening in a series that has not always been easy to pin down. [Read more 🡒]