Suddenly, Indiana is staring at a game that could shape the rest of its season.
After a week off, the Hoosiers return to Memorial Stadium for a Saturday matchup with USC, a team that arrives in Bloomington riding the momentum of a win over Ohio State. With both teams sitting in the mix, there’s a real sense that this one may not leave room for everybody in the College Football Playoff picture.
No. 18 USC comes in at 7-2, while No.
9 Indiana is 8-1. Kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.
ET on Saturday, with CBS carrying the broadcast. Brad Nessler will handle play-by-play, Charles Davis will provide color and Jenny Dell will be on the sideline.
Fans can also stream it on Paramount Plus or through their streaming provider, and the game will air on the IU Football radio network.
Indiana is listed as about a 9.5-point favorite. The forecast calls for 47 degrees, partly cloudy skies, wind at 7 mph and no chance of precipitation.
USC has owned the series so far, leading 4-0 all-time.
Curt Cignetti enters the game in his third season at Indiana and his 16th as a college head coach. He owns a 154-38 career record and is 35-3 with the Hoosiers. On the other side, Lincoln Riley is 42-20 in five seasons at USC and 97-30 overall in 10 seasons as a head coach.
A showdown in Bloomington.
Indiana’s Big Ten slate around this game is packed, too. Friday night brings Illinois at UCLA on FOX.
Saturday starts with Northwestern at Ohio State, Wisconsin at Maryland and Nebraska at Rutgers, followed by Michigan at Oregon. After USC at Indiana, Washington visits Michigan State, Minnesota plays at Penn State and Purdue heads to Iowa.
USC’s path into Bloomington has been uneven, but the Trojans have shown plenty of firepower. They opened with wins over San José State, Fresno State and Louisiana, then beat Rutgers before falling to Oregon. Since then, they’ve taken down Washington, Penn State and Ohio State, with a loss to Wisconsin in between.
Jayden Maiava has been the engine. Against Ohio State, he completed 15 of 22 passes for 222 yards and a touchdown without an interception.
On the season, he leads the Big Ten in completions per game at 22.0, passing touchdowns with 20 and passing yards with 2,524. Through nine games, he has accounted for 22 touchdowns, throwing 20 and rushing for two, while throwing just five interceptions.
His start stacks up well against some of the biggest names in USC history. Through nine games, his 66.9 completion percentage is the best in that group. His 20 passing touchdowns are eight fewer than Caleb Williams, two fewer than Carson Palmer and equal to what Matt Leinart had in his first nine games.
Maiava also sits eighth on USC’s career total offense list with 7,568 yards as a Trojan. In addition, he ranks 13th on the school’s single-season passing list with 265 completions in 2025.
USC’s passing game has gotten another boost from freshman receiver Trent Mosley, who has been one of the most electric players in the country this season. In only six games, he has 32 catches for 512 yards, a team-high six touchdowns and 212 punt return yards on eight returns. One of those returns went 86 yards for a touchdown against Louisiana.
Another freshman has made his mark in a big way, too. Tight end Mark Bowman turned in one of the most eye-catching plays of the college football season against Ohio State, ripping off a 70-yard catch in the third quarter that was the longest play of the game and moved USC from its own 27 to the Ohio State 3.
Bowman, who is 6-foot-5 and 245 pounds, leads all FBS freshman tight ends in targets with 31, receptions with 24 and receiving yards with 283. He also ranks second among freshman tight ends with two touchdown catches, even though he has missed three games.
The Trojans have also leaned on King Miller in the run game. He has 603 rushing yards on 125 carries, averaging 4.8 yards per attempt, with four touchdowns.
Miller has added seven catches for 41 yards and has three 100-yard games this season: 128 yards against Louisiana and 102 yards each against Rutgers and Penn State. He has now gone past 1,600 career rushing yards and 13 career rushing touchdowns.
Up front, USC’s offensive line earned a spot on the 2026 Joe Moore Award Midseason Honor Roll. Elijah Paige has been especially strong, according to PFF. Among Power Four linemen with at least 350 block snaps, he ranks No. 3 overall and No. 1 in the Big Ten with an 84.8 offensive grade, No. 3 in the Power Four and No. 2 in the Big Ten with a 90.7 pass block grade, and No. 3 in the Big Ten and No. 9 in the Power Four with an 80.0 run block grade.
Defensively, freshman edge rusher Luke Wafle has been a problem for opposing offenses. The On3/Rivals No. 1 overall prospect from the 2026 class has been named a Midseason True Freshman All-American by On3/Rivals, 247Sports and The Athletic. He leads all FBS true freshmen in quarterback pressures with 23 and has 36 total tackles, including 26 solo stops, 8.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.
USC punter Lachlan Carrigan, from Melbourne, Australia, is averaging 48.7 yards on 17 punts. That number would rank fifth nationally among listed leaders, though he does not qualify for the leaderboard’s minimum 3.6 punts per game.
There’s also a small Indiana tie on the USC staff. Special teams coordinator and linebackers coach Mike Ekeler spent 2011-12 at Indiana as co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.
As for the prediction models, both lean Indiana. ESPN SP+ projects a 31-20 Hoosiers win and gives Indiana a 74% chance to win. ESPN FPI has Indiana at 78.2% to win.
The expectation: Indiana does just enough on offense to survive another game that comes down to the wire.
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Indiana Faces A Huge Availability Question Against USC
USC is heading into its Big Ten matchup with Indiana in unusually good shape, at least by conference standards this season. The Trojans did not add any new significant injuries, and a few important names are still worth watching on the report, including safety Trestin Castro and defensive lineman Jahkeem Stewart, while tight end Mark Bowman has made it back to full participation.
Indianas side of the availability picture is a little more complicated. Starting quarterback Josh Hoover is no longer on the injury report, which is a welcome sign for the Hoosiers, but they will still be without starters Joe Brunner and Turbo Richard because of injuries, leaving the lineup a little thinner in a game where depth could matter. [Read more 🡒]
Indiana Faces One Huge Offensive Test In Playoff Fight Vs USC
A playoff race game at Memorial Stadium brings a different kind of pressure this weekend, with No. 9 Indiana set to host No. 18 USC in a matchup that could shape both teams postseason paths. Both sides are coming off a bye week, and the noon kickoff on CBS gives the Hoosiers a chance to reset at a time when every possession matters a little more.
USC arrives with momentum after its upset win over Ohio State and still has plenty to play for in the College Football Playoff chase. Indiana, meanwhile, has to sort through injuries and find a cleaner offensive rhythm against a USC defense that will ask a lot of the Hoosiers from the start, making this one of the most revealing tests left on their schedule. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas Big Ten Path Suddenly Runs Through A Dangerous USC Test
Indianas overtime escape against Minnesota did more than pad the win column. It left the Hoosiers alone as the Big Tens only one-loss team after Ohio States recent defeat, which means the road to the conference title game now runs through Bloomington. After reaching eight wins and getting a bye week to reset, Indiana suddenly finds itself in a position it has not occupied often in this league race, with its margin for error looking much different than it did just a week ago.
The next step is a USC matchup that now carries far more weight than it did on the calendar a month ago. Indiana has earned the right to control its own fate, but that also means every remaining test matters, and the Trojans bring enough talent and danger to make this one feel like a real measuring stick. With the bye offering a brief pause, the focus shifts quickly from surviving Minnesota to handling a game that could shape the rest of the Hoosiers Big Ten story. [Read more 🡒]