Ohio State’s next trip is officially set.
The Big Ten announced Monday that the Buckeyes will face USC on Halloween at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC, giving Ohio State its first look at the Trojans as a conference opponent. The game comes after a bye week for the Scarlet and Gray, who are 6-1 and ranked No. 3 in the Week 8 AP Poll.
Ohio State heads into the break on the strength of its biggest win so far, a 19-15 grind over previously unbeaten Indiana on Saturday. It was the kind of game that showed both sides of the Buckeyes’ current identity: plenty to like, plenty still to clean up. Injuries, penalties and mistakes all showed up in a contest that wasn’t decided until nearly the final snap.
The Trojans are having a strong season of their own. Under Lincoln Riley, USC is 6-1 overall, 3-1 in Big Ten play and sitting at No. 16 in the AP Poll.
The Trojans’ only loss came at the Coliseum against Oregon on Sept. 26.
Since then, USC has picked up wins over Washington at home and Penn State on the road. They’re off this week as well, with a road game at Wisconsin on deck before Ohio State arrives.
This matchup also carries a long history. Ohio State and USC have played 23 times, with this one set to be the 17th meeting on one of the schools’ campuses and the first as Big Ten rivals. The Buckeyes are 10-13-1 all-time against the Trojans.
The series started in Los Angeles in 1937, when USC won 13-12. The Trojans took the next meeting too, 14-7 in Columbus the following season. Ohio State got on the board in the series with a pair of wins in a home-and-home stretch, beating USC 33-0 in Los Angeles in 1941 and 28-12 in Columbus the next year.
There have been plenty of swings since then. Ohio State won three straight over USC in 1946, including a 21-0 road win in Southern California, before the Trojans answered with a 32-0 shutout in Columbus in 1947. The teams met in the Rose Bowl for the first time in 1955, with Ohio State winning 20-7 in Pasadena.
The two programs split home-and-home series in the 1960s and 1970s, and then played six straight times in the Rose Bowl between 1969 and 1985, with Ohio State going 2-4 in those games. USC then ripped off seven consecutive wins in the series, including a 35-3 blowout in Los Angeles in 2008 and an 18-15 win at Ohio Stadium in 2009.
Ohio State’s most recent win in the matchup came in the 2017 Cotton Bowl, when the Buckeyes beat USC 24-7.
Here’s the rest of Ohio State’s schedule:
Saturday, Sept. 5 - Ohio State 56, Ball State 3
Saturday, Sept. 12 - Texas 24, Ohio State 23
Saturday, Sept. 19 - Ohio State 59, Kent State 3
Saturday, Sept. 26 - Ohio State 42, Illinois 19
Saturday, Oct. 3 - Ohio State 31, Iowa 14
Saturday, Oct. 10 - Ohio State 45, Maryland 16
Saturday, Oct. 17 - Ohio State 19, Indiana 15
OFF WEEK
Saturday, Oct. 31 - at USC; 7:30 p.m. ET; NBC
Saturday, Nov. 7 - Oregon; TBA
Saturday, Nov. 14 - Northwestern; TBA
Saturday, Nov. 21 - at Nebraska; TBA
Saturday, Nov. 28 - Michigan; 12 p.m. ET, FOX
In Other News...
Ohio State Just Entered A Quarterback Debate Nobody Wanted
Ohio State was already navigating the usual late-season pressure when Julian Sayin went down against Indiana, and now the Buckeyes have an unexpected quarterback conversation on their hands. The injury to the starting quarterback adds a jolt of uncertainty at a position Ohio State had hoped to keep settled, with coach Ryan Day needing to sort through a depth chart that suddenly looks a lot thinner than it did a week ago.
Luke Fahey stepped in after Sayin exited the game, but his performance left enough questions to keep the job open. Tavien St. Clair is waiting in the wings as one of the most highly regarded young quarterbacks on the roster, and the Buckeyes may now have to lean on a pair of freshmen sooner than anyone expected while Sayin works his way back. [Read more 🡒]
Ohio States Recruiting Pipeline Looks Even Stronger Than Fans Realize
Ohio States recruiting machine is already rolling well beyond the usual horizon, with the Buckeyes sitting on 20 verbal commitments in the 2027 class alone. That group includes six national top 100 prospects and the countrys No. 1 overall player, DJ Jacobs, a sign that the programs future roster construction is moving at a pace most schools cannot match.
The pipeline does not stop there, either. The 2028 class already features five commitments, four of them nationally ranked and headlined by quarterback Christopher Vargas, while the 2029 class has a commitment in wide receiver Austin Miller, who is ranked No. 50 nationally. For a staff trying to keep the Buckeyes stocked across multiple cycles, the early breadth is impressive enough, but the next question is how long this momentum can keep building. [Read more 🡒]
Indianas Playoff Picture Just Got More Complicated After AP Chaos
A wild upset weekend around college football has turned the playoff race into a moving target, and Ohio State is right in the middle of the ripple effects. Several top-ranked teams fell, including No. 1 Georgia and No. 2 Notre Dame, creating a fresh scramble near the top of the AP rankings even though USC was idle and did not have to spend the weekend on the field.
The Trojans still picked up a little from the chaos, climbing to No. 17 in the AP Top 25, but the bigger question is whether they can turn that position into a real playoff push. Oddsmakers still view USC as a long shot at +425 to make the College Football Playoff, and the road ahead runs straight through opponents like Ohio State and Indiana, the kind of games that could either validate the buzz or leave the picture just as murky. [Read more 🡒]