The kickoff time is set for one of the Big Ten’s early-season heavyweight games, and USC’s trip to face Oregon won’t be buried in a late-night window.
The Sept. 26 matchup at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. PT, with NBC carrying the game as part of its Big Ten Saturday coverage. The announcement came on the morning of Sept. 14, giving fans clarity on a meeting that already carries major weight in the conference race and the College Football Playoff picture.
USC enters the game at No. 12 after its late Sept. 12 win over Louisiana, while Oregon slid to No. 21 after its collapse against massive underdog Oklahoma State.
That Oklahoma State result is going to hang over this one. The Cowboys had already beaten Oregon 69-3 in Eugene during the 2025 season, a loss that eventually led to longtime coach Mike Gundy being fired. They then showed up in Stillwater at 0-1 after a 24-10 Week 1 loss to Tulsa, yet still managed to knock off the Ducks.
Dante Moore had a rough night for Oregon, finishing with 191 passing yards and taking four sacks. On the other side, Oklahoma State quarterback and North Texas transfer Drew Mestemaker threw for 317 yards and added 109 more on the ground. Caleb Hawkins also helped fuel the upset with 110 rushing yards.
That kind of tape will give Lincoln Riley and offensive coordinator Luke Huard plenty to study, and the Cowboys under coach Eric Morris may have offered a blueprint for how to attack Oregon in 2026.
USC, though, has its own business to handle before looking ahead. The Trojans face Rutgers on Sept. 19 in their first road trip of the 2026 campaign.
And when Oregon comes to Los Angeles, USC will also have last year’s meeting in Eugene on its mind. Oregon won that game 42-27, with Moore throwing for 257 yards against the Trojans. Jayden Maiava passed for 306 yards and three touchdowns, but he was intercepted twice, including once by returning Ducks cornerback Ify Obidegwu.
NBC’s broadcast will mark the second time its crew has taken in the Coliseum. The network also aired USC’s 2026 opener against San José State during Week 0, when the Trojans rolled to a 42-26 win. In that game, wide receiver Trent Mosley and edge rusher Luke Wafle stood out, while Maiava completed 25 of 29 passes for 286 yards and two touchdowns.
USC leads the all-time series 38-24-2, but Oregon has won the last four meetings.
In Other News...
Dan Lanning Pushes Back On Oregon's Simplest Loss Narrative
The final offensive series will get replayed plenty after Oregons 39-31 loss to Oklahoma State, especially the fumble by Dierre Hill Jr. that stalled the Ducks at the worst possible time. But Dan Lanning was quick to push back on the idea that the game can be reduced to one play, pointing instead to a broader offensive effort that never found enough consistency to pull the Ducks through.
Hill still gave Oregon useful production with 74 rushing yards on 15 carries and two catches for 8 yards, but the bigger picture was harder to ignore. Lanning pointed to problems up front and an uneven passing day from Dante Moore as part of a larger offensive struggle, which is why the postgame conversation in Eugene is less about a single turnover and more about how many things needed to go right for the Ducks that simply did not. [Read more 🡒]
Oregon Film Raised Two Lineup Questions Fans Should Watch Closely
The latest game film offered a useful window into how Oregon managed a roster that was not entirely settled before kickoff. Several players carried questionable or probable tags, and that uncertainty showed up in the way the Ducks handled snap counts, especially along the offensive line and in the defensive backfield. There was a substitution at left guard after the first quarter, while the secondary continued to cycle through different looks as the staff worked through matchups and performance-driven changes.
The bigger takeaway for Oregon fans is that the Ducks were not just filling in gaps, they were also sorting out how best to deploy players in real time. Defensive backs stayed in strict positional assignments, even as rotations stayed active and some players shifted to different spots. The heat added another layer to those decisions, making personnel management part of the game plan as much as scheme, and leaving a couple of lineup questions worth watching closely going forward. [Read more 🡒]
Arkansas Is About To See How Big This Week 3 Test Really Is
Week 2 gave college football plenty of movement at the top, and Oregon was part of the churn even without a statement win of its own. Texas rallied past Ohio State, Michigan took down Oklahoma and the Ducks came out of their loss to Oklahoma State with plenty of questions still attached, especially as the early AP Top 25 picture starts to settle around what teams have actually done on the field.
That makes the next test even more meaningful for Arkansas, which is about to learn just how much this Week 3 matchup can reshape the conversation around both programs. With the projected poll already sorting contenders from pretenders based on recent results, Oregons standing and the stakes around its next opponent are all tied together now, and the coming week should show whether last Saturday was a bump in the road or something more concerning. [Read more 🡒]