USC’s playoff path got a little clearer in the latest College Football Playoff rankings, even if the margin for error is still razor thin.
The Trojans climbed two spots to No. 18 heading into Week 11, helped in part by a weekend that saw Missouri, LSU and Ohio State all take a third loss. Southern Cal is coming off a bye, but the real test arrives now: a trip to No. 9 Indiana, with the Trojans’ postseason hopes hanging in the balance.
With two losses already on the board, Riley’s team is in one-game-season territory. Win, and the conversation stays alive. Lose, and the road gets a lot steeper.
Indiana, meanwhile, took a hit of its own. The Hoosiers dropped five spots despite also being idle last week.
USC has seen this movie before. A year ago, the Trojans were sitting at No. 16 in the CFP rankings before falling to No.
5 Oregon late last November, a loss that shut the door on their playoff hopes in Eugene. Now the question is whether they can flip the script and keep their own run alive in 2026.
It won’t come easy. The defending national champions are a different team than they were a year ago, and Memorial Stadium has not been a frequent stop for them - just one game there in coach Curt Cignetti’s three seasons.
Even at No. 18, USC still controls its own fate.
The catch is simple: the Trojans have to win out. That signature win over then-No.
2 Ohio State still matters, but the rest of the path is brutal enough to keep the pressure cranked all the way up, with Indiana and No. 4 UCLA still on the schedule.
At the top of the rankings, Georgia is back in the No. 1 spot after a 42-7 rout of No. 19 Ole Miss.
Notre Dame also made a major move, jumping six spots to No. 1 after beating No. 7 Miami.
The Irish close with Boston College, SMU and Syracuse, putting them in position to chase a first-round bye.
No. 15 Iowa is another team worth watching.
The Hawkeyes, who have never made the playoff, are 7-2 and still have Purdue, Illinois and Nebraska ahead of them. That gives them a real chance to finish strong and make a push.
The committee’s logic, though, remains hard to follow. Oregon moved up seven spots from No. 23 to No. 16, landing two spots ahead of USC despite having three losses to the Trojans’ two. The Ducks do own the head-to-head win, and they handled USC decisively at the Coliseum, but the inconsistency doesn’t stop there.
Oklahoma State beat Oregon and both teams are 6-3, yet the Cowboys are stuck at No. 25.
Ohio State, sitting at No. 20 with a 6-3 record, beat No. 15 Iowa.
And No. 8 Tennessee owns the same record as No.
3 Alabama, plus a blowout win over its rival.
Elsewhere, UCLA moved up four spots as Bob Chesney’s first-year team keeps rolling without a loss. Utah is also unbeaten after knocking off in-state rival BYU, which fell one spot to No. 1 after the weekend.
LSU took the biggest tumble among the notable names, sliding seven spots to No. 21 after its third loss, this one to Alabama. The Tigers are not dead yet, though. If a three-loss SEC team is going to sneak into the playoff, this might be the year.
For Lane Kiffin and LSU, the rest of the season will tell the story. The Tigers still have No.
7 Texas and No. 8 Tennessee left, and those games will decide whether this season keeps drifting or turns back in the right direction.
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USC got the kind of backcourt burst it was hoping for in the Caesars Lake Tahoe Classic, where guards Alijah Arenas and Rodney Rice each turned in career nights in a win over Wichita State. Arenas scored 30 and Rice added 32, giving the Trojans a dynamic one-two punch that carried much of the offense while Eric Musselmans group showed the kind of aggression he has been pushing since taking over.
Even with those standout performances, the game also offered a reminder that this team is still sorting out its identity. USC had trouble from three-point range but stayed afloat by hitting 88 percent of its free throws, and KJ Lewis again showed why his defensive presence matters even as foul trouble limited him late. The Trojans have firepower, but the early signs suggest Musselman still has a few things to clean up before this backcourt can fully settle in. [Read more 🡒]
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USC gets an early chance to show its strong start is more than a good opening note when it heads to Haas Pavilion on Nov. 11 to face California on ESPN2. The No. 21 Trojans have already banked a neutral-site win over Wichita State, and they did it with a burst of offense from Rodney Rice and Alijah Arenas, whose career-best scoring night helped set the tone for a promising first stretch.
Now comes the kind of road test that can sharpen a young season in a hurry, especially before USC settles into a three-game homestand. California will provide a different setting and a different kind of pressure, and for a team trying to establish itself early, this is the sort of game that can either reinforce the buzz or expose how much work still remains. [Read more 🡒]
USC Faces A Big Ten Test That Could Change Everything
With Indiana coming to Los Angeles, USC is staring at one of those midseason Big Ten games that can reshape how the rest of the conference is viewed. The matchup matters well beyond the Trojans, because the league has already started sorting itself into winners, rebound candidates and teams trying to keep their footing, with Oregon suddenly back in the College Football Playoff conversation and UCLA getting a lift from backup quarterback Ty Dieffenbach.
For USC, the stakes are tied to more than one Saturday. A strong showing would help the Trojans strengthen their place in a conference that has already produced plenty of volatility, while a stumble would add to the pressure on a league race that has coaches like Matt Rhule and Kyle Whittingham facing uncomfortable questions about where things are headed. Indiana may be the next opponent, but the larger backdrop is a Big Ten season that still feels wide open, and USC has a chance to make itself part of the story in a major way. [Read more 🡒]