USC’s late-November home date with Maryland now has a kickoff time and a TV home.
The Trojans will host the Terrapins on Nov. 21 at 3:15 p.m. PT, with the Big Ten Network carrying the game. It’s a familiar network for USC this season, even if NBC has been the more common presence around the Coliseum - the Trojans have already played four home games in front of NBC cameras in 2026.
Maryland’s trip to Los Angeles also brings back a matchup that hasn’t happened since 2024, when the Terrapins stunned USC 29-28 in College Park, Maryland.
The Big Ten Network has not announced its full broadcast crew for this one yet, but the outlet’s team of Mark Followill, Rhett Lewis and Caroline Hendershot handled USC’s 49-30 win over Louisiana earlier this season.
There’s also a bigger emotional layer to this game for USC. The Nov. 21 contest will be the last regular-season home game for quarterback Jayden Maiava, who is set to close out a three-season run in Troy.
Maiava didn’t start his college career at USC, but Lincoln Riley brought him in from the transfer portal after he played at UNLV, and he has developed into one of Riley’s most productive portal additions. His rise has even put him on the NFL Draft radar, with some mock drafts projecting him as a first-round pick in April 2027.
Maiava should get a proper sendoff, and he won’t be the only senior getting one. Safety Christian Pierce and cornerback Prophet Brown are also in line for a final regular-season home appearance at the Coliseum. Brown’s path has been especially long, having arrived during the Clay Helton era in 2021 and stayed with USC all the way through.
Before any of that, though, USC has a much bigger test in front of it. The Trojans still have to get through No.
4 Indiana on Nov. 14 on the road. The Hoosiers are 8-1 and sit No. 4 in the College Football Playoff poll, with a clear path back to the Big Ten Championship Game on Dec.
USC can complicate that picture. The Trojans’ Oct. 31 upset of Ohio State pushed them back into the CFP conversation, and if they can beat Indiana, Maryland and No.
8 UCLA, they would strengthen their case to reach Indianapolis with the conference title on the line. That means even a game against unranked Maryland carries real weight in USC’s final stretch of 2026.
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USC Suddenly Holds A Surprising Amount Of Power In The Big Ten
Desman Stephens hit on Oregon quarterback Dante Moore has already rippled well beyond the moment itself, because Moore is now out for the rest of the season and the Ducks path forward has become tangled with what USC does next. The Trojans, suddenly, find themselves in the middle of a conference race that extends past their own standings, with their upcoming game against Indiana carrying weight far beyond a single November result.
Indiana sits atop the Big Ten with one conference loss, and a USC win would reshape the league picture in a hurry while also keeping Oregons College Football Playoff hopes alive. For a program still trying to establish itself in its new conference home, it is an unusual kind of leverage to have this late in the season, and it makes the USC-Indiana matchup feel like more than just another Saturday game. [Read more 🡒]
USC Just Got A Big Ten Opening Fans Need To Watch
The Big Ten race keeps shifting around USC, and the latest weekend only added more layers to sort through. Illinois took down Nebraska, UCLA handled Minnesota, Maryland got past Purdue, Penn State slipped by Washington, Oregon knocked off Ohio State, Wisconsin beat Rutgers, Michigan State topped Michigan and Iowa got by Northwestern, a run of results that reshuffled the league picture in a hurry and gave the Trojans even more reason to keep one eye on the standings.
For USC, the takeaway is less about any single upset and more about how wide open the conference still feels. With so many teams taking turns looking vulnerable or dangerous, the Trojans are watching a league where momentum can change fast and where every result can alter the path ahead. The early read is clear enough: the opening is there, but the margin for error in the Big Ten remains thin. [Read more 🡒]
USC Fans Had A Brutal Bye Week For One Reason
USCs final regular-season bye week could not have come at a rougher time for the Trojans playoff hopes. While Lincoln Rileys team sat idle, a long list of rivals and potential comparison points kept stacking up wins, from Notre Dame knocking off No. 1 Miami to UCLA staying unbeaten with a victory over Minnesota.
Oregons dominant showing against Ohio State, Utahs undefeated run and road wins by Texas and Oklahoma over ranked opponents only sharpened the picture around USC. The Trojans still control their own path, but the margin for error is gone now, with three straight wins needed to stay in the College Football Playoff conversation. [Read more 🡒]