Week 10 brought a sharp reset to the Big Ten race, and the ripple effects are already lining up around the conference’s biggest names. Indiana and USC are set for a matchup that could swing the whole season, while Oregon has clawed its way back into the College Football Playoff conversation and Ohio State’s year has started to look shaky. And if the coaching pressure is the headline, Kyle Whittingham of Michigan might be carrying a hotter seat than Lincoln Riley.
The clearest path to the Big Ten title game appears to run through UCLA, but the Bruins’ opponent could come from Saturday’s Indiana-USC showdown. Both teams still have a route there if they win out, though the Trojans have no margin left after another loss would knock them off track.
Indiana, sitting with one loss, has the cleaner path. If USC looks like the team that beat down the Ohio State Buckeyes in Week 9, the Trojans should be able to handle the Hoosiers too.
But that’s the catch with USC: it depends on which version shows up. UCLA could end up facing either a familiar foe or a program it keeps getting compared to.
UCLA, for its part, may have found something real at quarterback. Backup Ty Dieffenbach played with confidence and looked like more than a stopgap in the Bruins’ win over an underrated Minnesota team.
He threw for 303 yards, three touchdowns, and added 27 yards on the ground. That kind of performance changes the feel of a team fast, especially when it comes at this stage of the season.
At the other end of the coaching spectrum, Nebraska’s slide has turned ugly. The Cornhuskers have dropped four straight, and each loss has felt worse than the last.
What began as a hopeful season has unraveled after the defeat to Illinois, and the question now is simple: how much faith is left in Matt Rhule to fix it? From the outside, this team does not look any better than it did when he took over in 2022.
Michigan’s situation looks even more bleak. Losing to a struggling Michigan State team is hard to excuse, and it has only deepened the sense that the Wolverines are headed nowhere with their current head coach.
The season has been a series of disappointments, and quarterback play remains a problem that still hasn’t been solved. Kyle Whittingham’s time at Michigan could end almost as quickly as it began, with a firing possible in a month.
That would put him in a hotter spot than Lincoln Riley. With Rhule also under fire, and Ryan Day at Ohio State another name in the mix, the Big Ten coaching pressure is starting to pile up fast.
Then there’s Oregon, which looked finished not long ago but has suddenly put itself back in the CFP picture. The Ducks have rattled off strong results lately, and their resume still carries real weight.
Dylan Raiola appears to have settled in with the offense, and Oregon’s talent is showing up the way it was supposed to on both sides of the ball. A three-loss playoff run is now very much in play.
In Other News...
USCs New Backcourt Delivered But Early Warning Signs Are Already There
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 🡒]
USC Faces Early Road Test That Could Prove This Start Is Real
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 Is Projecting Confidence Before Indiana Tests What Its Defense Really Is
USCs defense is heading into Week 11 with a clearer sense of itself, and redshirt-freshman nickelback Alex Graham has become one of the players helping explain why. As the Trojans prepare for a road trip to Indiana, Graham talked about the groups mindset, the way the defense is trying to define its identity, and how his role fits into that bigger picture. He also pointed to the bye week as a valuable stretch for the unit to clean up details and keep building.
For a young defender in a scheme that asks a lot from the nickel spot, that kind of reset matters. Grahams own production over eight games offers a glimpse of how much the staff has leaned on him already, but the larger question is how USCs defense will carry that preparation into a real test away from home. Indiana will provide a better read on whether the confidence around the program matches the level the Trojans believe they can reach. [Read more 🡒]