USC’s season has reached the point where every snap feels like a referendum, and Saturday in Bloomington may say more about the Trojans than any game so far.
No. 18 USC enters the weekend at 7-2 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten, with a matchup against reigning national champion No.
9 Indiana looming at Memorial Stadium. After that comes another heavyweight test: undefeated crosstown rival No.
4 UCLA on Nov. 28 to close the regular season. With only three games left, the Trojans are trying to keep their College Football Playoff hopes breathing.
That hope survived Halloween night, when USC pulled off a stunning win over No. 20 Ohio State.
It was the kind of result that can flip a season in a hurry. But the earlier loss to Wisconsin still hangs over the Trojans, and Saturday’s trip gives them no room to drift.
Indiana and USC are both coming off a bye week, and with this being the first meeting between the programs since 1982, the timing only sharpens the stakes.
The winner could wind up shaping the playoff picture for both teams. Both sides are fighting to stay in the conversation for the final 12-team field, and the loser risks watching that door slam shut.
Indiana, though, arrives with some real uncertainty. Graduate quarterback Josh Hoover has been the Hoosiers’ tone-setter this season, leading the team in pass attempts and passing yards.
But after struggles in his last two games, seventh-year graduate quarterback Grant Wilson could be the one under center instead. Indiana coach Curt Cignetti has not said who will start Saturday.
The Hoosiers are also dealing with a major absence in the backfield. Junior running back Turbo Richard is out with a shoulder injury and is not on the depth chart for the game.
Richard leads Indiana with 745 rushing yards, so his loss changes the shape of the offense. If he’s unavailable, redshirt senior Lee Beebe Jr. will be asked to absorb a heavier workload.
There’s more injury uncertainty beyond that. Junior linebacker Rolijah Hardy is questionable as well. He sat out Indiana’s overtime win over Minnesota two weeks ago, though he was a key piece in the victory over Michigan, finishing with nine tackles.
Indiana’s offense has also cooled off. In its first five games, the Hoosiers were averaging more than 44 points per game.
Over the last four, that number has dropped to just about 18. Cignetti pointed to missed chances and six penalties on the offensive line as part of the problem.
“Before you win it, you can’t lose it,” Cignetti said in a press conference Monday. “We got to make sure we do that.”
USC, meanwhile, is trying to turn a huge home win into something bigger. The Trojans know the Ohio State upset bought them time, but it did not solve everything. They still need to show the committee they belong in the bracket, and they need to do it in one of the toughest road environments on their schedule.
Lincoln Riley said his team has been through enough already to be ready for the moment.
“The big games we’ve had here at home, the tough road venues that we’ve already been into, I think that helps get you ready,” Riley said in a post-practice news conference Tuesday.
The challenge is especially clear for redshirt senior quarterback Jayden Maiava, who will be central to USC’s chances. At Wisconsin, he finished with one of his lowest completion percentages of the season at 62%. Riley’s team has also been through a rough patch on the road already, and that loss in Madison came after a bye week, just like this one.
Maiava said the Trojans need to come out with urgency from the start.
“Collectively as a group on all three phases, being able to start fast is really key,” Maiava said in a post-practice news conference Tuesday.
Riley pushed back on the idea that the previous bye-week loss should be read too simply.
“It’s not as simple as ‘We didn’t win the game after the previous bye week,’” Riley said. “The team is certainly more fresh, after already having had one a couple weeks prior; that part felt much different to us.”
USC’s path is narrow now, and Saturday’s matchup in Bloomington is the next step in a season that still has playoff life left in it. The Trojans and Hoosiers kick off at 12:30 p.m. at Memorial Stadium.
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