USC’s standing among the nation’s power conference athletic departments came in a little lower than expected in CBS Sports’ latest ranking, with the Trojans landing at No. 22.
Cody Nagel put together the list after the 2025-26 season, weighing results across football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, baseball, volleyball and softball. At the top was Texas at No. 1, helped by a women’s basketball run to the Final Four and a softball national title.
USC also trailed five Big Ten programs that finished ahead of it: Michigan at No. 3, Nebraska at No.
5, UCLA at No. 6, Oregon at No. 18 and Indiana at No.
The Trojans’ football program is still chasing a College Football Playoff berth for the first time since the format began in 2014. USC finished 9-4 in 2025 and closed the year with a loss in the Alamo Bowl.
Once a powerhouse that regularly sat near the top of the sport, USC has not been a consistent national threat for about two decades. Lincoln Riley is entering his fifth season as head coach in 2026, and he has gone 35-18 so far.
His best USC team came in 2022, when the Trojans won 11 games and reached the Pac-12 Championship Game. They have not been back to a conference title game since.
Men’s basketball has also had a rough stretch. USC missed the NCAA Tournament for the third year in a row after finishing 18-14 in 2025-26.
The season started with real promise, as the Trojans went undefeated in conference play early on, but Big Ten competition changed the picture quickly. USC dropped eight straight games to end the year, falling from safely in the field to well outside the bubble by Selection Sunday.
Women’s basketball had to navigate the season without JuJu Watkins, who missed the entire 2025-26 campaign after suffering a torn ACL in the 2025 NCAA Tournament. Watkins had been the national player of the year the season before.
Even without her, USC still earned a No. 9 seed in the NCAA Tournament, picked up a win, and then bowed out in the second round. The Trojans finished 18-14.
Baseball came agonizingly close to a breakthrough. USC was one win away from its first College World Series since 2001 after taking a 1-0 lead in its best-of-three Super Regional against North Carolina.
The Trojans then lost Game 2, setting up a winner-take-all Game 3. USC led 3-1 entering the eighth inning, but could not finish the job and was walked off in the bottom of the ninth.
The volleyball programs also added to USC’s profile. The women went 25-7, reached the NCAA Tournament and were eliminated in the second round. The men finished 20-8 and saw their postseason run end in the regional final of the NCAA Tournament.
In Other News...
Notre Dame Just Turned Up Pressure On USC In A Crucial Fight
June brought a wave of commitment drama across the 2027 recruiting class, and Notre Dame emerged with one of the loudest hauls in the country. Marcus Freemans program, already sitting near the top of the national board, added enough high-end talent to keep the Irish in the thick of the future roster race, while USC spent much of its own 2027 work earlier in the spring and enters the summer with a class that still has real traction under Lincoln Riley.
For the Trojans, the bigger issue is not just where they stand now, but how the battle around them keeps shifting. USC has already built around notable blue-chip names across the 2026 and 2027 cycles, yet the Irish are making it clear they intend to stay aggressive in the same recruiting lanes. With the two programs not set to meet on the field for at least the next few seasons, the rivalry is going to be fought less in a stadium and more on the trail where every elite commitment matters. [Read more 🡒]
Chasen Johnson Just Gave USC Fans Real Hope At Corner
Chasen Johnsons road back has been one of the quieter but more encouraging storylines around USCs secondary this offseason. The redshirt sophomore cornerback, who spent much of last season working his way through a knee injury and surgery, has been getting steady support from position coach Trovon Reed while posting recovery clips that suggest the rehab is moving in the right direction. With fall camp approaching, that matters in a cornerback room where starting jobs are still very much up for grabs and Lincoln Riley has already pointed to improvement from other defenders such as Marcelles Williams.
Johnsons latest update gave Trojans fans a little extra reason to believe he can still factor into that competition. In the clip, he was moving heavy weight in the gym and doing it without a brace on the injured knee, a small but meaningful sign for a player whose trajectory was interrupted just as he was looking to push for a bigger role in the USC secondary. The real test, of course, will come once the pads come on and the competition turns from rehab progress videos to live reps. [Read more 🡒]
Eric Musselman Just Framed USCs Biggest Rebuild Gamble
Eric Musselman is making it clear that USCs rebuild is going to be built the hard way, with a little of everything. In a college basketball era defined by constant player movement, he said the Trojans have to keep key returners, bring in high-upside freshmen and still stay active in the transfer portal if they want to keep pace. Its the sort of balancing act that has become unavoidable, but for USC it also doubles as the blueprint for how quickly this next roster can turn into something real.
The good news for the Trojans is that there is a foundation to work with, anchored by a core group from last season and a highly regarded incoming class. Christian Collins gives USC a five-star headliner, and the Ratliff twins add more talent to a class that already has people around the program thinking big. Musselmans challenge now is less about explaining the plan and more about making sure the mix of retention and additions actually holds together once the season starts. [Read more 🡒]