As USC gets ready for what’s being billed as a season-defining trip to Indiana, Brian Kelly has added an unexpected wrinkle to the conversation.
The former Notre Dame head coach, now a CBS Sports commentator, said on air that Lincoln Riley’s Trojans will go into Bloomington and beat Curt Cignetti and the Hoosiers. Kelly knows the state of Indiana well from his time coaching there, which makes the pick stand out even more.
It’s not the kind of prediction that shakes the sport, but it does raise eyebrows for a few reasons. Kelly spent years on the other side of this USC matchup and usually had the upper hand against the Trojans while at Notre Dame. Now he’s backing USC over Indiana, and that alone is enough to make the choice interesting.
There’s also the backdrop of how Notre Dame and Indiana fans have already gone at it. The two sides had a lively argument before and after Notre Dame’s win over Indiana in the 2024 College Football Playoff. Notre Dame ended that season as the runner-up, while 2025 Indiana, under Curt Cignetti, went one step further and won the national championship.
Kelly doesn’t have any obvious reason to pick one way or the other beyond believing USC will win. Still, the choice feels notable because both schools have fan bases that don’t exactly love Notre Dame. That’s part of what makes the pick so curious: why lean toward the Trojans and away from the Hoosiers?
There’s no way to know whether anything deeper is at play. Kelly wants to return to coaching, and that naturally invites speculation about whether his view of USC, Indiana, or the broader coaching landscape had anything to do with the call.
Maybe it’s just a straight football pick. Maybe it’s something more.
Either way, it’s a fascinating one.
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