USC heads into 2026 with Lincoln Riley still steering the ship, and the Trojans are trying to turn a promising quarterback situation into something bigger in Year 5 under him. It will also be USC’s third season in the Big Ten, with Riley carrying a 16-10 record over the last two years and a 1-1 mark in postseason play.
The results under Riley have been uneven overall. USC has produced just one double-digit win season during his time in charge, and that came in his first year back in 2022. Since then, the path to College Football Playoff contention has been a rough one in Los Angeles.
The biggest reason for optimism is Jayden Maiava, who is back for his final season. The 2025 All-Big Ten Third Team quarterback posted a nation-leading 91.2 QBR last season and also paced the Big Ten with 3,711 passing yards in 2025.
He enters the year with 31 career starts, and Riley’s track record with elite quarterbacks only adds to the intrigue. Riley is the only head coach to lead three Heisman Trophy winning quarterbacks, has 3 quarterbacks selected No. 1 overall in the NFL Draft and has the most No. 1 overall draft selections.
USC opens the 2026 season on Aug. 29 against San Jose State, and the full slate is set for a season that includes a mix of early nonconference games and a heavy Big Ten run.
USC football 2026 TV schedule
Aug. 29 - San Jose St. - 3 p.m.
ET - NBC
Sept.
4 - Fresno St. - 9 p.m. ET - FOX
Sept. 12 - Louisiana - 11 p.m.
ET - BTN
Sept. 19 - at Rutgers - 3:30 p.m.
ET - CBS
Sept.
26 - Oregon - TBA - TBA
Oct.
3 - Washington - TBA - TBA
Oct. 10 - at Penn State - TBA - TBA
Oct. 24 - at Wisconsin - TBA - TBA
Oct.
31 - Ohio State - TBA - TBA
Nov. 14 - at Indiana - TBA - TBA
Nov. 21 - Maryland - TBA - TBA
Nov. 28 - UCLA - TBA - TBA
Dec. 5 - Big Ten Championship - 8 p.m.
ET - FOX
In Other News...
USC Just Got Another Reminder It No Longer Looks Like An Elite Program
USCs place in the national conversation has become a little easier to measure by who is missing from the preseason spotlight. The Trojans did not place a single player on the USA TODAY Sports preseason All-America college football team, a list that leaned heavily toward the sports familiar heavyweights from Oregon, Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia and Texas. For a program that still carries a blueblood name, it is another sign that the market no longer treats USC like one of the sports defining powers.
The bigger concern is how often this sort of reminder keeps arriving for a team that has not reached the College Football Playoff in 12 seasons and now heads into a pivotal 2026 campaign under Lincoln Riley. USC is still being measured against the standard set by programs such as Ohio State and Oregon, but the preseason rankings suggest it has work to do before it can claim that tier again. For a fan base used to thinking in championships, the gap between reputation and reality is becoming harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]
USC May Have Found A New Weapon Sooner Than Expected
USCs 42-26 win over San Jos State offered an early glimpse of a player who may have arrived sooner than expected. True freshman Trent Mosley caught seven passes for 118 yards in his college debut, becoming the first USC freshman since 2014 to clear 100 receiving yards in a first game and giving the Trojans another dynamic option to watch as the season unfolds.
The performance came on a day when USC was also sorting out its leadership structure, naming Tobias Raymond, Kilian OConnor, Alex VanSumeren and Jayden Maiava as permanent captains for the season. OConnor is currently sidelined by injury but remains part of that leadership group, while the program also unveiled the Progressive Insurance logo on the field as part of a multiyear sponsorship agreement, another sign of how much is changing around the team even as Mosleys emergence grabs the attention. [Read more 🡒]
USC Freshman TE Is Drawing A Comparison Trojans Fans Will Notice
Mark Bowman has barely gotten his USC career underway, but the freshman tight end is already generating the kind of buzz that tends to follow special talent. After a quiet debut in which he had limited production, Bowman still left enough of an impression for college football analyst David Pollack to point to his potential, which is exactly the sort of early conversation Trojans fans like to hear about a young pass-catcher in their system.
The comparison gaining traction is one USC supporters will recognize quickly: Brock Bowers. The former Georgia star piled up a rare college rsum, winning two national championships and the Mackey Award twice before heading to the Las Vegas Raiders, and an SEC coach reportedly sees some of that same upside in Bowman. For a freshman just beginning to carve out his role, being mentioned in the same breath as Bowers says plenty about the ceiling USC thinks it may be working with. [Read more 🡒]