San Jose State is trying to put a 3-9 season behind it and open 2026 on a better note, but the Spartans are walking into the Coliseum as heavy underdogs Saturday afternoon. No. 14 USC is favored by 38.5 points, and the expectation is that Lincoln Riley’s team can take control early, then keep the game from ever getting interesting.
For USC, the real test isn’t just winning. It’s doing it cleanly across all three phases and making sure the margin is never in doubt once the second half starts.
The first goal is simple: have Jayden Maiava on the sideline by the middle of the third quarter. If the Trojans are playing anywhere near their ceiling, the game should already be out of reach by then, giving Riley a chance to turn things over to Jonas Williams or Sam Huard for the rest of the day.
Another point of emphasis is getting San Jose State off the field on third down. This is the first look at Gary Patterson’s defense, and the biggest thing to watch is whether USC can force punts instead of letting drives linger.
Last season, San Jose State converted just under 43% of its third downs, which ranked No. 38 in FBS. USC, meanwhile, ranked No. 82 in FBS last year by allowing conversions on 40.4% of third downs.
Holding the Spartans below 35% would be a major step in the right direction and would line up with a top-30 third down defense based on last season’s numbers.
Special teams is the other box that has to be checked. Riley brought in Mike Ekeler to fix that area, and the standard here is a clean afternoon rather than a flashy one. A blocked punt or kickoff return touchdown would be great, but the bigger need is avoiding mistakes: no big returns allowed, no punt penalties that keep San Jose State drives alive, and no PAT issues like having fewer than 11 players on the field.
If USC handles those three areas, it should do more than win. It should make sure the game is settled long before the final whistle.
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 🡒]