For the eleventh straight season and fourth time below coach Lincoln Riley, USC completed its season on the skin trying in on the Faculty Soccer Playoff discipline.
However it can get to complete this soccer season with a primary.
USC will face Texas Christian within the Alamo Bowl, a supply not approved to debate the matchup publicly confirmed to The Occasions. The Trojans have by no means spent the bowl season in San Antonio, the place the Alamo Bowl has been performed since 1993.
Their opponent comes as considerably of a shock contemplating the Horned Frogs completed 8-4 in the course of the common season, in a tie for fifth within the Huge 12. The Alamo Bowl will get first number of Huge 12 groups and will have chosen Brigham Younger, which misplaced within the Huge 12 title recreation and, like USC, completed inside one lack of the playoff discipline. However the bowl presumably handed on the Cougars as a result of they took half within the recreation final season.
USC will head to San Antonio figuring out that yet another win on its resume might need earned the Trojans a bid. They finally completed sixteenth within the remaining Faculty Soccer Playoff rankings, with two wins over high 25 groups (Michigan and Iowa) and two losses (Oregon and Notre Dame).
An Alamo Bowl bid is probably not a lot of a comfort to those that anticipated USC to compete for its first playoff look in 2025. However these hopes went out the window final month in Eugene, Ore., the place the playoff-bound Geese dealt the Trojans their third lack of the yr.
Since then, Riley has reiterated the significance of ending this season sturdy, serving to “pave the road” for this system going ahead. That message helped encourage a dominant rivalry win over UCLA. Whether or not it can resonate by one other bowl season with out larger stakes stays to be seen.
USC can nonetheless end with 10 wins for simply the second time up to now eight seasons, the final being in Riley’s debut season in 2022. The Trojans have completed sturdy in every of their previous two seasons below Riley, beating Louisville in an exciting Vacation Bowl on the finish of the 2023 season after which mounting a comeback to upend Texas A&M within the 2024 Las Vegas Bowl.
This time, the Trojans will enter their bowl as a transparent favourite. TCU has one win over a ranked staff this season — a 17-14 victory over No. 21 Houston — whereas their solely different ranked matchup was a lopsided loss to BYU.
TCU quarterback Josh Hoover is among the Huge 12’s most prolific passers with 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns this season. However he additionally led the league in interceptions (13).
The Horned Frogs can transfer the ball by the air, however their opponents haven’t confronted a lot resistance, both. TCU ranks 108th within the nation in go protection, making it statistically the worst go protection USC has confronted all season.
USC will likely be with out some key elements of its passing assault — and maybe extra. The offensive line will down two of its starters due to accidents — left sort out Elijah Paige and heart Kilian O’Connor — whereas key reserve Micah Banuelos entered the switch portal this previous week.
The offense will nearly actually must climate the absence of Makai Lemon, who is predicted to skip the sport upon declaring for the NFL draft. However fellow wideout Ja’Kobi Lane’s future plans are nonetheless unclear. Quarterback Jayden Maiava and operating again Waymond Jordan haven’t confirmed whether or not they anticipate to return to assist lead USC’s offense in 2026.
Eleven Trojans have entered the switch portal for the reason that finish of the common season, partly to clear the way in which for an incoming freshman class with 35 gamers. A number of extra may be a part of them earlier than USC reaches its bowl recreation.
However with a possible 10-win season on the road, the Trojans can have one thing to play for in San Antonio. Albeit not what it as soon as hoped.
