USC 2025 Football Schedule: Best & Worst Scenarios, Season Prediction

Who does USC miss from the Big Ten schedule?

Indiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio State, Penn State, Rutgers, Washington, Wisconsin

You’d think USC would get Washington - that whole Pacific Time Zone thing and all - but it’s off the schedule, but that’s not the biggest thing. Missing Ohio State and Penn State is massive, and Indiana is off, too - that’s three of the Big Ten’s for CFP teams from last year.

Missing Minnesota and Wisconsin isn’t bad, but all things considered, you’d like to have Maryland and Rutgers on the slate. And …

USC football schedule, the good and the bad

The Good: Playing Michigan isn’t great, but it’s in LA and it’s coming off a week off.

The first two Big Ten games - Purdue and Michigan State - are against teams that didn’t go bowling, and there’s at least a week off to rest up between the only back-to-back road dates at Notre Dame and Nebraska.

Again, no Ohio State or Penn State could be everything. The Trojans might be favored in every Big Ten game except for …

The Bad: Oregon. That’s on the road late in the season. If everything is going well, that might be the one game that derails everything.

Outside of the Purdue game, the other conference road dates are sneaky-tough. At Illinois is hardly a given, and even though there’s a week off to get ready, the date at Nebraska is a concern.

USC Football Schedule: Best and worst case scenarios

Best Case Scenario: USC might not be perfect, but it wins at Illinois and takes care of Michigan at home to start 6-0 before going to Notre Dame. It comes up large against Nebraska, takes care of home, and all of a sudden, the team is unbeaten in Big Ten play going into the Oregon game.

Even if there are losses to Notre Dame and Oregon, the Trojans are off to the College Football Playoff … after playing for the Big Ten Championship.

Worst Case Scenario: The Trojans have the same close game problems of last year. They misfire against Michigan State at home and lose at Illinois. Worse yet, they run of Michigan, at Notre Dame, and at Nebraska doesn’t go well.

Realistically they’ll get to six wins and go bowling, but it takes a win over UCLA to do it.

Season Prediction: (Feb. 1) USC has a nice season. It might not be quite the dominant campaign Trojan fans want, and it won’t keep Lincoln Riley’s season from getting toasty, but it’ll win enough games to get to nine.

At Notre Dame, at Illinois, at Nebraska, at Oregon, Michigan - there will be three losses out of that. The big question will be whether or not the Trojans can avoid a slip against an Iowa or UCLA.

The Season Prediction will be updated several times this offseason