The USC men’s basketball team is coming off a seven-day break to face No. 10 Illinois on Wednesday, and it will be doing so with six important regular-season games left.
The Illini are second in the Big Ten Conference and a virtual lock for the NCAA tournament, while bracket projections have USC standing on uncertain ground.
ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, as of Tuesday, has the Trojans (18-7 overall, 7-7 Big Ten) as an “on the bubble” team that could snag one of 10 projected Big Ten bids. Projections released by NCAA.com on Tuesday have USC listed as a No. 10 seed.
USC’s next two games against Illinois and Oregon (9-16, 2-12) – the latter of which is not expected to make the tournament – could carry significant weight.
The Trojans have completed their final cross-country road trip of the season, pulling out a 77-75 win over Penn State before a late comeback attempt faltered in an 89-82 loss to Ohio State. The weeklong break that followed was welcomed.
“It’s been a long year so far,” assistant coach Earl Boykins told reporters after playing Ohio State. “I think this is a much-needed break for the guys. The three long trips we’ve taken this year are a lot. It’s going to be good for them to get the break and for us to get in the gym and get back to the basics.”
The Trojans have recently been without Chad Baker-Mazara. The 6-foot-7 senior missed the last two games due to a knee strain and was listed as day-to-day. An extra week of recovery could result in a quick return for Baker-Mazara, who has complemented freshman Alijah Arenas well at wing.
Arenas has been a spark since his return from injury and, after a rocky first collegiate game, he’s bounced back to score at least 20 points in the last three games.
Illinois (21-5, 12-3) had a significant player return in Sunday’s win over Indiana. Senior guard Kylan Boswell, who is averaging 14 points on 47.1% shooting this season, came back after missing nearly a month’s worth of games due to a broken right hand.
“This last month I’ve been doing everything I can to get my hand healthy, be in the right mental state for when I get back on the court,” Boswell told reporters after the Indiana game.
“Still trying to get adjusted, especially with my dominant hand. Today I missed a couple of easy layups. Just try to get adjusted on it, but overall, it’s fine. If it’s not going offensively, I’ll just do my best to help with other things to help the team.”
Illinois has built a high-scoring offense – even without Boswell. The Illini are the second-highest scoring team in the conference at 84.2 points per game while outscoring opponents by 16 points a game. Conversely, USC’s last 10 games have been decided by 10 points or less.
Winning on the boards will be critical for the Trojans. Illinois pulls down 41.2 rebounds a game, but USC isn’t far behind at 37.3 a game.
Jacob Cofie, a 6-foot-10 forward, is the Trojans’ leading rebounder at 7.3 per game and 6-foot-9 forward David Mirkovic leads Illinois with 8.0 per game.
ILLINOIS (21-5 overall, 12-3 Big Ten) at USC (18-7, 7-7)
LOS ANGELES — It wasn’t much of a tune-up for the showdown that looms this weekend, but there’s little the UCLA women’s basketball team can do about that these days.
Kiki Rice had 17 points and seven rebounds, and the second-ranked Bruins overwhelmed another overmatched opponent, routing Rutgers, 86-46, on Wednesday night at Pauley Pavilion for their 16th consecutive victory.
UCLA (22-1 overall, 12-0 Big Ten), which plays at No. 8 Michigan (20-3, 11-1) on Sunday, has been blowing out opponents by an average of 25-30 points. The Bruins’ last loss came on Nov. 26 against then-No. 4 Texas.
Gabriela Jaquez added 14 points. Lauren Betts had 11 points on 5-of-5 shooting in 14 minutes, her fewest of the season, for the Bruins.
The blowout was on from the opening tip. The Bruins’ defense limited the Scarlet Knights (9-14, 1-11) to two 3-pointers in the first quarter, when UCLA led 26-6 after running off 16 straight points.
Rutgers managed to outscore the Bruins 14-13 in the second but still trailed 40-19 at halftime.
UCLA dominated the third, outscoring the Scarlet Knights 28-8 for a 68-27 lead while holding them to just three baskets, including back-to-back 3-pointers by Lauryn Swann. Betts scored seven of their first 12 points in the quarter before sitting down for good.
There was a Betts on the floor in the fourth: Lauren’s younger sister, Sienna. She scored nine of her 11 points in the period.
Lena Bilic’s 3-pointer gave UCLA its largest lead (43 points) in the fourth.
Swann led Rutgers with 14 points. The Scarlet Knights committed 18 turnovers that led to 25 points for the Bruins. UCLA controlled the boards 41-18 and owned a 44-14 scoring advantage in the paint.
UP NEXT
UCLA visits No. 8 Michigan on Sunday at noon PT in a showdown between the Big Ten’s top two teams.
UCLA forward Angela Dugalić, left, and UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens, box out Maryland guard Oluchi Okananwa (7) on the free throw line during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
UCLA guard Charlisse Leger-Walker (5) fouls Maryland guard Saylor Poffenbarger as she drives to the basket during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
UCLA forward Sienna Betts (16) and Maryland guard Yarden Garzon reach for a rebound during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
UCLA center Lauren Betts (51) reacts on the bench after a 3-point basket by her sister, UCLA forward Sienna Betts (not shown), during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Maryland, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens (8) is defended by Maryland guard Saylor Poffenbarger as she looks to shoot the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens, right, is defended by Maryland guard Saylor Poffenbarger (6) as she drives to the basket during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
UCLA center Lauren Betts (51) is defended by Maryland guard Addi Mack, left, and forward Isimenme Ozzy-Momodu as she drives to the basket during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
Maryland guard Oluchi Okananwa, left, and UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens, front right, reach for the ball during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
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UCLA forward Angela Dugalić, left, and UCLA guard Gianna Kneepkens, box out Maryland guard Oluchi Okananwa (7) on the free throw line during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jayne Kamin-Oncea)
LOS ANGELES – Gotta confess, I was rooting for Maryland.
Not to beat UCLA, no. But to keep it close, Sunday afternoon. To present some sort of a challenge. A little thrill.
I was hoping the No. 12 Terrapins might provide some semblance of suspense for the 8,721 fans who spent their afternoon at Pauley Pavilion, watching the No. 3 Bruins women’s basketball team wear down the guests in another successful yawner, 97-67.
The Bruins went into halftime with 10 turnovers and still had 47 points and a 12-point lead. The inevitable result was right on par with the 29.7-point differential UCLA was winning with entering play.
That’s why I was pulling for what was, on paper, UCLA’s most allegedly daunting Big Ten test to actually be a test – for UCLA’s own sake – and not another predictable outcome for which the Bruins came prepared with all the answers.
But Maryland wasn’t up for that. Now 17-3 this season, the Terps were no match for UCLA, which won its 11th consecutive to improve to 17-1, 7-0 in the Big Ten. The Bruins’ only loss was to No. 4 Texas – almost a favor, as a most-valuable early-season point of motivation.
Since then, though? The Bruins have been obliterating everyone they’ve faced. Because they’re that much better than everyone they’ve faced.
Talented and balanced. Selfless and in sync. Loaded with future WNBA draft picks. Bought in, locked in, laser-focused – fresh off a Final Four run and, with more experience and a couple significant upgrades, wanting better than for this season’s foray to stop again in the national semifinal.
UCLA is one of the nation’s top scoring teams (86.4) and one of its better defensive squads, too (56.7). The Bruins have the nation’s third-best assist-to-turnover ratio. They’re out-rebounding opponents by almost 16 boards per game, second-best nationally.
“This is another Final Four team,” Maryland coach Brenda Frese said. “With the opportunity to go win a national championship. They have been very intentional this year; they have the right chemistry. They’re gonna be right there. This is a national contender.”
The Bruins have arrived. Firmly among the upper crust of women’s basketball. Right there with perennial powers No. 1 Connecticut and No. 2 South Carolina, with regular contenders LSU and Texas, ranked Nos. 4 and 6 this past week.
It’s just that UConn, say, has decades of experience playing from the front. South Carolina and some of these other traditionally tip-top-tier teams have for years now dialed in a formula for staying in the moment while they annihilate opponents by 30 points or 35 or 38 or 44, as they are, while also playing for March.
This isn’t, however, regularly chartered territory for a UCLA program that’s steadily ascended to get here.
And the next time they face a foe that’s truly formidable, it will be in a game with supremely high stakes, probably deep into the NCAA Tournament. And so I worry about how the Bruins will stay sharp for when they run into their fellow buzzsaws.
Their conference isn’t helping. It might boast eight ranked teams, but as far as the Bruins are concerned, it’s the Big Ten in name only: There are 18 teams in the league, for starters, and compared to UCLA, this season they’re all too small, in basketball trash-talk parlance.
Across town, rival USC is young and floundering without star guard JuJu Watkins, out for the season recovering from a torn ACL. And any other conference opponent who was supposed to issue a challenge – ahem, Maryland – has failed.
So, yes, the Terrapins, with five freshmen in their rotation, will learn plenty from the loss: “When we face this again, we’re going to be more prepared for it,” senior guard Saylor Poffenbarger said. “This is only going to prepare [us] for the games in March that are really important.”
But what about the Bruins? Who’s preparing them? Or, who beside Close and her staff: “That,” she said, “is my largest responsibility this year.”
And, she said, “honestly, it’s exhausting. I have to just get myself ready [to get on them about] every little thing. I’m just on ’em, on ’em, on ’em! But I know that I can do that and do that consistently because I know what they really want.”
That’s to win a national championship, of course.
And if the Bruins aren’t going to get mettle-testing help from their opponents, if no one is going to force them to have to finish off a close game, they’re learning that preparation for those pressure-packed moments will have to come from within.
“It’s something we talk about every day,” said savvy senior point guard Charlisse Leger-Walker, who finished with 17 points, nine rebounds and eight assists Sunday.
“When you are part of such a great team, it can be easy to be complacent. It can be easy to come in and not fight for every possession, to not fight for your stance on defense when you’re just going through the motions.
“Our coaches do a really good job of holding the standard in that way, and also my teammates. We’re a veteran group, we have a lot of experience, a lot of leadership and when we feel like things are starting to slip in training, we have one through five people ready to say something about it.”
Maybe that’s what it will take, for them to be their own hardest critics – in practice, and at practice, which is what UCLA’s games have become: Reps for the real thing.
MINNEAPOLIS — The flight home will be a lot less gloomy than it looked 24 hours earlier for the USC men’s basketball team.
Chad Baker-Mazara scored 29 points and made two free throws with 10 seconds left in overtime to rally USC to a 70-69 victory over Minnesota on Friday night, the long bright spot during an eight-day stay in the Midwest that included a pair of lopsided losses to No. 2 Michigan and No. 12 Michigan State.
Baker-Mazara made 9 of 20 shots from the field with four 3-pointers and all seven of his free throws for the Trojans (13-3 overall, 2-3 Big Ten). He added eight assists. Ezra Ausar pitched in with 14 points and nine rebounds.
Cade Tyson had 20 points, eight rebounds and four assists to pace the Golden Gophers (10-6, 3-2), who had won five straight. Bobby Durkin had 13 points, Langston Reynolds scored 12 and Jaylen Crocker-Johnson 10.
Jacob Cofie hit a 3-pointer to put the Trojans ahead 53-40 with 9:48 left in regulation, and they stayed in front until Tyson made two foul shots with 45 seconds left to put Minnesota ahead, 63-62. Gabe Dynes, who came into the game 5 for 13 at the foul line, made the second of two free throws with 33 seconds left, forcing overtime after Tyson and Ausar missed jumpers.
There were seven lead changes and three ties in the first 7:24 after Grayson Grove’s first 3-pointer of the season gave Minnesota a 22-21 lead.
Both teams went scoreless from there until Ausar’s layup with 7:06 left put the Trojans in front. Isaac Asuma answered with a 3-pointer to end Minnesota’s scoring drought at 5:27 and Tyson scored for a 27-23 advantage and the game’s first two-possession lead.
Baker-Mazara hit three free throws, Ausar stole the ball and dunked, and Dynes added back-to-back dunks as USC followed with a 9-0 run that led to a 35-30 advantage at halftime.
LOS ANGELES — Tuesday night was one to picture, frame, and remember in the Betts household.
Lauren Betts almost single-handedly took down Cal Poly in a 115-28 shellacking at the hands of No. 4 UCLA at Pauley Pavilion, the senior center recording 20 points and 10 rebounds, one of five Bruins to score in double figures. UCLA was the clear favorite Tuesday – loud 64½-point favorites, in fact – but the memory to savor arrived with 4:14 remaining in the first quarter.
The long wait was over. Freshman forward Sienna Betts – the No. 2 recruit in the class of 2025 according to ESPN’s 2025 SportsCenter NEXT 100 – checked in alongside her older sister to make her college debut. Sienna Betts and Lauren Betts; three years apart, but now together on the Nell and John Wooden Court, becoming the first siblings to play at the same time for the Bruins since Rebekah Gardner and Rhema Gardner from 2010-2012.
Sienna Betts, who has represented the United States multiple times on the youth international circuit, winning two gold medals in FIBA events, suffered a lower left-leg injury during a mid-October preseason scrimmage against UC Riverside. A month and a half later, after being cleared for practice last week, Sienna Betts made her mark with her first positive recorded statistic.
Drawing a double-team in the post, Sienna Betts, returning from a lower-left leg injury, found Lauren Betts on the opposite side of the key, where the reigning Naismith Defensive Player of the Year deposited the ball into the basket with 6:23 left in the second quarter to give UCLA a 38-16 lead. The moment, ironic given how often the elder sister is double- or triple-teamed in the paint, marked Sienna Betts’ first assist and became the second converted shot of a 27-0 run to bring the Bruins to a 44-point halftime lead.
“Sienna is an elite passer,” Coach Cori Close said. “Her and Lauren have an uncanny ability to know how and when they need to find each other.”
When it came to Sienna Betts’ first points, sinking one of two free throws (UCLA’s 39th point), it was Lauren Betts who fed her the ball before drawing contact. Sienna Betts finished with five points and two assists across 10 minutes, her first-career basket coming on a fadeaway mid-range look to give the Bruins (10-1 overall, 1-0 Big Ten) an 80-point lead (101-21) in the fourth quarter.
“I just wanted her to just have some joy, to just get her feet wet,” Close said. “She just needed to get the experience today, and I just wanted her to sort of take the pressure off and take a deep breath and try to enjoy it.
Close added that she wanted Sienna Betts to give herself some grace as the transition from high school through her injury and now playing, continues in the games ahead.
Yes, there were some clunky plays – such as when the 6-foot-4 forward dribbled and pivoted her way into multiple tie-ups for jump balls. But the space Sienna Betts created on the floor alongside Lauren Betts became paramount as Cal Poly chucked up shot after shot, often away from the paint as the Bruins’ size turned too substantial to play through. Cal Poly (2-8, 0-2 Big West) finished with just 12 points in the paint, shooting 27.5% from the field overall.
“It wasn’t going to be perfect,” Close said after the game. “I could tell she was playing with nerves, but I am so excited about what she brings to our team.”
The wait was worth it for both sisters, as an early moment said it all.
When senior guard Gabriela Jaquez earned a trip to the free-throw line with 4:04 in the first quarter, the siblings were lined up across from each other. They chatted – what was said between the sisters was unknown – but Sienna Betts and Lauren Betts shared smirks as Jaquez let her shots fly.
“I was just so happy to be on the court with her,” Lauren Betts said. “I know that this process hasn’t been easy, but to just have that moment with her, this is something that we’ve grown up just dreaming about.”
Dec. 16, a day on which UCLA won by its largest point differential (87) since December 1976, its widest margin of victory in the NCAA era, proved to be a day they can always look back on.
BY THE NUMBERS
Senior guard Kiki Rice led all scorers with 23 points, eight rebounds and four assists, while graduate student guard Gianna Kneepkens shot 4 for 7 from 3-point range on her way to 19 points. … After trailing 25-13 after one quarter, Cal Poly was outscored 35-3, 31-5 and 24-7 in the final three quarters.
Duke forward Toby Fournier (35) knocks the ball away from UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez (11) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
UCLA head coach Cori Close talks to her players during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Duke in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
UCLA guard Kiki Rice (1) drives around Duke guard Ashlon Jackson (3) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Duke head coach Kara Lawson reacts to a play during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against UCLA in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez (11) drives to the basket against Duke forward Delaney Thomas (12) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
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Duke forward Toby Fournier (35) knocks the ball away from UCLA forward Gabriela Jaquez (11) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in the Players Era tournament in Las Vegas, Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
LAS VEGAS — Gabriela Jaquez scored 23 points and No. 3 UCLA defeated Duke 89-59 on Thursday night in the third-place game of the women’s Players Era Championship.
Handed their first loss this season the night before, 76-65 by Texas, the Bruins came out red-hot even without star center Lauren Betts, who injured her left arm Wednesday.
UCLA (7-1) led 30-7 after shooting 60% (12 of 20) from the field in the first quarter, including 5 for 7 on 3-pointers. The Bruins also did a good job at the defensive end, forcing the Blue Devils (3-5) to commit six turnovers.
The Bruins shot 46.9% in the first half and took a 43-25 lead into halftime. Duke was 9 of 32 (28.1%) from the floor in the first 20 minutes.
Five players scored in double figures for UCLA. Charlisse Leger-Walker finished with 20 points, six assists and five rebounds. Kiki Rice had 17 points and six rebounds. Gianna Kneepkens added 13 points, six rebounds and six assists, and Angela Dugalic had 12 points and eight boards.
UCLA shot a season-high 59.1% from 3-point range, hitting 13 of 22 from beyond the arc.
The Blue Devils were led by Ashlon Jackson, who had 18 points. Toby Fournier posted her second double-double of the season with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Delaney Thomas scored 10.
Duke went 22 of 65 from the floor (33.8%) in its second-worst shooting performance this season.
No. 4 Texas edged No. 2 South Carolina 66-64 in the championship game earlier Thursday.
Georgia moved up one spot to No. 4 in The Associated Press poll Sunday, Oklahoma returned to the top 10 and North Texas, ranked for the first time since 1959, is among three Group of Five teams in the Top 25.
Ohio State, Indiana and Texas A&M were the top three teams for the fifth straight week. Georgia earned its highest ranking since the first week of September and Mississippi was back in the top five after spending three weeks there at midseason.
Oregon and Texas Tech were tied for No. 6, and Oklahoma rose three spots to No. 8 following its win at Alabama. The Sooners were last in the top 10, at No. 6, the second week of October.
Notre Dame remained No. 9 after a 22-point win at Pittsburgh and Alabama dropped six spots to No. 10 after the Sooners ended its eight-game win streak.
Georgia’s 35-10 win over Texas was its sixth straight and second over a top-10 opponent. Mississippi, which lost at Georgia a month ago, defeated Florida and is more than 100 points behind the Bulldogs at No. 5.
The Group of Five hadn’t had three teams in the Top 25 since four appeared in last season’s final poll.
The Sun Belt Conference’s James Madison blew out Appalachian State and moved up three spots to No. 21. North Texas is next at No. 22. The Mean Green of the American Conference clobbered UAB 53-24 on the road and have matched their best start in program history.
The last time UNT was 9-1 was in 1959, when the team then known as the Eagles was ranked two straight weeks in November, reaching No. 16. That team lost to New Mexico State in the Sun Bowl to finish 9-2. This year’s UNT team already is eligible for a second straight bowl game and is in the thick of the race for the Group of Five’s automatic CFP bid.
Mississippi running back Kewan Lacy (5) evades a tackle attempt by Florida cornerback Cormani McClain and safety Jordan Castell during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Oxford, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
Mississippi running back Kewan Lacy (5) evades a tackle attempt by Florida cornerback Cormani McClain and safety Jordan Castell during the second half of an NCAA college football game, Saturday, Nov. 15, 2025, in Oxford, Miss. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
In and out
— No. 22 North Texas’ first appearance in the poll in 66 years ends the longest drought by a Bowl Subdivision team.
— No. 23 Missouri returned after a one-week absence following a win over Mississippi State in which Ahmad Hardy became the first player since 2022 to rush for 300 yards.
— No. 24 Tulane has won two straight since losing to UTSA and is ranked for the first time this season.
— No. 25 Houston, fifth among teams also receiving votes last week and idle, were ranked for one week in October.
Louisville (19), Cincinnati (22), Pittsburgh (23) and South Florida (25) dropped out.
Poll points
— Voters did what the CFP selection committee did last week, jumping Miami over Georgia Tech to make the Hurricanes the highest-ranked Atlantic Coast Conference team. Miami easily beat North Carolina State and moved up two spots to No. 14. Georgia Tech, which needed a field goal in the final seconds to edge one-win Boston College, slipped a spot to No. 15.
— No. 13 Utah has outscored three opponents by a combined 153-49 since losing at BYU and has its highest ranking of the season.
— No. 17 Texas took the biggest plunge, dropping seven spots.
Conference call
SEC (9): Nos. 3, 4, 5, 8, 10, 12, 17, 20, 23.
Big Ten (5): Nos. 1, 2, T-6, 16, 18.
Big 12 (4): Nos. T-6, 11, 13, 25.
ACC (3): Nos. 14, 15, 19.
American (2): Nos. 22, 24.
Sun Belt (1): No. 21.
Independent (1): No. 9.
North Texas offensive lineman Tay Yanta II (70) and North Texas linebacker Shane Whitter (7) lead the team onto the field before an NCAA college football game against South Florida Oct. 10, 2025, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)
North Texas offensive lineman Tay Yanta II (70) and North Texas linebacker Shane Whitter (7) lead the team onto the field before an NCAA college football game against South Florida Oct. 10, 2025, in Denton, Texas. (AP Photo/Richard W. Rodriguez, File)
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 16 Southern California (8-2, 6-1 Big Ten, No. 17 CFP) at No. 6 Oregon (9-1, 6-1, No. 8 CFP): Winner strengthens its position for a CFP at-large bid and keeps alive slim hopes of sneaking into the Big Ten championship game.
No. 23 Missouri (7-3, 3-3 SEC) at No. 8 Oklahoma (8-2, 4-2, No. 11 CFP): Sooners did wonders for their playoff resume by knocking off Alabama on the road and now go for a fifth win over a Top 25 opponent.
LOS ANGELES — No. 17 USC overcame an 11-point first-half deficit and its defense pitched a shutout in the second half to complete a 26-21 comeback win over Iowa on a rainy Saturday at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and stay in contention for its first bid to the College Football Playoff.
Trojans quarterback Jayden Maiava went 23 of 32 for 254 yards and a touchdown and King Miller was USC’s leading rusher with 83 yards on 19 carries. Running back Bryan Jackson scored two short-yardage touchdowns. Makai Lemon had a game-high 153 receiving yards and a touchdown off 10 receptions.
The Trojans, who gave up 212 yards in the first half, limited the Hawkeyes to 108 yards in the second half, with only 25 yards coming through the air.
Iowa, known for a rushing attack that slowly wears down opposing defenses, leaned into its passing game to score 21 points with only one punt in the opening half.
Hawkeyes quarterback Mark Gronowski had a passing, rushing and receiving touchdown all in the first half. He finished 12 of 19 for 132 yards. Kamari Moulton led Iowa with 90 rushing yards on 15 carries.
Gronowski completed a 14-yard pass to tight end DJ Vonnahme on the first play of the game to start a 69-yard touchdown drive. Iowa capped it by lining up at the 2-yard line, with Gronowski dropping back for a quick scoring pass to Dayton Howard with 11:26 remaining in the first quarter.
Gronowski put Iowa up by two touchdowns with his second score of the game on a 1-yard run 48 seconds into the second quarter. USC cornerback DeCarlos Nicholson appeared to have broken up a pass to stall the drive at the 28-yard line, but a defensive pass interference call kept the Hawkeyes chugging along.
USC got on the scoreboard with 9:15 remaining in the first quarter when Jackson took a direct snap and ran up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown to trim Iowa’s lead to 14-7.
Late in the secondd quarter, Gronowski handed the ball off to receiver Kaden Wetjen, who then pitched it to receiver Reece Vander Zee. The touchdown play was fully executed when Vander Zee, who played quarterback in high school, hit Gronowski with a 5-yard pass 3:24 before halftime.
USC’s Ryon Sayeri made a 40-yard field goal with 39 seconds left for a 21-10 halftime deficit. Two miscues prevented USC from potentially turning that drive into a trip to the end zone. Maiava connected on third down with Ja’Kobi Lane for a 14-yard gain, but center Kilian O’Connor’s movement downfield nullified the play. Miller dropped Maiava’s next pass and USC settled for a field goal.
Maiava came out firing on the other side of halftime. After Sayeri made a 29-yard field goal, the quarterback hit Lane with a 12-yard pass on the Trojans’ second drive of the half and followed up with another 12-yard pass – this one to Lemon in double coverage for Maiava’s first passing touchdown of the day. The 2-point conversion attempt failed, but the touchdown cut Iowa’s lead to 21-19.
USC’s defense was depleted by the second half, especially in the secondary. Defensive tackle Keeshawn Silver, safeties Kamari Ramsey and Bishop Fitzgerald and cornerback Marcellus Williams all left the game with apparent injuries.
True freshman defensive tackle Jakeem Stewart stepped up in their place, grabbing a deflected pass for the USC’s first interception of the day.
The Trojans were able to capitalize on the pick and went 40 yards in six plays for a touchdown. Jackson took the ball up the middle into the end zone from one yard out for USC’s first lead of the day at 26-21 with 13:37 remaining.
Iowa had one last chance to reclaim the lead. The Hawkeyes returned to the rushing attack and were able to drive down to the Trojans’ 29-yard line. But on 4th-and-6, USC safety Kennedy Urlacher leaped for a pass breakup that all but ended Iowa’s comeback with 1:59 to play.
The closest thing resembling drama for the first big reveal of this season’s College Football Playoff rankings hinged on which undefeated team would receive top billing.
The Buckeyes took the top spot in the first set of 2025 rankings Tuesday night, followed by Indiana and Texas A&M.
In choosing the two Big Ten teams ahead of Texas A&M, the 12-person committee appeared to give less weight to A&M’s tougher schedule and its 41-40 win over tenth-ranked Notre Dame and more to the way the Buckeyes and Hoosiers have mowed down opponents this year, with only two games between the two of them decided by less than 10 points.
“I think statistically when we looked at A&M defensively, they’re just lower than both Ohio State and Indiana,” committee chair Mack Rhoades said. “We had to make a hard decision, and you’re trying to find separators, and that was a separator for us.”
Another team with no losses, BYU of the Big 12, was ranked seventh.
Nos. 4, 5 and 6 went to Southeastern Conference teams with one loss each — Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. All of the top six came from either the Big Ten or SEC, a dose of business as usual despite a season that has been anything but predictable.
This marked the first of six weekly rankings the committee will release this season, ending Dec. 7 when the final list will set the bracket for the second 12-team playoff in major college football history.
That tournament begins Dec. 19-20 with four games on the campus of seeds No. 5-8. The top four seeds play winners of those games over the New Year holiday and the title game is set for Jan. 19 at Hard Rock Stadium outside Miami.
Texas Tech was ranked eighth and Oregon came in at No. 9. Rounding out the top 12 were Notre Dame — the only team in the Top 25 not from a power conference — then Texas and Oklahoma.
But if the bracket were set today, the Longhorns and Sooners would miss out,- bumped by No. 14 Virginia of the ACC and Memphis of the American. That’s thanks to a rule that places the five best-ranked conference champions into the bracket even if they’re not in the top 12.
Memphis wasn’t among the committee’s top 25 but was still the highest ranked leader in a Group of Five conference.
There is, of course, plenty of time for teams to make their cases, with four more weeks of the regular season, then a slate of conference title games set for the first weekend in December.
“If we go back to last year, Arizona State wasn’t even in the rankings for our first two rankings,” Rhoades said of the Sun Devils, who won the Big 12 and made the field. “Again, to everybody out there, this is the first ranking and still a lot of ball left to be played.”
The final tally in the top 12: The SEC has six teams, the Big Ten three, the Big 12 two, and the ACC none, with one independent.
Among those still holding out hope are teams such as 16th-ranked Vanderbilt and 17th-ranked Georgia Tech, each of whom spent time in the AP top 10 this season thanks to upsets that turned college football upside down in September and October.
The first-round matchups based on CFP rankings
— No. 12 Memphis at No. 5 Georgia, winner vs. No. 4 Alabama. You can almost hear SEC commissioner Greg Sankey breaking his TV wondering how an unranked team is in here over one of his.
— No. 11 Virginia at No. 6 Ole Miss, winner vs. No. 3 Texas A&M. Virginia’s only Top 25 meeting this season was against Florida State, which does not resemble a Top 25 team now.
— No. 10 Notre Dame at No. 7 BYU, winner vs. No. 2 Indiana. The Fighting Irish have to hope some of the teams immediately below them — like Texas and Oklahoma — do not put up impressive wins since they close with Navy, Pitt, Syracuse and Stanford.
— No. 9 Oregon at No. 8 Texas Tech, winner vs. No. 1 Ohio State. A Booster Bowl pitting teams backed by billionaires Phil Knight (Ducks) and Cody Campbell (Red Raiders).
Tweaks in this year’s bracket
The biggest change in the setup of this year’s bracket was eliminating the first-round bye for the four best conference champions. It would mean that Virginia, instead of jumping from a No. 14 ranking to a No. 3 seed, would be seeded 11th with a road game against Mississippi.
Rhoades also spent time discussing Oregon, which is ranked sixth in the AP poll but ninth in the playoff rankings. The Ducks’ best win this year was a 20-point victory over Northwestern, while its double-overtime win at Penn State early in the season has become less impressive as last year’s semifinalist fell apart.
“When we looked at and evaluated Oregon, we really looked at the quality of the team and how they looked on film,” Rhoades said.
ANAHEIM — It took a moment to settle down the first-game energy at the Honda Center.
But once the UCLA women’s basketball team found its footing, brushing aside its four turnovers in the first quarter, there was no question as to why many believe the Bruins can return to the Final Four – or push for more – this season.
Third-ranked UCLA (1-0) could be special if each cog in the Bruins’ machine churns a little faster and more efficiently than it did Monday night in a comfortable, yet not entirely dominant, 77-53 victory over San Diego State in the season opener for both teams, billed as the Orange County Hoops Classic.
Senior center Lauren Betts battled double-teams to finished with a game-high 21 points (11 in the first half) on 9-of-12 shooting. Gabriela Jaquez, an X-Factor senior guard, grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds (four of which were offensive).
Kiki Rice may have unexpectedly started the game on the bench – likely in favor of senior forward Angela Dugalić – but when the senior guard entered to sink a 3-pointer to end the Bruins’ 0-for-10 run from behind the arc to begin the game, it was proof of how deep they could be.
Team-wide, UCLA recorded nine blocked shots and five steals while shooting 48.5% from the field, compared to SDSU’s 33.9%. They outrebounded the Aztecs 49-25.
The Bruins’ depth – the depth that UCLA coach Cori Close (entering her 15th season) referred to during the preseason as a team of players who could star for any team in the country, but would also need to be patient for playing time and to make their impact – was on full display.
Gianna Kneepkens showcased her highly advertised length and tenacity as a defender in her first game as a Bruin.
The Utah transfer began the contest with a lay-in on an assist from Charlisse Leger-Walker – the Washington State transfer who sat out her first season in Westwood while recovering from a torn ACL – to make it 2-0, and later in the second quarter blocked a 3-point attempt from San Diego State guard/forward Sofia Kelmeni to deflect the ball into the path of Rice.
Rice, entering her fourth year in Westwood – along with Betts, a member of the preseason All-Big Ten team – shuffled the ball right back down to Kneepkens, driving down the court with long 6-foot strides, who converted a layup to to give the Bruins a 24-13 lead.
Leger-Walker, whom Close said last week lowers the pulse of the team while on the court, recorded a team-high 31-plus score across 24 minutes.
Manning the point guard spot for the majority of the game, the sixth-year Kiwi guard’s return to action, 650 days after tearing her ACL, was smooth sailing and capped by a reverse layup that stalled a 16-12 scoring stretch for the Aztecs from end of the third quarter into the fourth.
UCLA held SDSU scoreless for exactly five minutes in the third quarter, a run of high-effort intensity from Jaquez sparking a 16-0 run. Need an offensive rebound? Jaquez boxed her way out for a second-chance bucket to make it 44-24.
Later in the period, the Camarillo native – and brother of Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. – stripped the Aztecs (0-1) for back-to-back steals, leading to a layup and 3-pointer of her own to make it 53-24.
Close had glowed over Jaquez during her media availability a week ago, and for good reason as she recorded 15 points, 11 rebounds and five assists on Monday – UCLA’s first double-double of the season.
The Bruins were without touted freshman Sienna Betts, younger sister of Lauren, and Timea Gardiner, the team’s leading 3-point shooter last season who has a knee injury. Betts hurt her lower left leg in a scrimmage.
Six of UCLA’s first eight games will be played at neutral sites, including two visits to Las Vegas in a three-week span.
Kaelyn Hamilton scored 11 points, and Nat Martinez and Nala Williams had 10 each for the Aztecs, who shot 10 for 25 from 3-point range.
LOS ANGELES — USC quarterback Jayden Maiava is not comfortable, despite the Trojans getting out to a 3-0 start to the season. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he’s uncomfortable.
“I don’t think I’m comfortable at all right now,” Maiava told reporters after practice on Tuesday. “There’s a lot to learn from. You don’t want to get complacent. When you get a little success, you don’t want to fall back. You just want to work harder, and sharpen that edge.”
The efforts to become a smarter – and better-rested – quarterback are culminating in a forceful start to the season.
Maiava has emerged as the top quarterback in the Big Ten Conference when it comes to passing yards per game (329.7) and he’s averaging 14.1 yards per attempt.
Training fixtures like the Trojan Period continue to breed the competitive mindset that Maiava seeks, and they are also helping the team close out games strong. The first-team offense goes against the first-team defense with less elaborate play calls and more hard-nosed competition.
“It’s more about physicality and technique and finishing, and we move it around day to day, so they don’t know exactly when it’s actually going to show up in the practice and how it’s going to play out,” Riley said.
“It’s become really competitive and just a period that I think the guys always look forward to. A period that as a program we hang our hat on.”
Maiava has yet to throw an interception and is playing behind an offensive line that has only allowed two sacks. The only statistic where he has dropped off from last season is rushing yards.
“We’ve got better guys to run the ball,” Maiava told reporters. “Like Waymond Jordan and Eli Sanders. Being able to get them the rock is huge for me and in terms of me running the ball, it’s just whatever the defense gives me.”
USC’s expanded options in the passing game complement Maiava’s enhanced skill set, especially when it comes to decision-making. Tanook Hines is making a name for himself alongside Makai Lemon and Ja’Kobi Lane in the receiving corps, and a built-up tight ends room allows the coaching staff to experiment more with 12 personnel.
“Since the day I got here, we have been like, all right, we have to build there,” Riley said of the tight ends. “That room was a ways off when we got here in terms of the depth and talent and skill sets that we want to have. It’s certainly gotten closer to where we wanted to be, and it’s cool to see those guys being able to affect our team in some positive ways.”
The tight ends didn’t contribute a single touchdown last season, but this year have already chipped in three between Lake McRee, Walker Lyons and Carson Tabaracci.
INJURY REPORT
Cornerback Chasen Johnson will be out for the remainder of the season due to a knee injury, Riley told reporters on Tuesday. He had played in only the Sept. 6 game against Georgia Southern this season and recorded one tackle.
The UCF transfer started four games for the Knights in 2024 and finished that season with 18 tackles and two pass breakups.
Receiver Zacharyus Williams is also expected to miss time due to an undisclosed injury sustained against Georgia Southern.
“We’ll see how it is,” Riley said. “It’s probably gonna be a few weeks, so we won’t have him for sure for the next couple weeks.”
Williams had three receptions in the first two games, including a season-long catch of 61 yards against Georgia Southern.
LOS ANGELES — The USC football program is embracing change this season, and not just when it comes to a shift in developmental focus. One of the most noticeable differences has been in how the Trojans arrived at the Coliseum on Saturday for their game against Missouri State.
All players wore matching all-black warmups – a striking contrast to the highly individualized gameday outfits that players were able to choose for themselves last season.
“There’s been a lot of changes in our program, particularly in the last couple of months,” head coach Lincoln Riley told reporters after the game. “And if you ask these guys, we don’t show up to a meeting, we don’t really do anything unless it’s all together.”
The change represents a unification within the team, according to the Trojans, and a willingness to trust in the Leadership Council.
The council is comprised of players and coaches who have been selected by Riley or recommended by teammates. They’re consulted throughout the season for feedback on decisions that will affect the entire team.
“This is one of the bigger ones that we’ve had,” Riley told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s important and we rely on those conversations and that feedback when we make some of the decisions for the team.
“It’s a good, healthy group right now. It’s a good mix of staff and players, and so far, the group has been taking it really personal. That’s how you want them to take it.”
Offensive lineman Tobias Raymond – who started at left guard on Saturday – told reporters that the council is ego-less and has opportunities to make an immediate impact in addition to participating in more long-term decision-making.
Players and coaches keep each other in check, making sure that no hats are worn during meetings, drills are done correctly during individual periods and the energy is always high.
“When we’re in practice and energy is low, it’s on us to come try and bring it back up together,” Raymond said. “That’s obviously something that we’re all still learning, but I think that’s kind of the main goal of the leadership council is to come together and figure out like, OK, what are we going to do at this time?”
The collective decision to have a unified gameday look is a permanent one, at least for this season. Some variation in accessories appears to be allowed – some players had heavy jewelry draped around their neck and others had swaths of tropical flowers or leaves.
“The tracksuit’s cool,” he told reporters on Tuesday. “Being a team, being professional. I didn’t have any accessories on. I had some headphones with wires on – I know it’s kind of outdated, but that’s what I rocked with.”
This team decision is a noticeable and public one, but some leadership council conversations stay behind closed doors.
Riley, quarterback Jayden Maiava and safety Bishop Fitzgerald sat at the podium together during Saturday’s postgame press conference and when a reporter asked about the matching warmups, Fitzgerald and Riley immediately looked toward a smiling Maiava.
“That’s stuff that we just discuss as a team,” Maiava said when asked about the smile. “‘Unify’ is a huge one for us, and we’re all just trying to move as one, and move together.”
Northwestern (3-5, 1-4 Big Ten) at Purdue (1-6, 0-4), Saturday, 12 p.m. ET (BTN)
BetMGM College Football Odds: Purdue by 1 1/2.
Series record: Purdue leads 53-34-1.
WHAT’S AT STAKE?
With Purdue sitting in the Big Ten basement and Northwestern among a group of four teams just one game in front of the Boilermakers, both teams want to turn things around. The Wildcats have lost two straight and four of five while seeking their first win at Ross-Ade Stadium since 2020. Purdue is still looking for its first win over an FBS team this year — and desperately needs something, anything to go right after a bye week.
KEY MATCHUP
Northwestern QB Jack Lausch vs. Purdue’s run defense. Lausch’s legs have kept defenses off-balance this season even though it hasn’t resulted in many yards or many points. But Purdue’s defense is allowing 214.9 yards rushing per game and against a team, and a quarterback, who can exploit that deficiency, it could be a game-changer.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Northwestern: A.J. Henning. Following a slow start, the fifth-year receiver who transferred from Michigan, has gotten his season on track. He’s caught 32 passes for 296 yards and three TDs over the last five games. He needs 10 catches, 40 yards and two TDs to set new single-season career highs.
Purdue: Ryan Browne and Hudson Card. Coach Ryan Walters announced Monday he will play both quarterbacks this weekend, though it’s unclear how the rotation will work. Browne provides a stronger dual-threat presence. Card was the guy Walters wanted after he took the Purdue job in December 2022.
FACTS & FIGURES
Northwestern’s only home win this season came against Eastern Illinois, an FCS foe. Its only road win came at Maryland. … The Boilermakers have not played a Saturday home game since Sept. 28 against Nebraska. … The Wildcats are averaging 110.9 yards rushing per game, the second-lowest total in the Big Ten (Minnesota, 108.0). … Purdue rushed for 303 yards in last season’s victory over Northwestern. … The Wildcats have a plus-three turnover margin and is tied for 40th nationally at plus-0.38 per game. … Purdue has blocked a league-high three kicks (two field goals, one punt) this season.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. — At long last, after a season scorned by losses, after the “few plays away” that had defined USC’s season, they seemed set to close a football game on the steady leg of Georgia Southern transfer kicker Michael Lantz.
41-yard try. Two minutes left. USC up six. Snap. Kick. Ballgame, it should’ve been.
But Lantz’s boot never quite made it in the air.
Maryland’s Donnell Brown burst through and deflected the field-goal attempt, the loose football scooped up by the Terrapins’ Caleb Wheatland, and a USC program that’s shown a complete inability to simply close games in 2024 left the door open just long enough for a fleet of red to streak through.
They’d all been bad. They’d all been heartbreaking. There was the gut-wrencher in Ann Arbor, and the frustration in Minneapolis, and the Penn State madness at the Coliseum last week, and yet nothing quite compared to the sheer bafflement that unfolded in College Park on Saturday afternoon as USC fell 29-28 to Maryland.
First came the blocked kick after a second half of calamities, and then a Maryland drive that gave the Terrapins a stunning lead in the span of but five plays, and then a final USC drive that seemed momentarily destined for glory until Miller Moss dropped back on fourth down.
Needing two yards to set up another Lantz try, with 10 seconds left, he darted a ball over the middle to the normally steady-as-a-rock Woody Marks.
The ball popped out, off a Maryland tackle, the kind of break that’s never gone USC’s way in a shocking 3-4 start – and 1-4 Big Ten – that somehow, some way, could still be 7-0.
Moss put his hands to his helmet, and two plays later, these Trojans trudged off the field again as a thin crowd of Terrapins red stormed the field.
Again, a strong first half was flushed down the drain. Again, Lincoln Riley refused to turn heavily to the running game as time wound down in the second half. Again, a fourth quarter and an eventual loss had come down the “few plays away” that have defined Riley’s time in Southern California.
Things looked just peachy at the end of the first half, when Moss found tough-handed sophomore Makai Lemon – rapidly becoming a favorite target – for a 24-yard gain over the middle, Marks punched in a touchdown after a couple handoffs, and USC held a 21-7 lead. After a season of youthful inconsistency for USC’s sophomore receiving corps, they put on a 30-minute clinic, Lemon totaling five first-half catches and young Megatron Ja’Kobi Lane somehow twisting on one second-quarter ball from Moss for a one-handed TD grab that defied all of Isaac Newton’s scientific epiphanies. And after a couple weeks of iffy performances, Saturday’s first two quarters saw the return of the Moss that fans saw in the Holiday Bowl, a gunslinger who dotted his way to a 196-yard first half.
But even in his best games of 2024, even as Riley stuck with self-described “zero question” to Moss as his starter, the junior’s been prone to head-scratching mistakes that have doomed USC’s fortunes. And with USC moving in the third quarter, another brutal decision set disaster in motion, firing off his back foot and floating an interception that resulted in a Maryland score not a play later.
After another ineffectual USC drive, cornerback Jaylin Smith momentarily played superhero, skying for a remarkable one-handed pick on a fourth-and-goal to put the Trojans back in the driver’s seat. With momentum at the start of the fourth quarter, buoyed by a steady ground attack from Marks, Moss found Duce Robinson for a 26-yard push into the end zone for another sophomore-starring moment.
Maryland retaliated with a score, as USC too often strayed away from handing the ball to Marks. But on what seemed a last-gasp Maryland drive with three minutes to go, D’Anton Lynn’s defense – so often lambasted for their lack of pressure and weakness at closing on fourth downs – sent ballhawk Kamari Ramsey flying off the edge, bringing down Edwards Jr. for a sack.
It seemed the clincher. It seemed, at long last, that USC could close.
Only for a kick to be sent dribbling, and a season to continue slipping.
LOS ANGELES — A year ago, Anthony Lucas was better in practice than he was in actual football games.
A year later, during USC’s fall camp, a confidence steadily built that these Trojans wouldn’t only see the best version of him on Howard Jones Field.
“It feels a bit different,” head coach Lincoln Riley said a month ago, of Lucas. “More mature. More steady.”
Through six games in 2024, USC has gotten the version of Lucas the coaches first envisioned when they plucked a 6-foot-5, 295-pound former five-star recruit out of the transfer portal from Texas A&M in 2023. Beefed back up to 275 pounds after slimming as a sophomore, Lucas quickly established himself as USC’s most important defensive line piece, racking up a team-high 12 pressures and proving stout against the run off the edge.
But they only had that different version, it turns out, for six games, as Riley told reporters on Tuesday that Lucas would be out for the rest of the season after undergoing a procedure on his leg.
Lucas had limped off with an injury and was taken to the medical tent late in USC’s Week 5 loss to Minnesota, still managing to play 38 snaps and record six tackles against Penn State last weekend, according to Pro Football Focus. He wasn’t seen working with USC’s defensive line group during the early period of USC’s practice on Tuesday, however, and Riley clarified that Lucas had an an injury to a “lower extremity.”
“Hate it for Anthony, because he’s really improved,” Riley said. “He had a really strong impact on our defense.”
“He’s in a good frame of mind,” Riley continued. “We’ll be excited to get him back next year and get him rolling and build on all the progress he made. And in the meantime, it’s going to create an opportunity for some more guys to step up.”
The question is who, exactly, as USC’s defensive line room is already dangerously thin – and its front was further weakened Tuesday by the announced medical redshirt of senior linebacker Eric Gentry. Lucas was praised throughout the fall for his versatility in rotating at interior and edge spots, and both groups will feel his loss, a junior who has played more snaps than anyone else on the Trojans’ defensive line in 2024. Starting defensive tackle Gavin Meyer is banged up, carted off midway through last the loss to Penn State. Former difference-maker Bear Alexander is out of sight and out of mind, not seen at a USC practice since settling on a redshirt three weeks ago.
“You rely on the development that’s been going on (behind) the scenes, and the guys that you’ve recruited,” Riley said, when asked the plan for USC’s defensive line with Lucas’ absence. “And maybe there’s some guys that you thought, ‘Well, maybe their role won’t be quite as much this year, maybe they redshirt’ – that, now all of a sudden, they’re going to have that opportunity.”
The most obvious name in that group is true freshman Kameryn Fountain, the most highly prized recruit to come out of USC’s 2024 recruiting cycle and a true eye-popping standout at 6-6 and 265 pounds. He flashed college-ready burst during a handful of snaps against Utah State in Week 2, recording a few tackles and a quarterback pressure, and stands to inherit a few looks during the second half of USC’s season.
“From spring to now,” defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn said of Fountain in early September, “he’s like a different player.”
USC, too, will desperately need established names in its edge group to step up in Lucas’ absence, as the roster has continued to rank dead-last in the Big Ten in quarterback pressures for much of this season. Sophomore Braylan Shelby has been stout against the run, but after putting on 20 pounds during the offseason, he has recorded just one sack and five quarterback hurries through six games.
“Probably higher than anybody on the team,” defensive ends coach Shaun Nua said during fall camp, when asked the standard for Shelby in 2024.
“Just as high,” he continued, “same as Anthony Lucas, and any guy that has the ability to do big things.”
LOS ANGELES — Sitting in his office last Thursday, two days before the call that might have shifted the course of USC’s season, head coach Lincoln Riley laughed when asked if the Trojans ad to adjust to the way games were officiated in the Big Ten.
“Yes,” Riley smiled, on a Zoom call with members of the media. “Yes. Very much so.”
He spoke, then, in nothing but positive light. The Big Ten, Riley said, let them play more. There were less “ticky-tack” fouls called, as he put it, a slight over-the-shoulder toss at the days of the former Pac-12. He said he appreciated the conference and appreciated officiating coordinator Bill Carrollo, and he made explicitly clear he preferred this way things had become.
“I don’t think I got fined there,” Riley grinned, after pausing for a few seconds. “We’ll see.”
It was tongue-in-cheek, then, because there was no level of discontent in that response that could have warranted any such punishment.
Riley referenced a pass interference call on cornerback Jaylin Smith in the fourth quarter, a couple of plays before Minnesota scored a game-tying touchdown. There was a pass interference that “wasn’t called,” as Riley put it, potentially referring to an incomplete toss from quarterback Miller Moss to receiver Ja’Kobi Lane on a third-and-4 on USC’s ensuing drive. There was an intentional grounding call on Moss that same drive.
And then there was the mother of them all, the hotly debated game-winning fourth-and-goal score for Minnesota that was initially ruled a stop by USC’s defense – before being overturned and ruled a touchdown.
“Just to sum it up so we can all move on,” Riley said, “the explanation that we got on the last play was that they believed – or they thought that the runner had scored – and they felt like that was enough to overturn it.”
“I’ve not been given any explanation why we ignored the part of the rules that obviously state that, to overturn something, alright, that it has to be absolutely, completely clear-cut … that part was ignored,” Riley continued, “which is unfortunate for us.”
He was correct, in that the play was in no way clear-cut. With a minute left and and USC’s hopes riding entirely on a stop with the score tied on Saturday, Minnesota quarterback Max Brosmer took a snap and received a tush-push into a pileup at the goal line, officials on the field determining he had not reached the end zone. Any track of his body relative to the plane vanished, completely, in replay angles shown on a Big Ten Network broadcast. Brosmer even lost control of the football.
But after review, the call was overturned, and a minute later Minnesota students were streaking onto the field amid a 24-17 Golden Gophers victory.
When Riley called the conference, officials admitted they hadn’t known when the ball came out – and agreed video evidence to overturn the call wasn’t indisputable, the coach alleged Tuesday.
“Did he score?” Riley said. “Maybe he did, maybe he didn’t. I don’t – but I mean, that’s the problem, is, I mean, nobody knows.”
The Southern California News Group has reached out to a Big Ten representative for comment.
The result will stand, asterisk or no, as another gut-wrenching last-minute loss on USC’s ledger. First, the late fourth-and-goal touchdown surrendered to Michigan; now this late fourth-and-goal touchdown surrendered to Minnesota. And Riley, on Tuesday, doubled down when asked about comments feeling like USC (3-2 overall, 1-2 Big Ten) was a “couple plays away” from being 5-0, a frequent point of rhetoric during the 2023 team’s collapse en route to a 7-5 regular season.
“Don’t feel like it,” Riley said, firmly. “We are.”
He made clear several times, though, that the final Minnesota call wasn’t a reason USC had lost. And his program simply can’t afford to stare too long in the rearview mirror, with fourth-ranked Penn State (5-0, 2-0) waltzing into the Coliseum on Saturday.
“I’m not the person, I don’t make excuses,” Riley said Tuesday. “I don’t allow our players to make excuses. I haven’t talked about it with our players. I know, I know everybody wants to just get our opinion on it so that we can all move on, and that’s why I wanted to address it.”
“But at the end of the day, we had plenty of opportunities to close out that football game, and not put it down to a fluke play.”
Florida State fell out of The Associated Press college football poll on Tuesday after starting the season 0-2, becoming just the third team to go from preseason top 10 to unranked in the first regular-season poll since the rankings expanded to 25 in 1989.
Georgia remained No. 1, receiving 57 first-place votes after starting the season with a blowout of then-No. 14 Clemson. The Tigers hung on at No. 25, but it was the second straight year they dropped at least 10 spots after losing their season opener.
Ohio State was No. 2 with five first-place votes. No. 3 Texas and No. 4 Alabama each moved up a spot, putting three Southeastern Conference teams in the top four along with Georgia. The last time the SEC did that in a non-pandemic season was Sept. 22, 2019.
No. 5 Notre Dame jumped two spots after opening the season with a victory at then-No. 20 Texas A&M, which fell out of the rankings.
Florida State has been the early season’s major disappointment. The defending Atlantic Coast Conference champion lost in Dublin, Ireland, to ACC rival Georgia Tech and then dropped another league game Monday night at home to Boston College.
No other preseason Top 25 team this year lost to an unranked opponent to open the season. Florida State did it twice as a double-digit favorite and did not receive a single vote from the AP poll panel.
The other preseason top-10 teams to fall all the way out of the Top 25 after Week 1 in the past 35 years were Michigan in 2007 after famously losing to Appalachian State as No. 5 and Clemson in 2008. The Tigers were No. 9 but opened with a blowout loss to Alabama and tumbled out of the rankings.
Mississippi remained at No. 6. Oregon slipped four spots to No. 7 after winning a close game with Idaho. Penn State stayed at No. 8. Missouri moved up two spots to No. 9 to give the SEC five teams in the top 10. Michigan dropped one spot to No. 10.
Georgia Tech’s 2-0 start has the No. 23 Yellow Jackets ranked for the first time since 2015.
Poll points
Because Florida State started its season a week before most of the country, it moves into an exclusive club of teams that began their seasons 0-2 with each loss coming while ranked in the top 10.
Notre Dame was the last to do it in 2022, when the Fighting Irish began the season No. 5, lost at No. 2 Ohio State in their opener, and then were beaten at home the next week by Marshall while ranked eighth. The Irish went to on finish 9-4.
Ohio State opened the 1986 season ranked ninth and lost back-to-back games to ranked opponents, No. 5 Alabama and No. 17 Washington. The Buckeyes were No. 10 when they played the Huskies. Ohio State finished 10-3.
The 1967 Texas team and TCU from 1952 also started 0-2 while ranked in the top 10 in both games.
Florida State is only the second ranked team to lose twice before the first regular-season poll was released, joining Kentucky in 1951. The Wildcats went from No. 6 to No. 17 while going 1-2 to start the season, losing at No. 11 Texas and at Mississippi.
Florida State gets a weekend off before resuming its schedule with home games against Memphis and new ACC member California before a trip to SMU followed by a home game against Clemson.
“You’ve got a football team that nobody envisioned ever being where we are and having disappointment, having failure, but I do believe in what this team can do,” coach Mike Norvell said after the BC loss. “I believe in what this team can accomplish.”
Moving up
The big movers upward in the Top 25 were Miami and Southern California.
The Hurricanes jumped seven spots to No. 12 after routing Florida at The Swamp and have their best ranking since cracking the top 10 late in the 2020 season.
No. 13 USC moved up 10 places after beating LSU with a late touchdown Sunday night in Las Vegas. LSU dropped to No. 18.
The Trojans started last season at No. 6, but ended up unranked after a disappointing 8-5 season with 2022 Heisman Trophy winner Caleb Williams.
In and out
The only other team to move into the rankings this week, along with Georgia Tech, was fellow ACC school Louisville. The Cardinals were among the top unranked voter-getters in the preseason and now sit at No. 22.
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Conference call
Despite Florida State and Clemson starting the season 0-3, the ACC has one more team in this week’s rankings than it did last time:
SEC — 8 (Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 9, 14, 16, 18).
Big Ten — 6 (Nos. 2, 7, 8, 10, 13, 21).
ACC — 5 (Nos. 12, 22, 23, 24, 25).
Big 12 — 5 (Nos. 11, 16, 17, 19, 20).
Independent — 1 (No. 5).
Ranked vs. ranked
No. 3 Texas at No. 10 Michigan. The first regular-season meeting ever is a top-10 matchup at the Big House.
No. 14 Tennessee vs. No. 24 N.C. State in Charlotte, North Carolina. Interesting SEC-ACC ranked matchup.
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Ralph D. Russo | The Associated Press
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Less than eight months after playing for the national championship, Washington makes its debut under new coach Jedd Fisch with a completely remodeled program. Most of the stars from last year’s team have moved on either to the NFL or new schools. Fisch took control after Kalen DeBoer moved to Alabama and will unveil his overhauled roster against Weber State, highlighted by new quarterback Will Rogers and running back Jonah Coleman, and a defense under the command of Steve Belichick. Weber State returns nine starters from last year’s team that went 6-5 and the Wildcats begin the season ranked No. 22 in the FCS.
KEY MATCHUP
Washington returns only one full-time starter from last season’s team so the opener against the Wildcats will be a test of how well the remade roster can come together. Fisch said effort and fundamentals are the two of the things he’s most interested in seeing. There are also the concerns of complacency and making sure Washington isn’t looking past Weber State. It was only three years ago that Washington opened its season by losing to Montana at home.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Weber State: DE Brayden Wilson has been the most honored player in the preseason for the Wildcats. Wilson was named a preseason all-Big Sky and preseason All-American by some outlets. He led the Big Sky last season with 16 1/2 tackles for loss, including 7 1/2 sacks. He could be a test for Washington’s new offensive line.
Washington: Rogers and fellow QB Demond Williams Jr. Fisch made it clear that Rogers’ experience playing at Mississippi State in the SEC was a factor in naming him the starting QB. But Williams is a promising freshman who pushed Rogers in training camp and seems likely to get some amount of playing time this season.
FACTS & FIGURES
Washington’s first game as a member of the Big Ten. Weber State’s first game against a team from the Big Ten. … The Wildcats were picked to finish sixth in the Big Sky preseason poll. … The Huskies won’t leave Seattle for their first four games. After this week, Washington hosts Eastern Michigan, plays Washington State at Lumen Field and opens conference play at home against Northwestern. … CB Elijah Jackson is the only full-time starter to return from last season for Washington – and he might not even start the opener.
