The preseason is over.
USC spent the first three weeks of its season doing exactly what a program with College Football Playoff aspirations should do against overmatched opponents: win, build confidence, develop young players and avoid disaster.
Saturday night’s 49-30 victory over Louisiana at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum completed the assignment.
Now tear it up. It’s time for the regular season to start.
USC is 3-0 after victories over San Jose State, Fresno State and Louisiana, three opponents that allowed Lincoln Riley to tinker with his roster, establish rotations and give his young talent room to grow without paying much of a price for mistakes.
“It’s been good for us to play a bunch of players in all three nonconference games,” said Riley. “I think if we’d set a goal, it would’ve been, win the first three games, get a chance to play a bunch of guys, develop your roster, and evaluate, which we’ve been able to do.”
Starting next week, that luxury is gone.
The Trojans travel across the country to face Rutgers next Saturday, beginning a Big Ten schedule that will tell us considerably more about this team than anything we learned during its three-game nonconference opponents.
Because the gauntlet waiting for USC is downright vicious.
Five of the Trojans’ next seven opponents are currently ranked inside the top 20: Oregon (6), Washington (19), Penn State (16), Ohio State (1) and reigning national champion Indiana (5).
It’s time to take the training wheels off and see if USC is a legitimate national contender or gets swallowed up by the heavyweights it was built to beat.
And nobody has more to gain over the next two months than Jayden Maiava.
The USC quarterback threw for 261 yards and five touchdowns Saturday, although his otherwise productive night included an interception on the Trojans’ opening drive. Maiava has looked comfortable and increasingly commanding through three games, but September statistics accumulated against inferior competition don’t build a Heisman Trophy campaign.
What comes next can.
If Maiava wants to force his way into the Heisman conversation, Oregon, Washington, Penn State, Ohio State and Indiana provide the stage. Those are the games that turn impressive numbers into nationally televised moments and good quarterbacks into household names.
“I think we’ve just got to continue to stack the days, stay the course, be present in the moment, trust our coaches and trust our preparation,” said Maiava when asked if he can continue his level of play against tougher Big 10 competition. “One day at a time.”
We’ll soon discover whether Maiava is simply thriving inside Riley’s quarterback-friendly offense or becoming the next great USC quarterback.
The encouraging part is that he’s got weapons around him.
King Miller rushed for 128 yards and a touchdown on Saturday, while USC’s freshmen once again offered a tantalizing glimpse of what Riley is building around his quarterback.
Tight end Mark Bowman caught two touchdown passes. Trent Mosley was even more electric, turning a punt return into an 86-yard touchdown before climbing the ladder for a spectacular 21-yard touchdown reception in the third quarter.
“If there’s another team having more young guys contribute in the country right now, I’d love to see it,” said Riley about his freshman standouts. “My excitement is, I feel like our peak, our trajectory, should be even higher because of how many young guys are playing and learning and playing their first games.”
Mosley doesn’t merely look like a promising freshman anymore. He looks dangerous every time the football finds him.
Those are the weapons USC will need when the margins shrink.
And they are about to shrink dramatically.
That brings us to the other side of the football, where USC should leave Saturday with considerably more questions.
Gary Patterson’s arrival brought hope that the Trojans had finally fixed the chronic defensive problems that have haunted the Riley era. The early returns were impressive. Fresno State managed only 116 total yards in USC’s 39-0 victory, the fewest USC had allowed since 2008 and the program’s first shutout since 2024.
Through two games, USC had outgained its opponents 1,057-452.
Then Louisiana provided evidence that Patterson’s defense might not be as dominant as we thought.
The Ragin’ Cajuns scored 30 points and trailed only 14-10 late in the first half. That’s notable because USC had surrendered just three points before the fourth quarter across its first two games.
Louisiana’s quarterback Lunch Winfield threw for 212 yards and a touchdown. He also rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Louisiana entered the weekend hovering around No. 95 nationally in broad computer rankings. If that offense could make USC uncomfortable, imagine what Oregon will do.
“Give Louisiana a lot of credit. Their quarterback’s a hell of a player,” said Riley of Louisiana’s offense. “He makes a lot of plays and covers up a lot. I thought those guys competed hard and are a good football team.”
That’s not a verdict on Patterson’s defense after three games. He also was able to use these first three games to establish a rotation and clean up mistakes.
“We’ve got to clean up some stuff,” admitted defensive end Luke Waffle. “It’s good to get this victory under the belt and just keep on stacking days, getting better every week.”
USC has spent September showing us its potential without having to prove much of it.
That all changes now.
Rutgers comes first. Oregon arrives at the Coliseum one week later. Then the schedule becomes a weekly examination of whether Riley finally has a team capable of surviving the Big Ten rather than merely dazzling against the soft part of its schedule.
USC is undefeated. Maiava is rolling. The freshmen are electric. Patterson’s defense has flashed real improvement.
All of it looks promising, but now the dress rehearsal is over and it’s time to find out if USC is for real.
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