After losing to Wisconsin, many wondered if this might be the end of the Lincoln Riley era at USC. A treacherous closing stretch of the season against three top 10 opponents created a reality where the Trojans could finish the year 7-5, which would almost certainly have spelled doom for Riley. However, just as Riley's eulogy at USC was being written, the Trojans put together their best performance of the season in the Halloween rain in Los Angeles to topple then-No. 1 Ohio State in a convincing 30-18 win.
Now USC is 7-2 and gets a bye week to prepare for a road trip to Bloomington to play No. 4 Indiana, which has escaped in overtime in back-to-back weeks against unranked opponents. If USC can finally hand Indiana the second loss the Hoosiers have seemingly been trying to take for weeks, suddenly the College Football Playoff is back in sight. Maryland is the Big Ten's free space on schedules this season, and for as great as the crosstown rival Bruins have looked this year, the Trojans could certainly win against UCLA to close out the season.
The game against Indiana will tell us everything we need to know about the Trojans. They rallied with their backs against the wall at home against Ohio State, but the road has not been kind to USC under Riley. USC is 5-7 away from home in Big Ten play over the past three years (and one of those wins was driving across L.A. to face UCLA) -- they also have a loss at Notre Dame in that span.
This year they lost as favorites on the road at Wisconsin, narrowly dodged an embarrassing loss at Rutgers and got dragged into a one-score game late at a Penn State team that's 1-4 in conference play. Indiana may be limping into what will be a ranked battle in Bloomington, but with a bye week of their own to get either Grant Wilson more time with the starters or Josh Hoover healthier, the Hoosiers will present the stiffest test USC's faced yet on the road. The first batch of College Football Playoff rankings proved that the committee isn't buying a sudden USC turnaround.
That makes their Nov. 14 game at Indiana (3:30 p.m. ET on CBS) the biggest game of Lincoln Riley's tenure in L.A., as he can either rewrite the narrative about his teams or they can just prove to be the same ol' Trojans. How high does USC climb in this week's Big Ten Power Rankings?
The Bruins put it on cruise control against Nevada on Saturday and now face a tricky road trip to Minnesota to face a Golden Gophers team that just gave it their all in a gutting overtime defeat at Indiana. The Gophers' defense will present a real challenge to a UCLA offense that has certainly lost some juice without Nico Iamaleava at quarterback. Running the football will be a challenge, and Ty Dieffenbach will have to lead the way with his arm for the Bruins on offense.
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