The Big Ten’s 2026 football landscape is taking shape, and the USC Trojans find themselves perched at seventh in the conference rankings.
A Grueling Conference Slate
What makes the upcoming season especially daunting is the schedule, which will pit USC against four of the five teams currently occupying the top spots in the league.
Among those opponents, Penn State holds the fifth position, a placement bolstered by a recent College Football Playoff semifinal appearance and a 2024 Big Ten Championship Game run.
Despite that pedigree, analysts are betting on the Trojans to outperform the Nittany Lions in 2026, a projection that adds intrigue to the cross‑conference matchups.
The story is also being written on the sidelines, where veteran minds like Bill O'Brien, James Franklin and Matt Campbell are shaping the narratives of their respective programs.
As the Trojans prepare to travel to Pennsylvania and Iowa for key road tests, the blend of experience and youthful talent could prove decisive.