This Saturday's USC football game against Oregon is simply a massive moment for Trojan football. The importance of this game cannot be overstated or exaggerated. It is the prove-it game for a whole team and coaching staff, a game we circled as soon as the 2026 schedule came out. It matters for a million obvious reasons. Here's reason 1,000,001: USC needs to reestablish itself as a force, a real presence, in the Los Angeles sports marketplace. This is the game which will determine if the Trojans are truly back.
It is almost October. The Los Angeles Dodgers will soon begin their pursuit of a third consecutive World Series championship. The Los Angeles Lakers, royalty in LA, will soon begin another NBA season. The Los Angeles Rams will host Super
Bowl LXI in February. If the team, favored to win the Super Bowl before the season, can actually play in the game, another Lombardi Trophy is likely to come to LA.
USC used to be a destination ticket in Los Angeles sports. In the Pete Carroll era, all the celebrities wanted to be seen at the Coliseum. The place was routinely packed and had an energy, a buzz, that simply can't be manufactured. As the saying goes, "You either have it or you don't." USC had it. The Trojans were a glamour team which dominated and looked stylish in doing so more often than not. Pete Carroll's charisma and swagger captured the city. Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart were straight from central casting as the superstar running back and golden boy quarterback.
USC has been trying to get back to that aura for over 15 years. It briefly tasted success under Sam Darnold, but everyone could see that was the exception to the rule under Clay Helton. Caleb Williams briefly revived USC and gave us a sense of what is possible in 2022, but that flame burned away in 2023 thanks to Alex Grinch's brutally awful defense. Oregon is the Western team which annually plays in the biggest games in college football, supplanting USC as the place to be in Pacific time zone football.
Does USC want to take back the gold standard from the Ducks and become an entertainment option Angelenos will flock to? There's only one way to do that: beat Oregon convincingly.
Is USC back? The Trojans have to go through the Ducks if they want to answer that question the right way.
Contact/Follow @TrojansWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of USC Trojans news, notes and opinion.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: As Dodgers pursue 3rd straight World Series, USC faces moment of truth
