USC football dropped to No. 19 in the latest US LBM Coaches Poll, presented by USA TODAY Sports. The Trojans tumbled out of the top 15 and fell five spots relative to the previous week's poll, following their 27-13 loss to Indiana on Saturday. The Trojans are now 7-3, and their College Football Playoff hopes - like their Big Ten championship hopes - have been fully extinguished for the season. Lincoln Riley is now 0 for 5 in making the College Football Playoff at USC. His last playoff season was 2019 at Oklahoma.
The Trojans' failure under Lincoln Riley is magnified this year by the fact that USC has played a series of backup quarterbacks in 2026. The Trojans faced Oregon's backup quarterback, then Ohio State's backup quarterback, then Indiana's
backup quarterback, Grant Wilson. They will face UCLA's backup quarterback, Ty Dieffenbach, on November 28. USC has entered a number of Big Ten games in highly favorable situations but has not been able to take advantage of them. The Trojans have existed in a mediocre Big Ten in which most teams are worse than they were in 2025. The Indiana team which beat USC on Saturday is nowhere close to the level of quality the Hoosiers displayed last season. Ohio State and Oregon are noticeably worse than they were in 2025. This year's Big Ten is highly vulnerable, and yet the Trojans couldn't conquer it. This amplifies the extent to which Lincoln Riley has flopped at USC.
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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC tumbles five spots in US LBM Coaches Poll after loss to Indiana
