Saturday night, USC football beat the Bruins in a tight 19-13 game at Rose Bowl Stadium. After battling as Pacific-12 rivals since 1929, this was the first meeting between the two iconic brands after moving to the Big Ten in August. 

Following a whopping 54 combined Pacific-12 championships between the schools, the conference change has put them both in unfound territory. The two football programs are having middling seasons, as predicted in last year’s check-in after the rivalry game. It’s time to dive into the state of the teams a year into this seismic shift in the college football landscape. 

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USC 

Expectations for the Trojans this season were not to compete for a Big Ten title. Nonetheless, this season has been an unmitigated disappointment, given the context of their losses. USC (6-5, 4-5 Big Ten) started off the season with a thrilling win over a ranked LSU (7-4, 4-3 SEC) team in Las Vegas. The Trojans rose all the way to No. 11 in the nation, and hopes of competing for a College Football Playoff berth were reactivated within the fanbase. 

It all came crashing down from there. USC lost heartbreakers in four out of five games. Each defeat was a one-possession game that the Trojans were in position to win. In fact, in the loss to Michigan (6-5, 4-4 Big Ten), USC’s win probability rose as high as 92.9%, according to metrics by ESPN Analytics. 

It reached 91.7% in the next loss to Minnesota (6-5, 4-4 Big Ten), 92.2% against No. 4 Penn State (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten) and 97.2% against Maryland (4-7, 1-7 Big Ten). This goes to show how brutal each of these losses was. In the latter two, USC led by 14 points in the second half. The season would have an entirely different outlook if USC managed to pull these games out, especially against the ranked Wolverines and Nittany Lions. 

It seemed in these losses that the Trojans invented new ways to lose. From poor situational football to missed kicks and pick-sixes, what could go wrong did go wrong. It became a theme of Head Coach Lincoln Riley’s press conferences that the team was one play away from being undefeated.

The season spiraled out of control at that point, and Riley decided to bench redshirt junior Miller Moss in favor of redshirt sophomore Jayden Maiava. This move seems to be paying off so far, with USC 2-0 under Maiava, but concerns remain over his long-term viability as the team’s starter. 

Heading into next season, there is reason for optimism for Trojan fans. It is still the middle of flip season for recruits; USC holds the No. 14 recruiting class in the nation for 2025. This is a strong standing, but disappointing when you consider three five stars have decommitted from the class this year: defensive line Justus Terry, defensive line Isaiah Gibson and quarterback Julian Lewis. Additionally, just this week, USC lost pledges from four-star linebacker Ty Jackson and four-star offensive tackle Carde Smith. 

Lewis, the five-star quarterback from Georgia, had been the crown jewel of the class for over a year. In response to the move, USC did get a commitment from five-star quarterback Husan Longstreet, saving its recruiting class from disaster. Longstreet will enter USC as a true freshman with a chance to start as a quarterback. He will presumably compete with Maiava and perhaps a transfer portal quarterback if Riley sees fit. 

The Trojans will have options at signal-caller, albeit inexperienced ones and with an improving defense, should have a chance to build on their 2024 season. Lots of ground remains, however, from six-win seasons the past two years to the 10-win territory needed to compete for CFP berths. 

UCLA 

The Bruins, under first-year Head Coach DeShaun Foster, were always expected to have growing pains in this debut Big Ten season. UCLA (4-7, 3-6 Big Ten) got off to a rough start but turned things around with a three-game win streak starting in mid-October. 

The Bruins were widely expected to struggle in the Big Ten, an elite conference that would spur multiple cross-country trips for them. Five straight losses seemed to vindicate that until some surprising wins as underdogs against Rutgers (6-5, 3-5 Big Ten), Nebraska (6-5, 3-5 Big Ten) and Iowa (7-4, 5-3 Big Ten). The Bruins have now dropped two straight, roping in the loss to USC on Saturday, but positives remain for Foster to take from this season. 

The Bruins’ 2025 recruiting class does not crack the top 30 nationally and is 11th in the loaded Big Ten. Foster has a long rebuild ahead of him in Pasadena, with the new conference providing consistently brutal schedules. UCLA will follow up on games with Penn State this year as well as a trip to Ohio State (10-1, 7-1 Big Ten). UCLA will also search for a quarterback as senior starter Ethan Garbers moves on. 

UCLA is a storied program with an iconic stadium at the Rose Bowl, but a 15th-place finish in the Big Ten in their debut season was not unexpected. The Bruins will hope to build on a few late-season conference wins to carry over into their finale against Fresno State University (6-5, 4-3 Mountain West) and then to 2025. 

USC and UCLA joined the Big Ten for the television money and the profile in this new era of college football. Both teams struggled in their first year in the Midwest-based conference that prides itself on tough defenses. This was evident from USC’s 1-4 road record, and their only win was the “road” game 14 miles away at UCLA. 

After the bitter crosstown rivals finished their first installment of the rivalry as Big Ten members, an uphill battle awaits them as they hope to compete in 2025 and beyond.