The end is here.

College sports will continue, but this is the final edition of Big Ten Bites. It’s been a fun run, with a call to fire a head coach, a lot of recruiting talk and, most importantly, cold takes.

So, in my final opportunity to get them out there, let’s get to all of my unused takes, focusing on the big sports for the Trojans. I won’t be able to give a full argument, but you can find me in the student directory and email me if I say something you think is too out there.

In any case, it’s time for the final edition of Big Ten Bites.

The Trojans will make a college football playoff under Lincoln Riley

“It’ll be different this year.”

Every hopeful fan says that about their team every year. But for USC fans, it may soon be true. Head Coach Lincoln Riley is finally piecing together the puzzle, building a program rather than simply a prolific offense.

Riley can’t do it without support, which is why he brought in Defensive Coordinator D’Anton Lynn and General Manager Chad Bowden. Lynn is rebuilding the defense, as the Trojans gave up 24.1 points per game in 2024 after allowing a whopping 34.4 points per game in 2023. Bowden is tasked with building a championship-level roster, and he’s gotten right to work, helping the Trojans to the No. 1 recruiting class in the nation in 2026 as of April 22.

The Trojans have the pieces; now they have to execute. While USC might not make a run to the CFP this upcoming season, expect freshman quarterback Husan Longstreet to get the Trojans to the promised land once he takes over from redshirt junior quarterback Jayden Maiava.

While this whole piece is supposed to be all about hot takes, it’s admittedly hard to say that the Trojans will win a national championship. USC has Lynn and Bowden, but for how long? It’s only a matter of time before schools elsewhere come calling and offer them a bigger role. Riley must prove that he can consistently hire the right pieces from season to season. Only then can the Trojans reach the dynasty mountaintop yet again.

USC men’s basketball will not win an NCAA Tournament under Eric Musselman

While Head Coach Eric Musselman remains the right man for the job, his body of work does not inspire confidence in his title quest, as I have outlined in previous columns.

The Trojans sit in a conference that had four Sweet 16 teams, which tied the Big 12 for the second-most number of teams behind the SEC’s seven teams. The number of strong teams opens the door for building a strong resumé for the postseason via multiple quality wins, but also puts USC in a position to lose big.

In Big Ten play this past season, Musselman’s squad lost eight matchups by double digits. The Trojans had a ragtag roster this season, but losing that big consistently means this rebuild is just getting started.

USC has multiple big pieces coming in next season, and the Trojans might even have a ceiling of a run to the Round of 32 as the roster currently stands. However, USC is not meant to be dominant in men’s basketball with all the resources dedicated to football. Musselman will find postseason success with the Trojans, but a national title will be just out of reach.

Women’s basketball will fall in the Sweet 16 next season

The caveat here is “given the current state of the transfer portal.” The Trojans will clearly add a big or two before next season after losing graduate forward Kiki Iriafen and senior center Rayah Marshall, but there are no current players in the transfer portal who can replace that duo.

Iriafen had entered the transfer portal by this point in the previous cycle, and there is no Iriafen-level forward or center currently in the portal. The Trojans are also unlikely to have sophomore guard JuJu Watkins next season after an ACL tear, according to reports from ESPN.

While the Trojans still have solid pieces, a lack of a veteran big and the loss of Watkins will be damaging enough to keep them from their third straight Elite Eight. USC will have enough good guard play to get it through the first couple of rounds, but it will certainly not be enough to put the Trojans in national title contention.

USC baseball will make a regional this year

The Trojans have won six straight series for the first time since 2015. The last time USC made the NCAA tournament was also in 2015.

Head Coach Andy Stankiewicz has his team in a much easier conference than the Pacific-12 — the conference had five national champions between 2006-18, and the Big Ten has not had a national champion since 1966 — but that should not diminish this team’s accomplishment.

USC would love a big series win over rival UCLA, the No. 17 team in the nation in terms of RPI, in early May, but even still, the Trojans have only lost one series in Big Ten play. Stankiewicz’s squad needs to keep winning, especially without too many marquee wins and what will be considered a weaker schedule, but USC has what it takes to make the NCAA Tournament.

Thomas Johnson is a senior writing about USC’s arrival to a new conference and all of the implications surrounding the entrance in his column, “Big Ten Bites,” which ran every other Wednesday.