The USC Trojans, as you probably know by now, called off their home-and-home football series with Ole Miss in 2025 and 2026. The Trojans won’t face former coach Lane Kiffin in what were two highly anticipated college football clashes. Some will say that the College Football Playoff expansion to 12 teams is the reason for canceling these big games. That might be part of it, but it seems that the Big Ten is the more central reason.
No offense is intended to Washington and Oregon, but the Big Ten means USC is playing a combination of Michigan, Ohio State, Penn State, and Wisconsin every year. This year, USC plays three of those schools, with Ohio State being the only exception. Pac-12 football was tough and demanding, but Big Ten football will be physically imposing. Teams might not necessarily be harder to defeat, but the physical toll of the Big Ten style of play is likely to be more pronounced. For that reason, USC needs to be physically fresh entering the Big Ten football portion of the schedule. Therefore, huge early-season nonconference tilts with Ole Miss are no longer desirable. This is part of the difficulty of being in the Big Ten for USC.
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