For the 11th season in a row and the fourth time lower coach Lincoln Riley, USC finished the season on the road, watching the College Football Playoff field.
But he will manage to finish this football season first.
USC will face Texas Christian in the Alamo Bowl, a source not authorized to discuss that matchup publicly confirmed to The Times. The Trojans have never played a bowl season in San Antonio, where the Alamo Bowl has been held since 1993.
Their opponent was something of a surprise considering the Horned Frogs finished the regular season 8-4, finishing fifth in the Big 12. The Alamo Bowl gets its first pick of Big 12 teams and could select Brigham Young, which lost in the Big 12 title game and, like USC, finished with one playoff loss. But the bowl apparently went to the Cougars because they were in the game last season.
USC will head to San Antonio knowing another win on its resume could earn the Trojans a bid. They ultimately finished 16th in the final College Football Playoff rankings with two wins over top 25 teams (Michigan and Iowa) and two losses (Oregon and Notre Dame).
An Alamo Bowl bid may not be much consolation to those who expected USC to compete for its first playoff appearance in 2025. But those hopes were dashed last month in Eugene, Oregon, where the playoff-bound Ducks handed the Trojans their third loss of the year.
Riley has since re-emphasized the importance of finishing this season successfully, helping to “pave the way” for the program moving forward. That message helped fuel a dominant win over UCLA. Whether that will resonate in the next bowl season without higher stakes remains to be seen.
USC can still finish with 10 wins for just the second time in the last eight seasons, the last of which was Riley's rookie season in 2022. The Trojans have finished strong in each of the last two seasons under Riley, defeating Louisville in a thrilling Holiday Bowl late in the 2023 season and then coming back to upset Texas A&M in the 2024 Las Vegas Bowl.
This time, the Trojans will enter their bowl as clear favorites. TCU has one win against a ranked team this season—a 17-14 win over 21st-ranked Houston—while their only other ranked matchup was a lopsided loss to BYU.
TCU quarterback Josh Hoover is one of the Big 12's most prolific passers with 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns this season. But he also led the league in interceptions (13).
The Horned Frogs can move the ball through the air, but their opponents haven't encountered much resistance either. TCU ranks 108th in the country in pass defense, making it statistically the worst pass defense USC has faced all season.
USC will be without some key pieces of its passing attack, and possibly others. The offensive line will lose two starters to injury – left tackle Elijah Page and center Kilian O'Connor – while key reserve Micah Banuelos entered the transfer portal last week.
The offense will almost certainly have to cope with the absence of Makai Lemon, who is expected to miss the game after declaring for the NFL Draft. But fellow Ja'Coby Lane's future plans are still unclear. Quarterback Jayden Maiava and running back Waymond Jordan have not confirmed whether they plan to return to lead USC's offense in 2026.
Eleven Trojans have entered the transfer portal since the end of the regular season, in part to clear the way for an incoming 35-player freshman class. A few more could join them before USC reaches its bowl game.
But with a potential 10-win season on the line, the Trojans will have something to play for in San Antonio. Although not what he had once hoped for.
