College Football Analysts Predict USC Trojans' Shocking First Loss

The Big Ten Conference is filled with intense competition and elite talent in it's second year as an expended 18-team conference. College football analysts predicted each Big Ten team's first loss and USC's was rather surprising.

For the USC Trojans, analysts predicted their first conference game will be their first loss, a road contest vs. the Illinois Fighting Illini.

The Fighting Illini have been seen as a the new Indiana of this years college football season — indicating a dark horse team who has the potential to make a historic college football playoff run.

Lincoln Riley USC Trojans Big Ten Football Illinois Fighting Illini Los Angeles Rose Bowl Luke Altmeyer Jayden Maiava — Dec 27, 2024; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Southern California Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley holds the championship trophy after the game against the Texas A&M Aggies at Allegiant Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

USC is coming off a 7-6 season and 4-5 conference record after some roster adjustments and one-score losses. The predicted loss at Illinois sparks doubts in the Trojans early on in the season.

Their first three games of the season should be favorable for the Trojans, but they face a harder stretch of conference games following the Illinois game — Michigan, at Notre Dame and at Oregon.

Prior to the Sept. 27 game, USC and Illinois have not faced each other since the 2007 Rose Bowl, when the Trojans beat the Fighting Illini 49-17.

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The Trojans maintain a solid offense to lead them this season — headlined by quarterback Jayden Maiava, running backs Eli Sanders and Waymond Jordan, and wide receivers Ja’Kobi Lane and Makai Lemon.

For the Fighting Illini, quarterback Luke Altmeyer is expected to be the forefront leader for Illinois as this will be his third season in Champaign. Among his receiving core are running backs Aiden Laughery and Kaden Feagin and wide receivers Isaiah Williams and Pat Bryant.

For college football analyst Joel Klatt, he sees the matchup between USC and Illinois as sneaky due to an underrated Illinois team lined up this year.

“This one is sneaky. It’s very under the radar. USC at Illinois, Week 5. This one is going to be very important for both teams,” Klatt said. “Both teams could very well be 4-0 entering this game. I think that’s absolutely within the realm. A win for Illinois would put them at 5-0, with really their only difficult game left being hosting Ohio State several weeks later. At that point, it’s almost identical to what Indiana was a year ago.”

The kicker is that USC cannot afford to lose to Illinois, especially that early in the season with the game slotted for the end of September.

“They've done a great job in recruiting for next year one of the best recruiting classes if not the best recruiting class in the country. They're trying to build momentum off the field and they need to build momentum on the field,” Klatt said. “This would be a great opportunity on the road to go and beat an Illinois team that a lot of us think a lot of if they lose their next three games — Michigan at Notre Dame at Nebraska. So things could go off the rails quite quickly if they were to lose this one to Illinois.”

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