No. 16 USC will face surprise opponent TCU in Alamo Bowl
-
Click here to listen to this article - Share via
See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred
- USC has missed the College Football Playoff field for the 11th consecutive season.
- The Trojans will head to San Antonio to face TCU in the Alamo Bowl, marking USC’s first appearance in the game’s 32-year history.
- TCU was a surprising opponent selection, with the Alamo Bowl passed on higher-ranked Big 12 option BYU.
For the 11th straight season and fourth time under coach Lincoln Riley, USC finished its season on the outside looking in at the College Football Playoff field.
But it will get to finish this football season with a first.
USC will face Texas Christian in the Alamo Bowl on Dec. 30, a source not authorized to discuss the matchup publicly confirmed to The Times. The Trojans never have spent the bowl season in San Antonio, where the Alamo Bowl has been played since 1993.
Their opponent comes as somewhat of a surprise considering the Horned Frogs finished the regular season 8-4 in a tie for fifth in the Big 12. The Alamo Bowl gets first selection of Big 12 teams and could have chosen Brigham Young, which lost in the Big 12 title game and, like USC, finished within one win of the playoff field. But the bowl presumably passed on the Cougars because they took part in the game last season.
USC returned to its roots, heavily recruiting local schools to assemble the nations’ No. 1 recruiting class on early signing day on Wednesday.
For Riley, the bowl should bring back plenty of memories. First off it comes against a coach he met as an 18-year old quarterback at Texas Tech, TCU’s Sonny Dykes.
“Lincoln and I go way back,” Dykes said. “He was one of those guys you could tell early on in his career that he was going to be really successful.”
Riley’s first experience calling plays also came at the Alamo Bowl, when Mike Leach, his mentor at Texas Tech, resigned before the game. The experience proved bittersweet for Riley but propelled him to new heights in his career, as he went on to be East Carolina’s offensive coordinator shortly after.
“It was one of the more emotional games I’ve been a part of,” Riley said.
Notre Dame was snubbed in favor of new UCLA coach Bob Chesney’s James Madison squad, Alabama and Miami in the College Football Playoff 12-team bracket.
USC will head to San Antonio knowing that one more win on its resume might have earned the Trojans a playoff spot.
They ultimately finished 16th in the final playoff rankings, with two wins over top-25 teams (Michigan and Iowa) and two losses (Oregon and Notre Dame).
An Alamo Bowl bid might not be much of a consolation to those who expected USC to compete for its first playoff appearance.
But those hopes went out the window last month in Eugene, Ore., where the playoff-bound Ducks dealt the Trojans their third loss.
Since then Riley has reiterated the importance of finishing this season strong, helping “pave the road” for the program’s future. That message helped inspire a dominant rivalry win over UCLA.
Whether it will resonate through another bowl season without bigger stakes remains to be seen.
USC still can finish with 10 wins for just the second time in the last eight seasons, the last being in Riley’s debut season in 2022. The Trojans finished strong the last two seasons under Riley, beating Louisville in a thrilling Holiday Bowl at the end of the 2023 season and then mounting a comeback to upend Texas A&M in the 2024 Las Vegas Bowl.
This time the Trojans will enter their bowl as a clear favorite.
TCU has one win over a ranked team this season — a 17-14 victory over No. 21 Houston — while its only other matchup with a ranked team 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 faced much resistance either. TCU ranks 108th in the nation in pass defense, making it statistically the worst pass defense USC has faced all season.
USC will be without some key parts of its passing attack — and perhaps more. The offensive line will be down two starters because of injuries — left tackle Elijah Paige and center Kilian O’Connor — while key reserve Micah Banuelos entered the transfer portal last week.
A look at all the players who are transferring in and out of UCLA and USC in the NCAA transfer portal ahead of the 2026 college football season.
The offense almost certainly will have to weather the absence of Makai Lemon, who is expected to skip the game upon declaring for the NFL draft. But fellow wideout Ja’Kobi Lane’s future plans are unclear. Quarterback Jayden Maiava and running back Waymond Jordan also have not confirmed whether they expect to return to help lead USC’s offense next year.
Riley said Sunday that those situations would “clarify here in the next few weeks.”
Eleven Trojans have entered the portal since the end of the regular season, in part to clear the way for an incoming freshman class with 35 players.
Several 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. Albeit not what they once hoped.
More to Read
