USC season preview: 2026 schedule gives staff time to make decisions

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USC football has a 2026 schedule which will give the coaching staff a chance to give a lot of players some meaningful reps in September. The staff will likely need to rotate a lot of players in and out of the lineup, and it shouldn't be a point of considerable debate, either.

This is not a complicated conversation, or at least, it doesn't have to be. USC starts its season with San Jose State, Fresno State, Louisiana, and Rutgers. That's four games the Trojans should win with absolutely zero problems whatsoever. Rutgers is a Big Ten game, and it's on the road, so that game has to be taken seriously in a way the first three aren't, but still, it's a game USC should win handily.

The Rutgers game is on September 19 in New Jersey. After the San Jose-Fresno-Louisiana set of nonconference games, Rutgers should serve as the dress rehearsal for the big one, the game against Oregon in Los Angeles on September 26.

USC football essentially has three games in which to rotate players heavily and arrive at decisions on who should play where, and how much. Phrased differently, USC's depth chart for Game 1 is a lot less important than the depth chart going into Game 4 game against Rutgers. How USC's roster looks and feels going into the Rutgers game should offer the likely template for what we are going to see against Oregon in Game 5, the matchup which might define and shape the whole season.

The coaching staff does not have to figure everything out on August 29 against San Jose State. That should be the beginning, not the end, of an evaluation process and a journey in which the coaches ensure that the extended roster gets a look in live action. Three weeks of games against smaller-conference schools should give the coaches an idea of what to do for Rutgers, and the Rutgers game should provide either confirmation or clear refutation of those instincts going into the Oregon battle.

Three weeks to prepare for the Big Ten, four weeks to prepare for Oregon. The USC coaching staff can't say they won't have time in which to prepare the team for the games which matter most.

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This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC season preview: 2026 schedule gives staff time to make decisions

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