USC fans have every right to celebrate Oregon's blowout playoff loss

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On Friday, rival Oregon was blown out by Indiana in the College Football Playoff semifinals. Following the game, Trojans Wire editor Matt Zemek wrote that the result should make USC angry, rather than happy.

While Matt is certainly entitled to his own opinion, I am here to try and talk some sense on this matter. Here is why I think that this is a ridiculous take:

Everything about Indiana is unprecedented

First of all, Matt claims that, “Curt Cignetti and Indiana aren’t reinventing the wheel.” I would actually argue that they actually are.

There is absolutely zero precedent for what the Hoosiers are doing. As of earlier this year, they had the most losses of any college football program in history. Now, they are one win away from a national championship—something that is absolutely stunning to even think about.

Perhaps the most remarkable part, however, is that Indiana is doing this with fewer than ten former four and five-star recruits on its roster. In the internet recruiting rankings era (dating back to the late 1990s/early 2000s), no team has won a national championship with a roster that looks anything close to what Indiana’s does.

Plain and simple, Cignetti is doing things right now that no other coach in the history of the sport has done. While other programs are going to try and hold themselves to the standard he has set, that is simply not at all realistic.

We already know that Oregon was better than USC this season

As for Oregon, the Ducks being better than the Trojans in 2025 is not exactly new information. We saw the two teams play in Eugene in November, and it was not pretty for USC.

Oregon has largely owned the past 15 years, too

Beyond this season, the Ducks have simply been the better program over the past 15 years. Oregon has won five conference titles to USC’s one since 2010. The Ducks have also made the College Football Playoff, three times, something that the Trojans have yet to do even once.

Trojans still have one massive trump card

That being said, however, USC still has one massive trump card over Oregon: The Ducks have never won a national championship. If Oregon finally wins the big one, then it can truly make a claim as the premier college football program on the West Coast. Until then, however, USC fans can effectively end any argument by simply pointing to the empty trophy case up in Eugene.

Players should embrace the rivalry—within reason

So how does that affect USC’s players and coaches? Well, they probably should not be getting into arguments with Oregon fans on social media. But them feeling the passion of a rivalry personally—especially in an era where college football has seemingly become extremely transactional—is not necessarily a bad thing.

Urban Meyer did not shy away from his feelings about Michigan when he was Ohio State’s head coach. When Ed Orgeron was an assistant at USC, he was quite vocal in his disdain for Notre Dame. Obviously, a certain level of maturity and professionalism is expected, but I would have zero issue with USC players being happy about the Trojans’ rivals losing.

No moral victories

Matt also argues that 2025 Oregon turning out not to be an elite team makes USC getting blown out by Dan Lanning’s group look even worse. To which I say, who cares?

There are no moral victories at USC. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter whether a team that USC got blown out by turned out to be great or just good. All that matters is that the Trojans got dominated by a rival, which is unacceptable under any circumstances.

Rooting for your losses to look less bad is just sad

Plain and simple, rooting for a team that beat you to keep winning so that your loss looks less bad is loser behavior. It would be one thing if this were the regular season and the Trojans were hoping for a quality loss for their playoff resume. But that ship has long since sailed. Hence, Oregon going on a national championship run would have improved absolutely nothing for the Trojans other than optics.

If Oregon had beaten Indiana would anyone around USC have gotten any satisfaction from the fact that the Trojans’ ugly rivalry loss turned out to be to a team that made it to the national championship game? I certainly hope not, because that would be pretty pathetic.

Focus on 2026

At the end of the day, USC’s focus should be on 2026, not on Oregon. If Lincoln Riley does not win next year, he may not be the head coach of the Trojans in 2027. How USC’s opponents fare against other teams will not have anything to do with that.

The Trojans have their work cut out for them heading into next season. In the meantime, however, at least let people enjoy the fact that the players and coaches will be doing that work in a facility with national championship trophies on display—unlike a certain program up in Eugene.

This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: USC football fans absolutely should celebrate Oregon’s playoff loss

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