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USC getting what it signed up for with difficult 2024 schedule

IMG_0985by:Griffin McVeigh•07/05/23•

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Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans watches warm ups before the game against the Arizona Wildcats at Arizona Stadium on October 29, 2022 in Tucson, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
Head coach Lincoln Riley of the USC Trojans watches warm ups before the game against the Arizona Wildcats (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)

USC fans have quite the schedule to look forward to. A move from the Pac-12 to the Big Ten means fresh faces will be on the calendar for the Trojans. The Big Ten did no favors to Lincoln Riley either, giving them the likes of Michigan, Penn State, and Wisconsin.

While there might be some complaints about how difficult the schedule is, On3’s J.D. PicKell says this is exactly what USC signed up for. They were the ones who wanted to move on from the Pac-12, getting ahead in realignment. A move to a 14-team Big Ten conference was always going to produce multiple tough matchups on a yearly basis.

“This is the gauntlet for Lincoln Riley and company,” PicKell said. “But this is also what you signed up for. You understood what you were getting when you went to the Big Ten. You could have stayed in the Pac-12. You could have stayed playing Washington State… and that would have been fine for you.

“But you wanted to go to one of the premier conferences in college football. You understood the tectonic plates are continuing to shift with conference realignment. So, you landed in one of the top conferences in the country and the schedule reflects that.”

Traveling to Happy Valley to face Penn State will be like something USC has not done in a long time. Even a road game against Purdue has taken down the Big Ten’s best teams in years prior. And then you have Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin coming to Los Angeles.

Very few easy games on the ’24 schedule.

All of that without mentioning LSU and Notre Dame are on the nonconference schedule as well. In what will be an overall transition year, USC is going to be tested on a weekly basis. Luckily, they have Lincoln Riley leading the charge, someone PicKell has a ton of faith in.

“You got the right head coach to make that move with,” PicKell said. “You got the right guy to lead you into 2024 in the Big Ten conference in Lincoln Riley.”

Before USC heads to the Big Ten, they have Pac-12 title and College Football Playoff aspirations. An important 2023 season lies ahead for the program. But once the Big Ten move takes place, the Trojans are going to be smacked in the face with a tough schedule.

Welcome to the future of college football.