Hoosiers Closing In On Big Ten Title Game? 4 Takeaways From Indiana's Win Over USC

Cardiologists in the greater Indianapolis area are slated for a profitable holiday season. Indiana football has never been for the faint of heart. The Hoosiers' history of ineptitude tested the truest of supporters. But the 2026 season has proved perhaps even more taxing thanks to a heavy dosage of hair pulling-induced play and heart-palpitating finishes. And yet, Indiana is still standing - a 27-13 winner over No. 18 USC. There is nothing particularly complicated about the 2026 Hoosiers. The offense is nowhere near as efficient as last year's national title-winning squad. The defense? Well, that actually might be better. What that means long-term is that Indiana fans will be either bald or gray whenever this season does reach its ultimate conclusion. But those are conversations for a later date. Curt Cignetti's bunch continues to find a way. That's the only thing that matters. Here are my takeaways: 1. The Lincoln Riley Hot Seat Conversation Is Back USC was competitive on Saturday. Give the Trojans that much. There are reasons for hope. Freshman wide receiver Trent Mosley and tight end Mark Bowman look the part of All-Americans now and in the future. Edge rusher Luke Wafle will be the next in a long line of terrorizing Trojans defensive linemen. The combo of Waymond Jordan and King Miller were more effective than any group of rushers has been against this dominant Indiana front-seven. And yet the Trojans still leave Bloomington losers. USC has simply morphed into a mediocre Las Vegas steakhouse. There's flash. Pizazz. Excitement. But by the time you bite into a premier cut that better rivals your local grocery store and the waiter delivers your $300 bill, everyone is just disappointed and annoyed. Welcome to the Lincoln Riley experience. The Trojans' Week 9 win over Ohio State was supposed to be cathartic - so much so that Riley decided to scrawl a slew of thoughts onto a piece of paper he'd kept tucked in his back pocket for the postgame press conference, which made for a weird scene. It only further proved USC's head coach continues to feel the walls closing in. The Buckeyes - even in a win on Saturday over Northwestern - have shown they are far from the team that came to Indiana and beat the Hoosiers thanks to six inches of sideline a month ago. Beyond that, USC's best win this fall is .... Penn State? Washington? You get the point. Riley was hired with hopes of College Football Playoff glory. The Trojans haven't so much as sniffed the field since Caleb Williams was on campus. A win over a beatable Indiana team on Saturday would've thrust the Trojans back into the conversation. Too many mistakes. Too many misfires. Too many unfinished opportunities. The loss now means the most hyped battle for Los Angeles in decades is the only thing separating USC from potentially its third eight-win or worse season in four years. That won't cut it for the check writers. That won't cut it for the stakeholders in Heritage Hall. Assuming USC can hold serve against a head coach-less Maryland team next week, Riley may have only one more shot to prove he deserves to remain in charge in Los Angeles. That game result may deserve its own set of prepared statements. 2. Indiana Finished Drives When It Mattered. USC Didn't. USC looked the part early. The Trojans rushed for almost 5 yards per carry over the course of their first six rushes, while quarterback Jayden Maiava made a handful of feathery completions as they marched down to the Indiana 14-yard line. And then it all fell apart. A hold pulled USC out of the red zone. Miller was stonewalled on a 1-yard rush. Maiava's third down throw to Mosley was broken up. It all concluded with kicker Ryon Sayeri ringing a 51-yard field goal attempt off the left upright into the shaded South End Zone at Memorial Stadium. Perfect. No notes. The Trojans followed up their first drive with an almost identical effort on their second possession. They marched 63 yards on 12 plays thanks to a steady mix of passing and rushing as Indiana's normally stifling defense struggled to match Maiava on a handful of run-pass options. A third-down roughing the passer penalty and an 8-yard pass from Maiava to Jordan pushed the Trojans inside the Indiana 15-yard line. Then, Jordan was promptly stuffed for a 1-yard rush, lost four on his next carry and Maiava misfired on a third-down throw to the front left pylon that bounced off Bowman's outstretched hands. The Trojans settled for a field goal. Compare that to the Hoosiers. Indiana responded to USC's opening drive by marching 60 yards on six plays - the entirety of which came on a pair of big-time throws from quarterback Grant Wilson, who started on Saturday in place of the injured Josh Hoover. Wilson wasn't perfect. He underthrew wide receiver Nick Marsh down the sideline on the Hoosiers' first play from scrimmage. He was almost intercepted on a toss to the back right pylon on a throw that floated on him longer than he intended. Still, Indiana managed to finish drives when it mattered. USC didn't. If that's not an encapsulation of both programs at the moment, I'm not sure what is. 3. New Quarterback, Same Problems For Indiana Saturday started with a bang. The deep throw to Marsh. The touchdown toss to tight end Brock Schott. Indiana's offense was rolling. Until it wasn't. Wilson had moments in Saturday's contest. He flashed an ability to push the ball vertically to the loaded Hoosier receiver room in a way that Hoover hadn't in recent weeks - a game-clinching 42-yard toss to wide receiver Charlie Becker proving to be the highlight of the day. But the inconsistencies were there against a USC secondary that ranked in the bottom half of FBS and 13th in the Big Ten in passing defense heading into Saturday's affair in Bloomington. Pushing for points before the end of the second quarter, Wilson missed an open Shazz Preston on a ball that was high and outside, before bounding into the arms of USC defensive back Deven Bryant. The Trojans took that gift and marched 60 yards in three plays, capping off the half-ending drive with a 7-yard touchdown connection between Maiava and wide receiver Zacharyus Williams to knot the proceedings at 10 points apiece. Sound familiar? It should. Hoover, to his credit, has also flashed this fall. But far too often he was off target, off kilter and out of sync. How much of that is injury-induced is hard to say. We likely won't know for sure until season's end. Yet for all the decries that Indiana needed to make a quarterback change in recent weeks, Saturday further cemented, if nothing else, that the Hoosiers seem destined to go as far as their defense will carry them. Is Cignetti's bunch really just Michigan with better receivers and more late-game bravado? It's getting harder to beat the allegations. 4. Indiana, UCLA On A Collision Course For The Big Ten Title Game The final Big Ten title game is on pace to include *checks notes* Indiana and UCLA. Just like we all expected. The Hoosiers are in the driver's seat with a one-game edge over Ohio State with just Washington and Purdue remaining on its schedule. The trip to Seattle, while long, looks far less imposing given the Huskies' similar inability to put together anything offensively this fall. Bob Chesney's bunch, meanwhile, kicked back at home and watched the rest of the Big Ten beat itself up after the Bruins notched a rain-soaked win over a pesky Illinois team on Friday night. UCLA is 10-0 for the first time since 1998. Its remaining schedule includes a Michigan team that has set back offensive football eight decades and a USC squad that, while talented, continues to struggle to put away the conference's best. The storylines for this hypothetical matchup are juicy. Cignetti against the man who replaced him at James Madison. Indiana against the program plenty have pegged as the 2026 version of the Hoosiers. A sportswriter can dream, eh? Two games remain. We might be able to start mapping out those Indianapolis story plans.