After a frustrating season of setbacks and wrong turns, USC will finish right back where it started: In Las Vegas, up against a team from the Southeastern Conference.
USC will close its season against Texas A&M in the Las Vegas Bowl at Allegiant Stadium on Dec. 27, four months after it opened the season with a statement victory over Louisiana State in the same building. The bowl game will air on ESPN.
After an impressive September win over LSU, the Trojans had higher hopes for their postseason than a return trip to Vegas. But USC lost four of five in devastating fashion to open its first Big Ten season, squandering a fourth-quarter lead in each of the four losses.
The Trojans bounced back to win three of their last five, narrowly securing bowl eligibility with a last-minute win over UCLA. The bowl bid marks a third consecutive postseason appearance for USC under Lincoln Riley.
But at 6-6, the Las Vegas Bowl isn’t much of a consolation considering where the 2024 season began. Now the Trojans will need a bowl victory just to salvage a winning season.
Texas A&M had its own high hopes in the SEC this season, its first under coach Mike Elko. The Aggies opened the season 7-1, with a win over LSU and their only loss coming to Notre Dame. Like USC, they weathered a midseason change at quarterback, replacing former five-star Conner Weigman with freshman dual threat Marcel Reed.
But the season fell apart in the final month, as Texas A&M lost star running back Le’Veon Moss against South Carolina. The Aggies lost their last three SEC games to fall out of the conference race.
Weigman has since entered the transfer portal. Many on both sides of this bowl game will presumably do the same in the coming days.
USC has already lost starting wideout Kyron Hudson and young edge rusher Sam Greene, who earned a starting job by season’s end. Both announced their intent to enter the transfer portal last week.
Then there are several other key contributors who could opt out for other reasons. USC’s star running back Woody Marks isn’t expected to play in the bowl game as he begins his preparation for the NFL draft, while it’s unclear if other potential draft entrants such as safety Kamari Ramsey, cornerbacks Jaylin Smith and Greedy Vance, offensive linemen Emmanuel Pregnon and Jonah Monheim and linebackers Easton Mascarenas-Arnold and Mason Cobb will play in the game.
USC will be without a linebackers coach after Matt Entz left to become the head coach at Fresno State. Riley said last week that he didn’t expect any more staff changes through the bowl season.
USC has played in the Las Vegas Bowl twice before, in 2013 and 2001. The last trip came under especially tumultuous circumstances. Lane Kiffin had been fired as USC’s coach midway through the 2013 season and replaced by interim coach Ed Orgeron, who left the team before the bowl after USC hired Steve Sarkisian instead of promoting Orgeron. Clay Helton ultimately led the Trojans to a win in the bowl game.
The previous trip, in 2001, was Pete Carroll’s first bowl game as coach. And it did not go as planned. Distracted by the trip to Vegas, the Trojans put up just six points in a loss to Utah.