Cincinnati

Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where we’re still struggling with how to view USC’s 21-17 win at Nebraska. On one hand, USC gutted out a hard-earned road victory, just its second true road win outside of L.A. since 2023, with a stingy defensive stand in the second half. On the other, USC’s offense was out of sorts, its quarterback had the worst start of his tenure and its defense was run over for the third time in four games.

No matter your perspective, this much is indisputable: USC is 6-2, bowl eligible and in prime position to be 8-2 heading to Eugene in late November. Remember, the Trojans were 4-5 at this time last year.

But after flying back west for the final time this regular season, we’re going to take a brief break from football to alert you that college basketball season, believe it or not, is about to begin. And both of USC’s teams enter the season on fascinating and uncertain terms.

Let’s start first with the men’s team and Eric Musselman, who thought he’d have a five-star freshman to help springboard his program to relevance in Year 2. But the injury to Alijah Arenas has undoubtedly altered that trajectory. What we don’t know now is how much and for how long.

That’s just the beginning of the questions facing USC. Here are three others …

1. Who’s going to play point guard?

You may remember this same query from this time last season, when USC entrusted the role to Desmond Claude, who was a good playmaker, but not a great floor general. He turned the ball over nearly four times per game.

Arenas was expected to be the primary ballhandler. But with him out, it’ll be some combination of Rodney Rice, Chad Baker-Mazara, Jordan Marsh and Jerry Easter sharing ballhandling duties. None have any extensive experience as a floor general. Marsh has been a pleasant surprise in practice, but was more of a pure scorer at North Carolina Asheville.

Rice will have a lot on his shoulders already. And that’s not considering his actual shoulder, which has held him out for much of the preseason. He’ll need someone else to step up to help.

2. How much better is USC’s frontcourt?

When USC played its two exhibition games last month, opposing coaches couldn’t believe how much 7-foot-5 center Gabe Dynes affected the game defensively. Dynes was arguably USC’s best player in the preseason, and he wasn’t even expected to start in the Trojans’ frontcourt.

He had six blocks in his debut and should help give USC improved rim protection this season. Which is to say any rim protection at all.

The staff has been high on Jacob Cofie since he arrived on campus. Don’t be surprised if he ascends to a major role. Ezra Ausar, at 253 pounds, should be a beast on the boards, and Jaden Brownell should give USC’s frontcourt range out to the arc. This group has a lot of varied skillsets, and that should put the defense especially in a much better position.

3. Can USC score enough?

When asked what he learned most from his team during the preseason, Musselman didn’t mince words.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to score better,” he said.

Arenas, again, was supposed to lead the way in that regard. Rice was more of a secondary scorer at Maryland, as was Baker-Mazara at Auburn. USC looks, as of now, like a whole team of complementary offensive players, with no alpha yet. That can change. Maybe Cofie steps into the spot before season’s end. But it’s definitely something to monitor through the non-conference season.

What about the women’s team?

Kennedy Smith controls the ball while pressured by UConn guard Paige Bueckers during last season’s NCAA women’s tournament.

(Young Kwak / Associated Press)

USC enters this season with far lower expectations than this time last year, on account of JuJu Watkins’ knee injury, which will keep her out until next season. So what can we expect from Lindsay Gottlieb’s Trojans?

Here are the three big questions facing the USC women this season …

1. How can USC fill the void without Watkins?

This is the only question that really matters. Problem is there’s no clear answer. Gottlieb has been clear that no one player will replace Watkins, as tempting as it may be to slot top prospect Jazzy Davidson into that spot.

It’s more reasonable to recreate Watkins’ production in the aggregate. But that won’t be easy when you consider how much other production the Trojans lost from last season, in addition to Watkins. USC must replace 88% of its scoring and 80% of their rebounding output, and while that’s not that unique in the era of the transfer portal, it does mean the team is likely to have a very different identity.

Gottlieb has said that USC is going to play with more pace this season. But who will it turn to when it needs a bucket? Davidson is perhaps the likeliest candidate, but I’m particularly curious to see the development of sophomore Kennedy Smith. Smith was inconsistent offensively as a freshman. But Gottlieb plans to put the ball in her hands more, and how that works out will say a lot about the direction of the season.

2. What’s going on in the frontcourt?

Last season, there was no question who USC could count on down low. Rayah Marshall was a three-year starter, while Kiki Iriafen is now one of the best young bigs in the WNBA.

But with both gone, USC doesn’t have any proven options to step into their place. Gottlieb has said that USC will use a by-committee approach with transfer Yakiya Milton, Lithuanian import Gerda Raulusaityte and returners Vivian Iwuchukwu and Laura Williams. Of those four, only Milton was part of a college basketball rotation last season, and she only averaged two points per game in 11 minutes at Auburn.

Raulusaityte is the big unknown. One of the youngest members of the Lithuanian national team, USC kind of needs her to be an immediate contributor. Especially with her ability to stretch the floor as a shooter, something the other three don’t do. If she struggles, USC could be in trouble with its lack of talent down low.

3. How good will Davidson be right away?

Watkins is a tough act to follow as a top-rated freshman. But Davidson has the potential to be a stat-stuffing star right away.

I don’t know if she’ll score quite like Watkins, who shot 42% and scored 24 points per night as a freshman. What she will do, perhaps even more than Watkins, is elevate the games of teammates around her. You can read more about that in an upcoming story on Davidson.

But can she get a bucket when USC needs one? And can she force her way through traffic with her spindly frame? There are still questions to be answered. But while Gottlieb is doing her best to temper expectations, I think USC is going to need its star freshman to be a star right away, if it has any hope of competing in the Big Ten like it did last season.

—Jayden Maiava didn’t have it as a passer. So he used his legs. And that worked wonders. Maiava was a meager nine of 23 through the air for 135 yards, but he reminded the world that he’s a capable runner, too, as he rushed for 62 yards in 11 carries. The highlight of his day came in the third quarter, when Maiava took off on consecutive plays for a pair of 16-yard gains, the second of which saw him stiff-arm his way to a score. Maiava hasn’t looked to run much this season. But maybe he should consider doing it more.

—USC’s three most influential players Saturday were all walk-ons. Running back King Miller was USC’s only consistent source of offense. Kaylon Miller, his brother, stepped in for an injured Alani Noa and was arguably USC’s best lineman in the ground game. And USC kicker Ryon Sayeri continued to shine by knocking through two more field goals. I’m not sure what that says about USC’s team. But it’s not something you see every day.

—The offensive line just can’t stay healthy. Left tackle Elijah Paige returned after missing the previous three games, only for Noa to go down. Noa never returned, and we won’t know more about his status until at least Monday. USC is getting especially thin on the interior, with guard Micah Banuelos having also missed Saturday’s game. Center Kilian O’Connor should be back soon, but it’s a wonder that USC has held it together up front while being ravaged by injuries.

Olympic sports spotlight

After losing three of four to start their Big Ten slate, the women’s volleyball team’s tough start to the Big Ten slate is now firmly in the rearview. The Trojans have won six in a row. Among Big Ten teams, only Nebraska, which is 21-0 and No. 1 in the nation, has an active win streak that’s longer.

USC should win its next two before welcoming the Huskers to Galen Center for an epic match on Nov. 16.

In case you missed it

No. 23 USC uses late surge to win at Nebraska and keep playoff hopes alive

‘We still control our destiny.’ USC focused on rebounding after ugly Notre Dame loss

What I’m watching this week

IT: Welcome to Derry

(HBO)

I’ve written in this space before about my love of all things Stephen King. I’m also well aware of the less-than-stellar track record of adapting his books into television and movies.

I’m not sure just yet where “IT: Welcome to Derry” falls on that spectrum. Only the first two episodes of the spinoff prequel to “It” are currently available on HBO Max, and while Derry remains as creepy and tense as ever, I worry a bit about where the story is headed. All that said, my favorite part of the original book was the character building with the town’s kids. So far, that part remains intact.

Until next time …

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected], and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where after one last rain-soaked showdown in South Bend, we pour one out for one of the great rivalries in the history of college football. After a century of meeting on the football field, USC and Notre Dame are not currently scheduled to meet again. This, by all accounts, is a terrible shame.

Outside of L.A., the college football world has placed the blame for the rivalry’s demise squarely on USC’s shoulders. Notre Dame made sure that was the case when its athletic director, Pete Bevacqua, ran to Sports Illustrated last spring, immediately after USC made an offer to renew the series for one year.

As PR moves go, it was a smart one: By firing the first missive, Bevacqua knew that Notre Dame could shape the narrative around negotiations. And ever since, as Bevacqua hoped, Notre Dame has been cast by much of the national media as valiantly attempting to save the rivalry at any cost, while USC looks like its running scared away from it.

Which is really quite ironic, if you know the recent history of how Notre Dame has handled its rivalries.

Thirteen years ago, minutes before the two schools were set to face off in South Bend, former Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick famously handed then-Michigan athletic director Dave Brandon a letter as notice that Notre Dame intended to cancel the remainder of their rivalry series. It was as passive aggressive as scheduling changes get. Brandon didn’t even read the letter until after the game.

These two teams went way back, before USC even first fielded a football team. The two Midwest rivals first faced off back in 1887, when Michigan literally taught Notre Dame how to play football. (Not kidding.) Not to mention it was actually a Detroit Free Press columnist who first called Notre Dame the “Fighting Irish.” (Imagine the royalties!)

But in 2012, Notre Dame declared without any further conversation that it was backing out of the game. The reason? As part of its move to the Atlantic Coast Conference in every other sport, the Irish football program agreed to play five games against ACC schools every year.

No one at Notre Dame seemed all that concerned about history and tradition then. Swarbrick, at the time, called canceling the series “a necessary precaution,” given the future uncertainty surrounding its schedule.

Sound familiar?

Except, in this case, Notre Dame kept Purdue on its future schedule. And Michigan State. It chose to maintain its series with Navy, which had beaten the Irish just three times in the previous half-century, as well as Stanford. I wonder why.

Months later, then-Michigan coach Brady Hoke told a crowd at a booster luncheon that Notre Dame was “chickening out” of the rivalry. And he was right.

A dozen years later, Notre Dame is floating the same accusations about USC.

Except, in this case, USC has made efforts to maintain the series after moving to a much less flexible and more difficult schedule in the Big Ten. It has tried to keep the game going despite being locked into nine conference games — and with far less incentive to add strong non-conference opponents than there was in 2012. USC even amended its initial offer to extend the rivalry for multiple years, instead of just one, as a compromise.

Look, USC isn’t blameless in all of this. But no one seems to have acknowledged yet that Notre Dame hasn’t exactly helped negotiations along. It doesn’t want to move the game from October or November to September, as USC has asked — not because of tradition, as has been suggested, but purely because it’s much more convenient to Notre Dame to keep USC later in the season, when no other top programs want a team such as Notre Dame smack dab in the middle of its conference slate.

Who cares about the tradition of when the game is played, if the other option is it’s not played at all? If the Irish are so concerned about maintaining the USC rivalry, why didn’t they insist that Clemson — a team it has much less history with — play their newly signed 12-season series in mid-October?

Because Notre Dame is used to dictating the terms of engagement and getting its way. It has the flexibility of being without a conference. And it also knows it has the narrative firmly on its side. So why bother budging when the pitchforks are already pointed toward USC?

I don’t expect that to change any time soon, even as both athletic directors say they’re “optimistic” an agreement can be reached. Not unless USC is ready to capitulate. Until then, the public pressure will remain on the Trojans alone, while Notre Dame points across the bargaining table and cries chicken. Irony, be damned.

Yes … technically.

If USC wins each of its next five games to finish 10-2, you can count on the Trojans being in the 12-team field. But anything less than that, and they’re going to have a tough time making a case.

Let’s say USC only loses on the road to No. 6 Oregon from this point on. That would put the Trojans at 9-3, with just two Big Ten losses — and three overall. That’s a good season! But no team with three losses has ever made it into the Playoff, and while there’s a legitimate argument that this year will be the first, USC presumably wouldn’t have enough marquee wins to move the needle with the committee.

Michigan is currently USC’s only win over a team above .500. Nebraska, Iowa and Northwestern are all 5-2, but only one of the three has a top 25 win this season — the Huskers won their opener against No. 21 Cincinnati. The toughest test left aside from Oregon could very well be UCLA, which has won three in a row after starting 0-4.

Perhaps there’s a world where USC, with one conference loss, could end up in the Big Ten title game. But in addition to beating the Ducks, that would also require moving past either Ohio State or Indiana, neither of which have looked particularly vulnerable of late.

However you try to spin it, getting USC into the Playoff requires serious finesse. By losing to Notre Dame, the Trojans closed off the easiest path to a postseason run.

More than likely, USC’s hopes now hinge on running the table. But nothing I’ve seen recently suggests that’s a likely option. Instead, with each passing week, my 8-4 prediction is feeling just about right.

Jayden Maiava throws a pass under pressure in the second quarter against Notre Dame.

(Justin Casterline / Getty Images)

—Stop asking if Lincoln Riley is going to give up playcalling. It ain’t happening. It wasn’t that long ago that Riley’s playcalling was the main reason for his historic rise through the coaching ranks. That felt like ancient history on Saturday night, as Riley dialed up a failed trick play to star wideout Makai Lemon that ended in a game-altering fumble. Riley admitted after the game that it was “a stupid call,” which is the closest he’s come to accountability in that department. He added later that his two failed fourth-and-short calls weren’t very good either. “I’ve gotta be way better for our guys,” he said after. It’s good that he recognizes his shortcomings in this situation, but how we’ve gotten to this point, with Riley’s playcalling having a clear negative affect, I can’t quite explain. Riley has had impressive moments calling plays this season, which are easy to forget after such a bad performance. But the fact that he seems to be at his worst in the biggest moments is not the best sign for turning things around in the future. All that said, it would presumably take an intervention from one of his bosses to hand off those duties to Luke Huard. The ego hit would simply be too significant for Riley to initiate that change otherwise.

—USC struggled to protect Jayden Maiava, and it paid the price. The Trojans’ front allowed a season-high 17 pressures to Notre Dame, and Maiava completed a meager 31% of his passes and threw both of his interceptions when under pressure Saturday. The good news is that reinforcements are on the way. Starting left tackle Elijah Paige dressed for Saturday’s game, but was only available in case of emergency. Center Kilian O’Connor, meanwhile, was surprisingly listed as questionable against Notre Dame. Both should be good to go when USC takes on Nebraska in two weeks.

—USC has lost 11 straight on the road to top 25 teams, six of which came under Riley. The last win USC had against a ranked opponent on the road came in November … of 2016! And USC’s last chance this season to rectify this terrible streak will likely be in Eugene next month — a game the Trojans are, as of now, unlikely to win. That means we’re staring down the barrel of an entire decade without a win over a ranked team on the road, which is totally unacceptable for a team that sees itself as a blue blood of college football.

—After having zero rim protection a year ago, USC might have one of the best rim protectors in the Big Ten this season. Just take a look at the statline for new 7-foot-5 center Gabe Dynes from USC’s exhibition against Loyola Marymount. Dynes had six blocks, three of which came in his first 10 minutes of the game. Dynes also had nine points, eight rebounds and even three assists, as the USC took care of business in a 60-51 win. The Trojans shot just 33%, but showed that their defense can be a strength by holding Loyola Marymount to just 28% from the field. Dynes will be an important part of that equation and if he can contribute on offense, well … the sky could be the limit for the 7-footer.

Olympic sports spotlight

After losing four of six to start its Big Ten slate, USC’s women’s volleyball team bounced back in a big way over the past weekend, winning two critical matches on the road. The highlight of the weekend was a 3-1 win over No. 9 Wisconsin, USC’s best win yet of this season.

Redshirt freshman outside hitter London Wijay had a career performance in the win over Wisconsin, tying a career-high with 24 kills, while freshman libero Taylor Deckert tallied back-to-back 20-dig performances over the weekend. USC also handled Iowa in four sets, to bring its Big Ten record to 4-4 on the season.

In case you missed it

USC’s College Football Playoff hopes take a big hit in rain-soaked loss to Notre Dame

King and Kaylon Miller always believed they could rise from USC walk-ons to key roles

Depleted USC fined by Big Ten for playing running back listed ‘out’ on injury report

What I’m watching this week

Jason Bateman as Vince, Jude Law as Jake in “Black Rabbit.”

(Courtesy of Netflix)

The last time Jason Bateman got in with the wrong crowd on a Netflix show, one of the best shows of the last decade was born. I didn’t want to place “Ozark”-level expectations on “Black Rabbit,” Bateman’s new show on Netflix with Jude Law, but after watching the first two episodes, I can say with confidence that it’s off to just as strong of a start.

Law stars as a New York restaurateur whose life is upended when his estranged brother, played by Bateman, suddenly comes back into his life and drags him unwillingly into New York’s criminal underworld. The show’s tone is about as tense as it gets — think “The Bear” meets “Uncut Gems” — but if you’re in the mood for a thrill ride, then this show is worth your time.

Until next time …

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected], and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Oct. 18 (UPI) — At least 10 people were taken to hospitals, including one with life-threatening injuries, after an apartment’s balcony collapsed near the University of Cincinnati, the city’s fire department said.

The collapse occurred at 10 p.m. Friday in the city’s Corryville neighborhood, firefighters said, according to WLWT-TV.

The balcony, which was 8 feet by 12 feet, fell about 20 feet into the pavement because of too many people, the fire department said.

Most of the victims were taken to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center, about a half mile away.

Besides the life-threatening injury, four were described by the fire department as serious.

Deputy Fire Chief Nicholas Caliguri said “other victims may have self-transported to area hospitals.”

Some of the victims were UC students, fire department spokeswoman Lindsay Haegele.

“We want to assure you that the situation is being addressed with the highest priority,” said a letter to residents by Dayton-based Eclipse Community Management, which manages condominium and homeowners associations.

Students were celebrating after passing an exam, WXIX-TV reported.

Hamilton County’s Division of Buildings and Inspections was notified.

One neighbor told the Cincinnati Enquirer he saw 40 to 50 people on the street before the collapse.

In November 2019, one person died and others were injured when a six-floor building under construction in downtown Cincinnati partially collapsed.

Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where we’re back from the bye, recharged and ready for the gauntlet ahead on USC’s schedule. Here’s hoping you had a nice relaxing weekend away that didn’t involve yelling at the television about your team’s struggling secondary.

Following that lead, we’re going to step away from the football field for this week to talk about something that every college football program could use more of these days, but never seems to get enough of:

Money.

First, let me take you back four years before the Pac-12 imploded, to when then-Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott had a big idea to save his flailing conference.

His plan? Sell off a 15% stake of the Pac-12 to a private equity firm for a reported infusion of $1 billion, which Scott hoped would be enough to help stabilize the conference. At the time, the Pac-12’s media rights deal was only providing about $30 million per school annually. A private equity investment, Scott figured, would add tens of millions to that total, helping to hopefully keep the Pac-12 afloat until the conference’s next media rights negotiation.

But the plan never came to fruition, and the Pac-12 unraveled. The reason it didn’t work then was the presidents and chancellors of the Pac-12’s member schools had no stomach for selling off a stake in their conference to a private equity firm, no matter how desperate the conference was. USC, in particular, was one of the most vocal detractors. Viewing itself as the crown jewel of the conference, it already wasn’t happy with the equal distribution of media revenue. It saw no reason, at the time, to give away more valuable equity in its brand while locking into that arrangement for a longer period.

Had Scott managed to make that deal, who knows what might have happened with the Pac-12.

But almost seven years later, private equity firms are once again swirling like vultures overhead. As first reported last week by ESPN, USC’s new conference, the Big Ten, is now seriously considering a $2-billion private equity infusion. That deal would also reportedly lock in the conference’s members through 2046, injecting at least a little stability into an especially unstable landscape.

A decision is expected in the coming weeks, and the conference is looking for consensus among schools to move forward. But USC had no interest in such a deal before. Why would that be different now?

Well, for one, college sports have gotten a lot more expensive in the wake of the House settlement. Even before adding a $20.5 million line item to its budget, USC’s athletic expenses were among the highest in the nation at $242 million, according to the most recent Department of Education data. And that figure doesn’t consider the $200-million football facility currently being built or the millions of scholarship money that needs to be raised or the $200-million budget deficit the larger university finds itself in.

A nine-figure private equity check would go a long way in soothing those financial concerns. Especially at the Big Ten’s smaller schools. But it wouldn’t solve every revenue problem in USC’s future. And it would be foolish to think that money doesn’t come with strings attached, even if the discussed deal does at least attempt to mitigate that influence.

The deal would create a separate corporate structure that would handle all things related to revenue generation within the Big Ten. That revenue would then be distributed between 20 equity stakeholders — the 18 conference schools, the league office and this private equity firm.

So the private equity firm wouldn’t own a piece of USC athletics, so much as it would own a share of the Big Ten’s business interests. That setup would then theoretically limit the investor’s control and keep private equity out of other decisions pertaining to Big Ten athletics, which had been the fear of Pac-12 presidents when the conference previously turned up its nose to such an investment.

There are still many unknowns here, most notably how the revenue would be distributed. But there’s no reason to think the conference’s biggest brands, such as USC or Michigan or Ohio State, would sign on to any deal that didn’t include distribution of that revenue that significantly favored those schools.

That appears to be the plan. But as of now, neither Michigan nor Ohio State is on board yet.

“I believe selling off Michigan’s precious public university assets would betray our responsibility to students and taxpayers,” Jordan Acker, a member of Michigan’s Board of Regents, wrote on social media.

And in this case, the buyer has an entirely different mission than the other stakeholders involved. Private equity firms exist solely to provide up-front capital in order to eliminate risk, turn a profit and then exit the marketplace. There’s no reason to think it would be different in this case. Which doesn’t exactly jibe in the marketplace that is college athletics.

So is a $100-million check worth giving away that control? For Purdue or Rutgers, probably. For USC? I’m not so sure.

USC, like Michigan and Ohio State, has yet to sign off on plans for conference-wide private equity investment and still has questions about the potential deal, a person familiar with the decision not authorized to discuss it publicly told The Times. But the school wants to be good partners in the conference, and of course, it could always use an infusion of cash.

But does USC really need money that badly? The athletic department has already taken significant steps to raise revenue in light of the House settlement, including striking a massive, new 15-year multimedia rights deal with Learfield. USC doesn’t necessarily need the Big Ten or its new private equity partner to create conference-wide revenue streams where it could just strike deals on its own. Nor does it need assurances of the Big Ten’s long-term stability enough to sacrifice equity.

USC once made a mistake by accepting an equal share as its peers in the Pac-12. But it can’t make that mistake again. By virtue of its brand, USC is always going to have a seat at the table.

And if the Big Ten is getting into bed with private equity, it should be using every bit of that leverage to get the best possible deal. There’s no world in which USC should accept a smaller slice of that pie than Michigan or Ohio State, no matter the history of the other two.

Calling all questions!

Have any questions, comments or concerns about USC coming out of the bye week?

Send them along to [email protected] or shoot me a DM @RyanKartje on X or @rkartje on Instagram by Monday night, and I’ll include the best ones in a video mailbag I’m planning to put out early next week.

—Kilian O’Connor is out for at least two games with a knee injury, and maybe more. J’Onre Reed will start at center in his place. Most assumed that Reed would be the starter when he joined USC in the offseason. But O’Connor, a former walk-on, won the job in camp. Which, depending on your perspective, is either troubling for Reed or encouraging for O’Connor. Nonetheless, this is a guy who started 25 games at Syracuse. I’d hope, if USC made a point to pursue him in the portal, that Reed should be at least a passable replacement for a former walk-on. That said, the next two games — against Michigan and Notre Dame — wouldn’t have been a cake walk for USC’s offensive front even at full strength.

—Freshman All-American Caden Chittenden is getting healthier, but don’t expect him to be handed kicking duties when he returns. USC brought in Chittenden after a tremendous freshman season at Nevada Las Vegas to solve its field goal woes. But he’s been dealing with a hamstring injury since the preseason, and in his place, Ryon Sayeri has been as good as anyone could have hoped. Sayeri has hit eight of nine field goals, third-best in the Big Ten, and all 28 extra point attempts. On kickoffs, he’s been “a machine.” “If a guy is playing at a high level, no matter who it is, we wouldn’t make a change just because of that,” Riley said last week. Don’t be surprised if he keeps the job the rest of the way, regardless of Chittenden’s status.

—USC’s top guard, Rodney Rice, will miss the next few weeks with a shoulder injury. Not ideal, obviously. But Rice should be ready to go for the basketball season opener on Nov. 3, when the Trojans take on Cal Poly. Assuming he returns to full health, he’s primed for a big season as the engine of USC’s offense.

—Former Trojan quarterback Mark Sanchez was stabbed and later arrested after allegedly drunkenly assaulting a 69-year old man in Indianapolis on Friday night. When the story was first reported, it seemed like Sanchez was the victim of a violent attack. Turns out, the police believe it was the other way around. The other man involved, a 69-year-old grease disposal truck driver, told police that Sanchez tried to break into his truck and assaulted him when he refused to move his truck from an alleyway, according to police records. The man first pepper sprayed Sanchez, then, allegedly fearing for his life, stabbed Sanchez multiple times in the chest. Sanchez was eventually taken to the hospital in critical condition, and he later told police that he didn’t know who stabbed him. He’s now in stable condition.

—The NCAA tournament is “inching closer” to expanding to 76 teams. That’s according to Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger, who reported that the expansion would likely feature a 12-game opening round in multiple cities, as opposed to the four-team “First Four” matchups which traditionally took place in Dayton, Ohio. I suppose this was inevitable, with so much TV money to be made with the tournament. But I’m not sure if anyone outside of TV execs are really clamoring for this expansion.

Olympic sports spotlight

Many of you have asked and I have heard your pleas for more Olympics sports coverage in the newsletter! So from here on out, most Mondays, we’re going to zoom in on a standout team or athlete from one of USC’s non-revenue programs.

Maribel Flores was named Pac-12 freshman of the year two years ago, but she missed part of the next women’s soccer season to play for Mexico at the U20 World Cup and tallied just a single point as a sophomore.

Now, as a junior, Flores is back in peak form. She has 15 points across 11 games for USC, which ranks third in the Big Ten.

USC struggled without a win through the first three weeks of September, but has since gotten back on track with a three-game win streak. After a road swing through Minnesota and Iowa next week, the Trojans won’t have to leave L.A. for the rest of the regular season. For now, they’re just one game behind UCLA, in second place in the Big Ten.

In case you missed it

Former USC star Mark Sanchez accused of attacking truck driver before he was stabbed

Where does USC go from here with its struggling secondary?

What I’m watching this week

Phil Parma (Philip Seymour Hoffman), in ‘Magnolia.’

(Peter Sorel/New Line Cinema)

Inspired by last week’s pick in this space, “One Battle After Another,” which exceeded my sky-high expectations, I’ve decided to dive back into the Paul Thomas Anderson filmography and check off the boxes I’ve missed.

First up in that quest was “Magnolia,” a sprawling, three-hour epic that I’ve been meaning to watch for many years. Set in the San Fernando Valley, where many of Anderson’s films take place, it follows an ensemble of interconnected narratives that Anderson somehow manages to weave into one story. Incredible writing. Amazing acting. As if I needed any more evidence of Anderson’s genius, “Magnolia” only solidified my adoration of his work.

Until next time …

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected], and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Welcome Times of Troy readers, to a special middle-of-the-night edition of this newsletter. It’s now just before 3 a.m. as I sit at my dining room table, cursing the greed of the TV executives who conceived of the 8 p.m. kickoff as a concept in the first place. My utmost respect goes to the diehards outside of the Pacific time zone who went the distance in USC’s 45-31 win over Michigan State. May your body clocks recover better than mine surely will.

Until about 1:30 a.m. Eastern time, early Sunday morning, it looked like USC might roll to another resounding victory. The Trojans were up 31-10, a few minutes into the third quarter. They’d piled up twice as many yards as Michigan State.

“We were dominating the football game,” coach Lincoln Riley said.

USC’s defense had forced one three-and-out to open the half, and it was on its way to another quick stop when, on a fourth down, linebacker Ta’Mere Robinson came flying around the edge and clipped Michigan State’s punter as he booted a kick.

Faced with a 4th-and-2 after the penalty, the Spartans decided to go for it. Quarterback Aidan Chiles was flushed from the pocket, and his pass fell incomplete … but another flag was thrown. USC inexplicably had 12 players on the field.

The back-to-back penalties, while troubling, weren’t totally back-breaking at the time. USC was still well in control, with a three-score lead intact. But what happened from there would hint at a larger issue, one that USC will have to iron out in a hurry with the hardest stretch of its schedule looming.

Twice, in the next eight plays, it seemed USC forced Michigan State into a decisive 3rd-and-long, only for a penalty flag to wipe away the stop.

The penalties would kick the door open for Michigan State. And in less than 10 minutes, they’d cut the USC lead to just a single score.

It wasn’t so much the season-high 10 penalties that was most concerning, but rather the lack of discipline on defense that inspired those mistakes. (Though, ranking 129th in the nation in penalty yards per game certainly isn’t great.) Of the defense’s eight penalty calls, there were two illegal substitution flags, an unsportsmanlike conduct and an illegal hands to the face call for the fifth time in three weeks.

Riley said after that he doesn’t want to discourage his defense from playing aggressive. But those aren’t penalties of aggression. They’re self-inflicted wounds. And if USC’s defense continues to make them a habit, they will eventually pay for it.

“We definitely thought we’d be better from that standpoint,” defensive tackle Devan Thompkins said. “Going forward, playing these Big Ten games, we have to reduce those penalties for sure.”

There are plenty of reasons for Riley to be encouraged by the progress of USC’s defense. The pass rush is actually disruptive. The run defense is giving up just three yards per carry.

The problems on that side of the ball are no longer about the quality of players. Linebacker Eric Gentry, in the midst of an All-American season, ranks first in the Big Ten in tackles for loss, third in sacks and fifth in tackles. The defensive line is so deep that five-star freshman Jahkeem Stewart played just 17 snaps on Saturday, despite dominating almost every one of them.

Which is what makes the discipline breakdowns so disappointing. USC, for the first time in Riley’s tenure, has the talent to compete on defense. The question now, as the Trojans enter their toughest stretch of the season, is whether that will be enough.

Huge shoes to fill

When Lindsay Gottlieb set out to rebuild USC’s roster in the spring, she knew there was no way to make up for their most important loss from last season.

“No one is filling JuJu’s shoes,” she said. “Those are unique shoes.”

Watkins tore her anterior cruciate ligament in March. She’s “doing great”, according to Gottlieb. “But there’s still no timeline for her return. If she comes back at all this season, I can’t imagine it would be until late in the calendar. Her absence from the lineup is no less than a gaping void.”

But when losing a generational superstar, it sure helps to have another No. 1 prospect in the pipeline.

Enter freshman Jazzy Davidson.

“The fact that Jazzy can step into our program and already just make a really unique and incredible impression on everybody is pretty wild,” Gottlieb said. “She’s really, really good. I’ll start with that. She’s next-level good.”

“Her impact on the basketball court just comes in a lot of different ways. She glides. She’s very fluid. She can score it. She can pass it. She impacts the game defensively. She comes in ready in a way that’s very unique for someone her age. So we’re super excited. We know that we’ve got something special with her.”

We know much less about what to expect from the new-look Trojans frontcourt, which lost a WNBA All-Star in Kiki Iriafen and an entrenched team leader in Rayah Marshall. Replacing their production means counting on transfers Yakiya Milton and Dayana Mendes, Lithuanian import Gerda Raulusaityte or returners Vivian Iwuchukwu and Lauren Williams to fill the void.

“We knew that size and the frontcourt was going to be important,” Gottlieb said. “I don’t think any of us said we have to find one person to get us 18 and 10 like Kiki. As a group, we need production in different ways.”

Ja’Kobi Lane makes a catch in front of Purdue defensive back Hudauri Hines.

(Michael Conroy / Associated Press)

—Ja’Kobi Lane’s absence couldn’t come at a worse time. Riley said that the unspecified ailment became an issue unexpectedly in the middle of last week, but that Lane sustained the injury sometime during the Trojans win over Purdue. Lane didn’t have a catch in the fourth quarter of that game. Riley didn’t offer much more information than that and even called the injury “inconclusive”. But he left the door open for Lane to miss more games. If he’s saying that already, I’d expect that’s a serious possibility. USC’s next opponent, Illinois, just lost six of its top seven defensive backs, so maybe it won’t be so much of a problem next week. But against Michigan, in a critical game at the Coliseum, USC could really use its top red zone target.

—USC lost its left tackle for more than half the game yesterday. The offensive line still held up well. Elijah Paige isn’t expected to be out long term, according to Riley, but the fact that USC only allowed three pressures all game in spite of his injury is a good sign. Michigan State doesn’t have a fearsome pass rush exactly, but that’s a strong performance against any Power Four opponent. Tobias Raymond, who played at both guard and tackle Saturday, continues to live up to Riley’s rave reviews from the offseason. I also thought right tackle Justin Tauanuu looked good switching between the right and left sides after Paige went out.

—New point guard Jordan Marsh is receiving rave reviews in preseason. USC knew that Marsh could step in as a scoring threat, after he averaged almost 19 per game at North Carolina Asheville last season. But the transfer guard looks like more of an all-around impact player than anyone anticipated. “He’s hands down one of the fastest guards I’ve ever played with,” said forward Ezra Ausar. He’s also a deceptively feisty defender for as small as he is. The question now is how well Marsh can orchestrate the offense. Could he allow for Rodney Rice to play some on the perimeter? Regardless, early indications continue to be Marsh will play a key role in USC’s rotation.

—Remember when Trojan fans wanted Luke Fickell to take over as head coach? Well, I’m sure Wisconsin would happily trade places now. The Badgers were blown out at home this week by Maryland, and fans chanted for Fickell to be fired. It’s an important reminder that coaches don’t always fit in new situations in the way we expect them to. It’s only getting worse from here for Wisconsin, with Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Illinois and Indiana all upcoming.

In case you missed it

With Makai Lemon slicing and scoring, USC defeats Michigan State to remain unbeaten

D’Anton Lynn says he hasn’t been contacted by UCLA, and his focus is on USC’s defense

How Bishop Fitzgerald’s roots as a quarterback helped him become a prolific USC safety

What I’m watching this week

Cary Christopher as Alex in “Weapons.”

(Warner Bros. Pictures)

We are closing in on spooky season, which is the one time of year my wife will agree to watch a scary movie with me. The selection process for that single horror flick every year is usually extensive. But this year, it was an easy choice.

“Weapons” is one of the most talked-about horror movies in recent memory, and I’ve spent the last several months somehow dodging spoilers at every turn. What I do know: A classroom full of kids mysteriously disappears in the middle of the night one night, leaving a community to reckon with who or what is behind it all.

Until next time …

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected], and follow me on X at @Ryan_Kartje. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.