Despite a dominating 31-13 win against Michigan, the USC Trojans are battling three major blows moving forward. In the game against Michigan, USC’s starting back Waymond Jordan and backup Eli Sanders were injured and were replaced by King Miller and Bryan Jackson. It was reported that Waymond Jordan’s ankle injury needs surgery and will be out of action for 4-6 weeks. On the other hand, Eli Sanders’ knee injury rules him out for the rest of the year. Adding fuel to the fire, the conference fined USC $5000 for Bryan’s last-minute addition, despite listing ‘out’ of availability.

After three major blows, the question arises about USC’s available players and the starting back for their upcoming game against Notre Dame, and the rest of the season. At this stage, Lincoln Riley, on the October 13 episode of Trojans Live, addressed the unfortunate injuries of the Running Backs, sending a clear message to the locker room. “Yeah, every now and then stuff like that happens that you can’t always like spend practice time all here’s what we’re going to do if you know five guys get hurt.” USC head coach said, “It’s you, you’ve got to know your roster and be ready to think outside the box. These things that happen sometimes you just can’t predict. So yeah, I thought our guys mentally stayed in it.”

Riley was impressed with King Miller and Bryan Jackson’s play and applauded the offense for taking it cool. “Even with a couple of those guys going down, obviously King [Miller] ran well, Bryan [Jackson] came in and certainly did a great job considering the circumstances. And I thought the offense as a whole we didn’t panic. I was like, ‘All right, next guy in and let’s go play.’” It’s a clear message to the locker room, to be mentally and physically prepared, alerting them to step-up, in unfortunate situations. Jackson was cleared medically in-game/late, and the team said the circumstances were extenuating, which explains the conference’s relatively small fine.

King Miller carried 18 times for 158 yards and a touchdown. On the other hand, Bryan Jackson carried 5 times for 35 yards and 1 touchdown. Before Jackson got cleared by the medical team, the Trojans reached out to Cian McKelvey. It seems like Lincoln Riley will stick with King Miller as the starting back in the upcoming games. Although it is hard to replace Waymond Jordan, who carried 88 times for 576 yards for 5 TDs, it is Miller’s chance to prove himself. On the other hand, USC can look for Dalton, a four-star running back recruit. He was ranked as the No. 37 running back for the class of 2025.

Big Challenges Ahead for Lincoln Riley’s USC Trojans

Ahead of injury challenges, the USC Trojans will face the Notre Dame Fighting Irish this week at Notre Dame Stadium. This is a rivalry game, and the head-to-head record keeps Notre Dame ahead with a 52-37-5 lead. In the last meeting on November 30, 2024, Notre Dame defeated USC by 49-35 at the LA Memorial Coliseum. According to FanDuel Sportsbook, the Trojans are 8.5-point underdogs against the Fighting Irish, and the moneyline for USC is +245.

USC will travel to Nebraska to face the Cornhuskers on November 1 at the Lincoln Memorial Stadium. USC will then go against the Northwestern Wildcats on November 8th, the Iowa Hawkeyes on November 15th, the Oregon Ducks on November 22nd, and the UCLA Bruins on November 29th. Every conference match lined up is a big task for USC, especially with experienced RBs’ injury concerns.

The USC Trojans are still in the B1G conference title contention with a 5-1 record, only behind Indiana and Ohio State. To complete the season at the top, the Trojans need to outshine the remaining games, despite injury challenges. We need to wait and watch how Lincoln Riley rebuilds the rushing game for the Trojans to keep the momentum moving.