2026 USC Strength of Schedule
How tough USC’s schedule has been, and what’s still ahead.
Updated Oct 22, 2026, 4:33 AM ET
Schedule strength
Measured by the average power rank of the opponents.
- Played
- Remaining
Toughest stretch · Weeks 9–13
- Wk 9OSU#1
- Wk 11@ IU#2
- Wk 12MD#96
- Wk 13@ UCLA#23
Average opponent rank 30.5
Record by opponent strength
Opponents by their current place in our power rankings.
- vs Top third (1–46)
- 2-1
- 4 left · 3 on road
- vs Middle (47–92)
- 3-0
- Home 2-0 · Road 1-0
- vs Bottom (93–138)
- 1-0
- 1 left · all at home
3 of USC’s 4 remaining games against the top third are on the road.
Big Ten conference schedule comparison
SoS Rk is league-wide, 1 = hardest. Opp Rk is the average power rank of the opponents.
| Played | Remaining | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | ||||
 Ohio State6-1 | tied for 53 | 61.0 | 3 | 21.0 |
 Minnesota4-2 | 45 | 57.6 | 10 | 24.5 |
 Michigan State2-5 | 31 | 50.7 | 20 | 31.6 |
 Northwestern5-1 | 73 | 71.2 | 21 | 32.2 |
 USC6-1 | 47 | 58.6 | 23 | 32.6 |
 Nebraska5-2 | 61 | 64.3 | 24 | 33.2 |
 Michigan4-2 | 37 | 55.0 | 25 | 33.3 |
 Illinois3-3 | 46 | 58.0 | tied for 26 | 33.5 |
 Washington4-3 | 51 | 60.5 | 28 | 34.2 |
 Oregon4-2 | 6 | 33.6 | tied for 29 | 35.3 |
 Indiana6-1 | 29 | 50.2 | 31 | 36.0 |
 Purdue3-4 | tied for 1 | 30.5 | 33 | 38.4 |
 Rutgers2-4 | 66 | 65.4 | 36 | 41.5 |
 Maryland2-5 | tied for 16 | 43.7 | 38 | 42.2 |
 Iowa5-1 | 22 | 45.8 | 39 | 43.7 |
 Wisconsin4-2 | tied for 39 | 56.0 | 55 | 52.8 |
 UCLA6-0 | 70 | 67.3 | 63 | 56.8 |
 Penn State3-4 | 52 | 60.9 | 67 | 63.4 |
- SoS Rk
- Strength of schedule rank, league-wide (1 = hardest)
- Opp Rk
- Average Opponent Rank