# USC Trojans 2026 Season Playbook Seven home dates at the Coliseum, starting with three straight before the Big Ten slate even warms up. The 2026 season, mapped against the city. **Team:** USC Trojans (NCAA) **Home:** United Airlines Field at L.A. Memorial Coliseum, Exposition Park **Official site:** https://usctrojans.com **Updated:** 2026-08-19T10:45:00-07:00 ## Current Outlook ### The Slate at a Glance - **Home:** 7 at the Coliseum - **Away:** 5 - **Bye:** Weekend of Oct 17 Three home dates before the Big Ten calendar even starts, then the road swings: Piscataway, Happy Valley, Madison, Bloomington. Source: [USC Athletics](https://usctrojans.com/sports/football/schedule), read 2026-08-19. ### Next Three at the Coliseum - **Sat Aug 29:** San José State, 12:00 PM - **Fri Sep 4:** Fresno State, 6:00 PM - **Sat Sep 12:** Louisiana, 8:00 PM The opener is a noon Saturday, the second game is a Friday nighter, and the third runs opposite the late window. Source: [USC Athletics](https://usctrojans.com/sports/football/schedule), read 2026-08-19. ### The Crosstown Date - **Sat Nov 28:** at UCLA, the Rose Bowl Thanksgiving weekend, in Pasadena this year. The one date on the calendar that needs no sell. Source: [USC Athletics](https://usctrojans.com/sports/football/schedule), read 2026-08-19. ## Schedule | Wk | Date | Site | Opponent | Venue | TV | The Plan | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | 1 | Sat 08/29 · 12:00 PM PT | HOME | [San Jose State Spartans](https://www.sjsuspartans.com) | United Airlines Field at L.A. Memorial Coliseum | | A noon opener in the August sun. Hydrate at the tailgate, grab the shaded side, and let the season come to you. | | 2 | Fri 09/04 · 6:00 PM PT | HOME | [Fresno State Bulldogs](https://www.gobulldogs.com) | United Airlines Field at L.A. Memorial Coliseum | | Friday evening under the lights. The Coliseum at dusk is the prettiest version of it; just treat the 110 like the opponent it is. | | 3 | Sat 09/12 · 8:00 PM PT | HOME | [Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns](https://www.geauxcajuns.com) | United Airlines Field at L.A. Memorial Coliseum | | The 8 PM start leaves the whole day open, and UCLA kicks off at the Rose Bowl at 4:15. A crosstown double is genuinely on the table. | | 4 | Sat 09/19 · 9:30 AM PT | AWAY | [Rutgers Scarlet Knights](https://www.scarletknights.com) | SHI Stadium | | A 12:30 kick in Piscataway means breakfast football here. Coffee, a good chair, and done by lunch. | | 5 | Sat 09/26 · Time TBA | HOME | [Oregon Ducks](https://www.goducks.com) | United Airlines Field at L.A. Memorial Coliseum | | The first heavyweight home date of the Big Ten era. Circle it now; the building will be loud. | | 6 | Sat 10/03 · Time TBA | HOME | [Washington Huskies](https://www.gohuskies.com) | United Airlines Field at L.A. Memorial Coliseum | | Homecoming and Reunion Weekend. Campus is the show before kickoff; give yourself an extra hour just to walk it. | | 7 | Sat 10/10 · Time TBA | AWAY | [Penn State Nittany Lions](https://www.gopsusports.com) | Beaver Stadium | | Happy Valley in October is one of the great road environments in the sport. Watch it somewhere with a crowd. | | BYE | Bye week | BYE | No game | | | The pause lands mid-October. The Coliseum goes quiet and Exposition Park has a museum day with your name on it. | | 8 | Sat 10/24 · Time TBA | AWAY | [Wisconsin Badgers](https://www.uwbadgers.com) | Camp Randall Stadium | | Late October in Madison. A watch-inside game, ideally near something warm. | | 9 | Sat 10/31 · Time TBA | HOME | [Ohio State Buckeyes](https://www.ohiostatebuckeyes.com) | United Airlines Field at L.A. Memorial Coliseum | | Halloween, Trojan Family Weekend, and the Buckeyes: the club already lists it as sold out, so this one is a resale market now. | | 10 | Sat 11/14 · Time TBA | AWAY | [Indiana Hoosiers](https://www.iuhoosiers.com) | Memorial Stadium | | Bloomington in mid-November, and Indiana is a real program now. A coffee game on the early window here. | | 11 | Sat 11/21 · Time TBA | HOME | [Maryland Terrapins](https://www.umterps.com) | United Airlines Field at L.A. Memorial Coliseum | | The quiet home date between Ohio State and the crosstown game. The easiest ticket of November if you have been waiting. | | 12 | Sat 11/28 · Time TBA | AWAY | [UCLA Bruins](https://www.uclabruins.com) | Rose Bowl | | The crosstown game, at the Rose Bowl this year, on Thanksgiving weekend. The city splits in half and nobody would have it any other way. | ## Where to Eat The Coliseum runs on Figueroa and Exposition. Eat before you cross into the park; the line between a good day and a great one is usually a table you planned. - **Mercado La Paloma** (Exposition Park edge) The food hall anchor on Figueroa, with Yucatecan cochinita at Chichen Itza inside. _Counter service, fast enough for a tight pregame._ - **The Lab Gastropub** (University Park) The across-from-campus spot that has fed generations of game days. _Pitchers and the big patio._ - **Game-day vendors on Exposition** (Exposition Park) The grills and carts that appear along the boulevard on Saturdays. The bacon-wrapped dog is the local specialty. _Cash moves faster than card here._ ## Where to Shop Game-day retail is campus retail. The good stuff is within a ten-minute walk of the peristyle. - **USC Bookstore** (University Park) The jersey stop. New season stock lands before the opener. _Online pickup skips the longest line._ - **The Village at USC** (University Park) The retail complex on Jefferson: groceries, a Target, and the practical errands. _Stock the cooler here before the walk over._ - **Santee Alley** (Downtown LA) The open-air fashion-district maze, a short hop up the road. _Go with a mission, it is a maze._ ## Do This Exposition Park is the city’s museum row wrapped around a stadium. A game Saturday can hold a whole day if you let it. - **California Science Center** (Exposition Park) The Space Shuttle Endeavour lives here, free to walk in. _Timed entry for the shuttle; book it early in the week._ - **Natural History Museum** (Exposition Park) The dinosaur hall and the gem vault across the promenade. _Two hours covers the greatest hits._ - **Exposition Park Rose Garden** (Exposition Park) The sunken garden between the museums, at its best into the late afternoon. _The quietest square footage within a mile of kickoff._ ## Where to Watch Road Games Five road trips on Eastern and Midwestern clocks. Early kicks here mean the right room opens early. - **Tom's Watch Bar** (Downtown LA) The LA Live watch bar built for exactly this: every screen, every game. _Reserve for the Big Ten road dates._ - **Big Wangs** (Hollywood) The unpretentious sports bar with the wall of TVs and a wing-heavy menu. _College Saturdays stack the room by 10 AM._ - **The 901** (University Park) The Figueroa bar the student section grows up into. _Closest thing to a home crowd for an away game._ --- Schedule verified against https://usctrojans.com. Cite as: CurationsLA, "USC Trojans 2026 Season Playbook", https://www.curationsla.com/sports/usc License: CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) Structured data: https://www.curationsla.com/sports/usc/dataset.json