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The unfamiliar highway by way of Huge Ten nation was not precisely welcoming to USC throughout its convention debut in 2024. The Trojans blew a fourth-quarter lead throughout all 4 of their Huge Ten highway journeys exterior of Los Angeles final season, every defeat seemingly extra devastating than the one earlier than it.
In order USC units out on its second swing by way of the Huge Ten, beginning with a visit to West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday, it has tried to handle that downside in methods large and small — from changing the power and conditioning coach to altering the workforce’s sleeping and meal occasions.
These adjustments might be put to the take a look at this week when USC crosses two time zones. A part of that new strategy contains taking a completely completely different aircraft to get there, one with a bit extra space to stretch out throughout an extended flight.
“[The players are] gonna like having more leg room,” coach Lincoln Riley stated with a smile. “Who doesn’t like more leg room?”
Purdue ought to make issues a bit extra uncomfortable for USC than its earlier two opponents. The Boilermakers are 2-0 to start out below new coach Barry Odom, who introduced in 54 transfers to rebuild a workforce that completed 1-11, lifeless final within the convention, final season.
Riley could not have a lot of a deal with on Purdue’s personnel, however he ought to have a fairly good thought what the Boilermakers will want on offense. In any case, Purdue’s offensive coordinator, Josh Henson, spent the earlier two seasons as Riley’s offensive line coach and coordinator at USC.
“He’s going up against us, too,” Riley stated. “So those things kind of go both ways. There’s obviously going to be some things that both sides are familiar with because of that. But it’s a players’ game at the end of the day.”
Listed below are three issues to look at as USC takes on Purdue on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PDT (CBS, Paramount+):
