marcelles williams

The unfamiliar road through Big Ten country was not exactly welcoming to USC during its conference debut in 2024. The Trojans blew a fourth-quarter lead during all four of their Big Ten road trips outside of Los Angeles last season, each defeat seemingly more devastating than the one before it.

So as USC sets out on its second swing through the Big Ten, starting with a trip to West Lafayette, Ind., on Saturday, it has tried to address that problem in ways big and small — from replacing the strength and conditioning coach to changing the team’s sleeping and meal times.

Those changes will be put to the test this week when USC crosses two time zones. Part of that new approach includes taking a totally different plane to get there, one with a bit more space to stretch out during a long flight.

“[The players are] gonna like having more leg room,” coach Lincoln Riley said with a smile. “Who doesn’t like more leg room?”

Purdue should make things a bit more uncomfortable for USC than its previous two opponents. The Boilermakers are 2-0 to start under new coach Barry Odom, who brought in 54 transfers to rebuild a team that finished 1-11, dead last in the conference, last season.

Riley may not have much of a handle on Purdue’s personnel, but he should have a pretty good idea what the Boilermakers will prefer on offense. After all, Purdue’s offensive coordinator, Josh Henson, spent the previous two seasons as Riley’s offensive line coach and coordinator at USC.

“He’s going up against us, too,” Riley said. “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.”

Here are three things to watch as USC takes on Purdue on Saturday at 12:30 p.m. PDT (CBS, Paramount+):

One of the top prospects in USC’s top-ranked 2026 recruiting class has decided not to wait another year to join the Trojans.

Rancho Cucamonga cornerback RJ Sermons, a four-star recruit, plans to reclassify to the 2025 class, leaving high school a year early to enroll this summer at USC.

Sermons, whose father, Rodney, played at USC, should give the Trojans another talented option in a defensive backfield that lost five starters from a season ago. How swiftly he’ll be able to claim a role in that rebuilt secondary remains to be seen.

USC already added two starting-caliber corners through the transfer portal in DJ Harvey and Chasen Johnson, while returners DeCarlos Nicholson, Marcelles Williams, Braylon Conley and Prophet Brown have experience in the Trojans’ scheme. Three other freshmen — Alex Graham, Trestin Castro and James Johnson — also joined the position group in the spring.

Sermons should at least step in with a legitimate claim as the fastest member of USC’s secondary. He currently owns the state’s top times in the 100- and 200-meter dashes at 10.30 and 20.88 seconds.

He won’t be the only member of the Trojans’ 2025 class that was supposed to be a senior in high school next season. Five-star defensive lineman Jahkeem Stewart reclassified from the 2026 to the 2025 class last season after playing in just 12 high school games. He’s expected to have a role on USC’s defense this fall.