It is not so much worrisome that USC lost on the road to Illinois. After all, the Fighting Illini made this Big Noon matchup their homecoming weekend, and the home team was coming off an embarrassing loss to Indiana.
Illinois had a lot to prove and an extra layer of motivation and focus in wanting to show that the game against the Hoosiers was far from a reflection of what they can be in 2025.
That is to say that a loss in itself would not necessarily be room for concern. Instead, it is the areas in which USC once again did not help itself and some of the same old patterns that have frustrated Trojan fans in the past and how they keep showing up that lead many to be disappointed despite a fourth-quarter rally and a mere two-point loss in a 34-32 affair from this past Saturday.