USC Coach Lincoln Riley Has Never Lost an Opener. No. 14 Kicks Off Saturday on NBC.

USC opens its season against San José State at noon Pacific on Saturday, August 29, 2026. The kickoff time and the NBC broadcast come from a game listing USC Athletics posted on August 25, 2026. The Trojans are ranked No. 14 and host at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Tickets are listed from $50 to $300. The release does not name a starting center.

For anyone planning a Saturday around Exposition Park, this is the first live look at a roster the program has spent the offseason promoting. It is also the earliest date on the calendar it could have gotten one. The release counts 8 FBS games on the Week 0 schedule.

Nine openers, none lost

Head coach Lincoln Riley is 9-0 in season openers, according to USC Athletics. One of those nine came against Saturday's opponent. USC beat San José State 56-28 on August 26, 2023.

Saturday is San José State's seventh trip to the Coliseum, and the program says USC has won the previous six. The streak is a record of Augusts, not of Novembers.

What the program says it returns

Quarterback Jayden Maiava, a redshirt senior, started all 13 games in 2025. He threw for 3,711 yards, which led the Big Ten Conference. He had 24 touchdowns against 10 interceptions. USC Athletics also credits him with a national-best 91.2 QBR and 31 career starts. The same release lists 157 rushing yards and 6 rushing touchdowns for him in that season.

Entering 2026, USC was the only team in the country returning all five offensive line starters, the release says. It is now four. Kilian O'Connor, the projected starting center, will miss the entire 2026 season with an injury, per USC Athletics. The release lists several options at center without naming a starter.

The four linemen who do return are Elijah Paige, Tobias Raymond, Alani Noa and Justin Tauanuu. They have 69 career starts between them, per USC Athletics. The 2025 line allowed one sack per game.

In the backfield, Waymond Jordan returns from the injury that ended his 2025 season against Michigan. He ran for 576 yards on 88 carries. That came across six games.

King Miller carried the room afterward. He ran for 972 yards on 156 carries. That included 8 touchdowns in 13 games. He is listed 15 pounds heavier, at 225.

At receiver, USC Athletics calls sophomore Tanook Hines the most experienced player in the room. He had 34 catches for 561 yards. That was in 2025, and 335 of those yards came over the final three games. Junior Terrell Anderson transferred in from North Carolina State, where the release says he caught 39 passes for 629 yards.

If you are going

• When: noon Pacific, Saturday, August 29, 2026.
• Where: United Airlines Field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
• TV: NBC.
• Tickets: listed from $50 to $300 on the USC Athletics site.

The same USC Athletics page links game notes as a PDF, game-day information, football parking details and a clear bag policy covering the department's venues.

One note on everything above: it comes from the school's own release, which sells tickets as well as it informs. USC Athletics calls Maiava the nation's best quarterback and ranks its own recruiting class first. The same page puts the 2025 passing offense at 297.3 yards per game. Those are the program's framing and the program's record-keeping. Saturday at noon is the first outside check on any of it.

Source: usctrojans.com, retrieved August 26, 2026.