Destinations for USC football bowl games include three good options
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Destinations for USC football bowl games include three good options

Posted on by Amelia Pressman

USC Football ended a 2024 regular season that did not go as planned. After a 3-1 start, the Trojans lost five of their last eight games and finished the year 6-6. This obviously wasn’t nearly good enough to qualify for the first 12 College Football Playoffs. However, USC is bowl eligible, so the Trojans will play another football game in 2024.

The bowl game is less important to victory – unless the opponent is Oklahoma. More importantly, it gives the players who will play for the team in 2025 time to train on the field. There was a lot of optimism at USC for 2024, especially because of the 2023 Holiday Bowl against Louisville. In that game, Miller Moss and a group of young receivers performed well, while the defense improved, especially in the secondary led by Taylor Mays, who stood in for Donte Williams. USC will try to inspire more optimism in its upcoming bowl game, but the most important thing is that younger players make real strides in their development to propel the program forward ahead of a crucial season for Lincoln Riley next year.

Let’s take a look at the four realistic potential bowl game destinations for USC.

Holiday bowl

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A possible bowl destination for the Trojans would be the most high-profile one. USC has played in the Holiday Bowl four times since 2014, including last season when it beat Louisville 42-28.

Since bowl games generally try to avoid repeat entrants, this seems like the least likely option. However, after last year’s positive result in San Diego, the Trojans would apparently have no objection to regaining the title for another year.

Las Vegas Bowl

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

Doesn’t it feel like a decade ago when the Trojans opened the 2024 season with a 24-20 win over LSU in Las Vegas?

Now there’s a chance USC could end the year where it started. In all likelihood, however, the mood will be a little darker this time. Instead of a high-stakes early-season showdown against a big-name opponent, the Trojans would essentially play a consolation game in front of a stadium where there would likely be plenty of empty seats.

Sun bowl

USA TODAY Sports Syndication

Stop me if you’ve heard that before. After an extremely disappointing season, USC heads to the Sun Bowl for a matchup that fails to generate excitement among either the team or the fan base.

It happened in 2012, when an unmotivated 7-5 Trojans team traveled to El Paso and lost an embarrassing 21-7 blunder to Georgia Tech. Could we see a similar result in 2024?

LA Bowl

Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports

From a logistical perspective, this would be the easiest option for USC. Instead of traveling to another city, the Trojans could simply drive to Inglewood to play a bowl game at SoFi Stadium.

Since the LA Bowl (sponsored by NFL legend Rob Gronkowski, by the way) is one of the earliest bowl games (scheduled for December 18th), this miserable season would also be over much sooner, which would be a victory for fans.

What do the fans want?

Matt Cashore-USA TODAY Sports

The general consensus among USC fans seems to be “everywhere but the Sun Bowl.” While playing next door at SoFi Stadium would be the most convenient option, a vacation trip to San Diego or Las Vegas sounds nice too. Then again, traveling all the way to El Paso, Texas, to watch a 6-6 football team play an afternoon game on New Year’s Eve probably doesn’t sound very appealing to most USC fans.

The Trojans should figure out their bowl game destination sometime Sunday after the playoff field is announced.

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