USC v Wisconsin live updates: Score, highlights, predictions, analysis

USC football, after a week off, goes to Madison to face the Wisconsin Badgers. The Trojans can't get caught looking ahead to Ohio State. We are all interested in that game, but it's not the game the Trojans are playing on October 24. They are facing a Wisconsin team which is hungry to make a statement, playing at home under the lights on NBC. It's yet another NBC game for the Trojans, who were not on the network last week only because they weren't playing at all. USC has been on NBC in each of its last four games: Oregon, Washington, at Penn State on October 10, and now at Wisconsin. The Trojans are being given one primetime game after another. They need to play as though they belong on the big stage in the Big Ten.

USC has had a chance to get some of its players healthy with the two-week break. In addition to getting a badly-needed rest after playing seven consecutive weekends, the Trojans also needed the week off so that they could teach their freshmen a little more fully. This No. 1 freshman class should not have been expected to grasp every nuance of football in the first month and a half of the season. Now, after the week off, these freshmen should be expected to grow and develop into the studs their recruiting rankings suggested they would become. In the back end of the season, freshmen should begin to play like sophomores and show why they were recruited to USC. If the Trojans play tougher and smarter, like a team which has truly grown up, they should beat Wisconsin and enter the Ohio State game ready to make a statement.

Get real-time updates, scoring plays, turning points, and expert analysis throughout USC's game against Wisconsin. Follow along for highlights, injury news, key plays, and our instant breakdown: