Welcome to the Times of Troy, our weekly newsletter featuring all things Trojans athletics. Ryan Kartje, who covers USC football and men’s basketball for The Times, will be your host. To sign up to get this newsletter delivered every Monday to your inbox, click here .

Welcome back to the Times of Troy newsletter, where USC’s loss to Oregon on Saturday has left me grappling with what it means to have a successful season in this day and age of college football.

USC will not be going to the College Football Playoff. It’ll be the fourth straight year under Lincoln Riley that USC is left out of the field. In that time, Indiana — which last won a conference title in 1967 — will have twice been a Playoff team. Assuming Ohio State, Indiana and Oregon all make this year’s field as expected, t

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