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Availability Report: USC Trojans Healthiest Team in the Big Ten?

The first availability report of the USC Trojans in the Big Ten Conference era is in and Lincoln Riley has a (reportedly) healthy squad heading into a matchup with the LSU Tigers.

Kaleb Henry

Jul 24, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Jul 24, 2024; Indianapolis, IN, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley speaks to the media during the Big 10 football media day at Lucas Oil Stadium. / Robert Goddin-USA TODAY Sports
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The USC Trojans must have the healthiest team in the Big Ten Conference ahead of their season opener.

New for the four former Pac-12 Conference teams this season, including USC, is availability reports. The Big Ten began utilizing them last year. The reports indicate whether players are "out" or "questionable", and are released two hours ahead of the start of the contest.

According to the availability report from the afternoon, no Trojans are even questionable to take on the LSU Tigers. That's a record for Week 1in the Big Ten.

USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley during the first quarter at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Nov 18, 2023; Los Angeles, California, USA; USC Trojans head coach Lincoln Riley during the first quarter at United Airlines Field at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. / Jason Parkhurst-USA TODAY Sports

Other Big Ten teams listed at least one player, like the Michigan Spartans who had one player out for their game with Florida Atlantic. The Iowa Hawkeyes had one out and one questionable for Illinois State, the Illinois Fighting Illini had two out and one questionable against Easter Illinois, and the Michigan Wolverines had three missing against Fresno State.

As for the other Big Ten newcomers, Oregon listed nine on their report, UCLA had 14, and Washington reported eight.

The LSU Tigers will have to report availability for eight of their games this fall, though all of those are SEC games. The SEC's policy is closer to professional leagues than the Big Ten's, with availability reports due three days ahead of football games and daily reports in the days leading up to a final report 90 minutes prior to kickoff. There are also more definitions required in the SEC reports: Available, Probable, Questionable, Doubtful, Out, and Game Time Decision.

USC and LSU open the season against each other at 4:30 p.m. PDT from Las Vegas.

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Kaleb Henry

KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans.He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team.

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