Nebraska
Can USC Trojans Stay Undefeated? Michigan, Penn State, Nebraska, Tough Schedule Looms
After the No. 11 USC Trojans return from their bye week, the team plays seven straight weeks of football games before the second bye. A gauntlet for any program, the next seven games for USC will also be the first time the Trojans clash with their new Big Ten opponents.
Can USC Trojans coach Lincoln Riley and his team navigate the rest of the season and remain unscathed?
As of Sept. 16, the Trojans are scheduled to face four ranked opponents for the rest of the season. USC will face No. 10 Penn State, No. 17 Notre Dame, No. 18 Michigan, and No. 22 Nebraska.
The first ranked matchup is on Saturday, Sept. 21, as USC travels to Ann Arbor to face No. 18 Michigan. Although defending national champions, the 2024 Wolverines have struggled at the start of the season. The Wolverines have an ugly loss to No. 1 Texas, and they beat Arkansas State by 10 points.
Should USC leave the Big House with a win, they could set themselves up for an undefeated showdown with No. 10 Penn State on Oct. 12. In between the Michigan and Penn State games, the Trojans are scheduled to face the Wisconsin Badgers and the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
Both Wisconsin and Minnesota are having down years compared to expectations. Minnesota lost 19-17 to North Carolina in week zero, and Wisconsin recently lost to Alabama 42-10 at home. Should the Trojans get past both of those teams, Riley and his team might have a top-10 matchup on their hands.
On paper, the toughest game of the Trojans season will be when the Nittany Lions travel to Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. According to the AP Poll, this midseason matchup figures to be the toughest game on USC’s season.
After playing Penn State, USC will fly across the country to face Maryland on Oct. 19. The stretch of seven games will end on a Friday night against Rutgers followed by a road trip to Washington. On Nov. 9, the Trojans will have reached the second bye week of the season.
Should this Trojans team win its first nine games, its resume will feature wins over LSU, Michigan, and Penn State. In the first two games of the season, USC Trojans quarterback Miller Moss has impressed, and defensive coordinator D’Anton Lynn has already improved the defense in his short time with the team.
Already a strong collection of wins, USC has the chance to add another against a surging Nebraska on Nov. 16.
After an impressive 3-0 start under quarterback Dylan Raiola, the Nebraska Cornhuskers have climbed into the AP poll at No. 22. If the Trojans and the Cornhuskers continue to win, the game will assuredly be one of the marquee matchups across the country.
Both Nebraska and Penn State travel to Los Angeles to play the Trojans, giving USC a legitimate chance to host College GameDay. In the final home game at the Coliseum, USC will host the Fighting Irish, currently ranked No. 17 in the week four AP Poll.
A difficult opponent after playing a grueling schedule, Notre Dame has already suffered an upset at home to No. 23 Northern Illinois.
While certainly difficult, this Trojans team has the potential to rack up some impressive wins should they survive the season. However, teams can afford to lose a game and still have a path to the postseason in the expanded playoff system.
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Illinois head coach Brett Bielema is known for the physical identity of his football teams. This year’s version of the Fighting Illini is no different.
They are only giving up 8.6 points per game so far this season and have proven to be a stingy defensive team. But they are going up against a Nebraska team that has a flashy freshman quarterback and a stable of talented wide receivers to throw the ball to. Illinois’ defense will be facing its largest challenge of the year so far. But so will its offense.
Nebraska has a solid defense this season. The most points the Huksers have given up is to Colorado, who scored just 10 points. The Buffaloes have one of the Big 12’s best quarterbacks in Shedeur Sanders and wide receivers Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn Jr. Despite all those weapons, the Huskers’ defense was more than up to the challenge.
Not only does Illinois have to play against that defense, but they will also be trying to keep up with the Huskers’ offense. Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola is a problem for any defense. The way that he can move around in the pocket and keep his eyes downfield is a defensive nightmare. Once he has danced around for long enough, he can find the open receiver and make any throw on the field.
Fighting Illini quarterback Luke Altmyer will have to be at the top of his game on Saturday. So far this season, he has looked sharp. His 647 passing yards and six touchdowns per game are comparable to Raiola’s numbers. His leading receiver, Pat Bryant, has 235 yards and an impressive four early touchdowns on the year.
Despite how good Illinois’ offense has looked so far, they will be facing a new challenge this Saturday. Memorial Stadium will be rocking once again as Big Ten play gets underway. It will likely be the toughest game that either team has played so far this year, and in a matchup this close, home-field advantage can make all the difference.
Altmyer and the Fighting Illini will not just be going against the Huskers’ defense on Saturday. They will also be fighting against the raucous crowd and trying to keep up with Raiola’s potent offense.
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For the first time since October 2011, No. 22 Nebraska and No. 24 Illinois find themselves listed in the same Associated Press Top 25 poll. They’ll meet in a Big Ten opener Friday night in Lincoln, Neb., to decide which team gets to stay there.
The Cornhuskers (3-0) are off to their best start since 2016 — their most recent bowl season — while the Illini are 3-0 for the first time since 2011.
After cruising through their respective non-conference schedules, both teams will get a much better picture of their might while they clash in front of Nebraska’s 400th consecutive home sellout.
“To have two big teams ranked on a Friday night game is a little bit unusual,” said Illinois coach Bret Bielema, who has his program in the polls for just the second time in the last 13 years. “It doesn’t happen all the time. To see it play out and be a part of it is awesome. Give a lot of credit to their team and what they’ve accomplished to this point. I told our guys to continue to keep our focus, our mentality, and see where it can go.”
The Huskers have three blowouts under their belt — they led at halftime against UTEP, Colorado and Northern Iowa by a combined score of 79-10 — but head coach Matt Rhule hasn’t been overly impressed yet.
“I think any time you don’t punt in the game, you feel pretty good,” Rhule said. “So I felt pretty good about what we did Saturday offensively (against Northern Iowa). But that was all preseason to me. Now the season starts. We’ll find out where we are. This will be such a different challenge playing against these guys.”
The Illini enter Friday’s game tied for second nationally in turnover margin (+8) and tied for fifth in turnovers forced (9). Defensive back Xavier Scott is one of four FBS players with at least 3 interceptions through three games, and he has forced four turnovers overall.
But Scott and company haven’t faced a passer like Nebraska’s Dylan Raiola. Even on the rare occasions when the pass rush has forced him to improvise, the five-star freshman has appeared unflappable while completing 73.8 percent of his passes for 670 yards, five touchdowns and just one interception. “He brings a different element immediately,” Bielema said. “He’s a very talented young man that’s got a great deep ball throw. They maximize him pretty well. There’s some things you can literally see him get better on every series — just very impressive to see.”
Rhule seems eager to find out how Raiola will handle an Illinois group that ranks 12th nationally in pass efficiency defense (an 87.98 rating versus Raiola’s 162.22).
“They’ve altered a lot of what they’re doing,” said Rhule, noting how Illinois second-year defensive coordinator Aaron Henry has been using more disguises this season. “They’ll show man and play Cover 2. They’ll show man and play zone. With a young quarterback, he’s got to recognize because they don’t show it to you. He’s got to recognize zone on the snap. And they’re taking the ball away at a high level.”
On the flip side, Bielema wants to see his rushing attack be more reliable. The Illini’s quartet of backs have been satisfactory (153.3 yards per game), but Illinois hasn’t faced anything like the Huskers’ defense, which surrenders just 2.5 yards per carry and 70.3 rushing yards per game.
“If we’re going to win in the Big Ten, we’re going to have to run the ball in certain situations,” Bielema said. “I think the greatest definition of a team is a team that can run the ball effectively when they want to run it against good competition.”
–Field Level Media
Zachary Scheich, 27, was sentenced to 85 to 120 years in prison for impersonating a 17-year-old Nebraska high school student and sexually assaulting teenage girls.
A 27-year-old man who posed as a Nebraska high school student to prey on teenage girls has been sentenced to 85 to 120 years in prison, according to multiple reports.
Zachary Scheich, who was known by peers as 17-year-old “Zak Hess,” disguised himself as a high school student for more than 50 days to exploit and sexually assault over a dozen girls, with some being as young as 13, the Washington Post and KOLN reported.
Scheich blended in with other students using his 5 feet 4-inch height and 120-pound stature, Lincoln police said. He attended multiple schools throughout the Lincoln Public Schools District.
Although Scheich passed as a student, in reality, he had graduated from the same district in 2015, Lincoln Police Department assistant chief Brian Jackson said at a news conference in July 2023.
USA TODAY contacted Lancaster County officials on Monday but did not receive a response. It is unclear who Scheich’s legal representation is.
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Judge scolds Zachary Scheich during sentencing hearing
Lancaster District Judge Darla S. Ideus handed down the sentence on Sept. 11 on charges of sexual assault, child enticement with electronic communication and generating sexually explicit images of children, the Washington Post reported. Scheich did not talk during his sentencing hearing, but he instead submitted a letter to the judge that was not read aloud in court, according to the outlet.
The lengthy sentence comes after Scheich pleaded no contest in July as part of a plea deal to reduce the number of felony counts against him from 15 to five.
“The children you exploited were not equipped to protect themselves because they thought you were their peer,” Ideus said during the brief sentencing hearing,” Ideus said during the sentencing hearing, per the Post.
How did Zachary Scheich get caught?
The investigation in Scheich began on June 1, when Lincoln police were contacted by the school district. The district had discovered that a person was impersonating a student during the 2022-23 school year using the name Zak Hess.
Hess, who was secretly Scheich, enrolled at Northwest High School during the first semester and later transferred to Southeast High School during the second semester. Investigators would soon find out Hess was a 26-year-old who graduated from Lincoln Public Schools in 2015.
School records revealed Scheich went to the schools under the Hess alias for a total of 54 days, police said.
‘I am supposed to feel safe in school’
During the sentencing hearing, Ideus read an impact statement from one of the girls Scheich had victimized.
“I am supposed to feel safe in school, and I no longer feel safe in a place that I used to,” Ideus read from the girl’s letter, per the Post. “I’m so guarded that anyone who tries to talk to me or get to know me, I shut it down. I never believe what anyone says anymore. My trust is so broken, that even if I want to believe someone, I can’t.”
Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Amber Schlote called the harm to Scheich’s victims immeasurable, as it led them to miss school, suffer failing grades and have anxiety, shame and a deep mistrust of adults.
“It has undeniably altered their life’s trajectories,” Schlote said, according to the Post.
Along with Scheich, a 23-year-old woman faces criminal impersonation charges related to the case. Angela Navarro pleaded not guilty and maintains she was manipulated by Scheich, KOLN reported. She was arrested on Sept. 29, 2023, according to the TV station.
Navarro, who police say was 22 at the time, posed as Scheich’s mother while using the alias “Danielle Hess” to attend meetings with school counselors, KOLN said, citing an arrest affidavit. Navarro remains free on bond and is awaiting trial.
What did Lincoln Public Schools say about Zachary Scheich?
Lincoln Public Schools sent out an alert to families at Northwest and Southeast High Schools, police said. According to documents provided to USA TODAY by the school division, the alert gave families a breakdown of what happened.
- October 20, 2022: He began attending Northwest High School.
- January 12, 2023: He transferred to Southeast High School.
- May 31: The school district received a report that an adult male may be attending one of its high schools pretending to be a junior. The district’s student services and security department contacted the police and turned the information over to the police as it was discovered.
- July: Police confirmed that Zachary Scheich did enroll and attend two high schools during the 2022-23 school year under the name Zak Hess.
- He was arrested in July 2023.
Lincoln Public Schools Superintendent Paul Gausman and Associate Superintendent for Educational Services Matt Larson spoke to community members in July 2023 and said the district gave out Hess’s picture to schools and let them know he was no longer allowed on the premises while police tried to confirm his identity.
The officials also said the district follows state and federal requirements for enrolling students, which can be done online or in person. Regardless of whether someone applies online or in person, the district requests a birth certificate, immunization records, physicals and transcripts, school administrators said.
The district explained that the man exploited the enrollment process by using fake documents. Now, enrollment processes will be reviewed.
Extra safeguards have been put into place, such as multiple in-person conversations with parents and guardians who are trying to enroll students. District officials also said it will continue to accommodate families whose schedules do not allow for multiple meetings.
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