The No. 13 USC Trojans face the unranked Wisconsin Badgers in the fifth week of the college football season. In week three, Wisconsin’s starting quarterback, Tyler Van Dyke, suffered a season-ending torn ACL. This brought their current quarterback Braedyn Locke into the game. The USC-Wisconsin matchup will be Locke’s first start.

However, this won’t be the first time the Trojans will face a backup in 2024. For those interested in weird football facts, USC will face its third straight quarterback to make the first start of the season for their respective teams.

In week two, the Trojans faced the Utah State Aggies starting quarterback Bryson Barnes. The Aggies started the season with quarterback Spencer Petras. The Week 2 matchup was Barnes’ first start of the 2024 season. USC won the game 48-0.

In week four, USC faced the Michigan Wolverines. The Wolverines changed quarterbacks before the game, naming Alex Orji the starter over Davis Warren. The Wolverines won 27-24.

There are two sides to whether this benefits USC or not. Since it’s a USC home game, the crowd can do its job and make it difficult for Locke to talk to his teammates. Crowd noise aside, the defense can utilize a new quarterback. On the more rusty side, throws can happen against them and the pressure can spill over to a quarterback, leading to turnovers and incompletions.

Even with an inexperienced quarterback, there is less to watch. Against Utah State, the USC defense did a good job of stopping Barnes. Utah State remained scoreless.

Against Michigan it was a different story. Just because the Wolverines had an inexperienced quarterback didn’t mean it was an automatic win for the Trojans. The game started slowly for USC, but in the second half USC’s defense stepped up. There were signs in some decisions that Orji was inexperienced, but the Wolverines still won despite Orji’s first start. No matter how many plays an opposing quarterback has played, the USC Trojans still need to win the game on all sides of the ball.

The Trojans’ defense has forced two interceptions and five total sacks this season. Even if the defense doesn’t get the sack or quarterback hit, the pressure on Locke will force more than just accurate passes.

Wisconsin’s offensive line allowed five sacks. Locke has playing experience this season due to Van Dyke’s injury, which will help Wisconsin, but the first start can still be nerve-wracking in an away game.

Because of Wisconsin’s run game, the pressure isn’t completely removed. Wisconsin running back Chez Mellusi has 200 rushing yards. If the defense can get going early and doesn’t allow the running game, Locke will be forced to throw more. Locke only completed 13 passes.

Both the Wisconsin Badgers and USC Trojans are coming off a loss and are looking to get their seasons back on track. Kickoff is at 12:30 p.m. PT on CBS.