USC sports news roundup: Another football game sold out, a football recruiting update, more

USC sells out another home game

The USC Trojan football program announced this week that the October 12 home game against Penn State is sold out. This marks the third sellout of the season thus far joining this weekend's game vs. Wisconsin and the November 16 game in L.A. vs. Nebraska.

It is possible that the Penn State game could be a top-10 matchup. USC currently sits at No. 13 while Penn State is ranked 9th in the nation. Thus, that will be one of the games of the year in the Big Ten.

USC women's basketball team picked first in Big Ten preseason poll

Thursday, the Big Ten released its women's basketball preseason poll and the USC Trojans claimed the top spot. What's more, sophomore guard Juju Watkins was named the preseason conference Player of the Year.

Behind the Trojans in the poll are No. 2 UCLA, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 4 Maryland, and No. 5 Indiana. Meanwhile, Kiki Iriafen, a senior guard from USC joins Watkins on the preseason All-Big Ten team.

Last year, USC's women went 29-6 overall and 13-5 in the PAC-12. They reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament where they fell to UCONN 80-73. This year, they could be a serious Final Four contender and they will enter the year the favorite to win the Big Ten.

4-star defensive lineman to visit USC this weekend

Every home football game is an important recruiting opportunity. This weekend's game against Wisconsin is no different.

One player who will be on hand to take in Saturday's contest is James Carrington, a 4-star defensive lineman from Las Vegas, Nevada. Rated by the 247Sports.com composite rankings as the No. 57 overall player and No. 4 defensive lineman in the nation, Carrington would be a huge addition to the USC recruiting class.

In addition to USC, Carrington holds offers from the likes of Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Florida State, Georgia, LSU, Miami, Michigan, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Oregon, Tennessee, and others.

Women's soccer battles to draw vs. Minnesota

Thursday, the USC women's soccer team battled to a 2-2 draw with Minnesota in the season's first game in L.A. While the Trojans do get a result from this game, they have to feel like they let a winnable game get away.

In the first half, the Trojans picked up a pair of goals to stake themselves to a 2-0 lead. At the 01:00 mark, Maile Hayes registered her fourth goal of the season. Then, Kayla Colbert added to the lead at the 22:09 mark.

However, Minnesota would fight back with two second-half goals, the second of which came at the 79:41 mark to tie the game. Though the shots on goal in this game were equal at 11, the Golden Gophers held a sizeable 9-1 advantage in corners.

USC moves to 7-1-2 on the season overall and 3-0-1 in Big Ten play. The Trojans next host Wisconsin on Sunday at 11 a.m. Pacific.