Texas' Women's College World Series title narrows Learfield Directors' Cup path for USC

Friday evening was quite eventful in college sports. Judge Claudia Wilken approved the House settlement deal that will shape the future of how USC navigates the terrain of college athletics. Around the same time, Texas defeated Texas Tech during the NCAA College Softball World Series.

As shared by Arrogant Nation on X, this makes the path toward a potential Learfield Directors' Cup victory for the Trojans narrower. It does, however, make it a two-school race now, exclusively between USC and Texas. Before the Longhorns' victory, there was still an outside shot of Stanford being able to win the overall collegiate title. For those noticing, Learfield is also the recently announced marketing company that has now partnered with USC.

Everything will now come down to the track and field events at the NCAA championships in Eugene, Oregon, that will take place starting on Wednesday, June 11th.

It goes without saying that the Trojan athletes who have qualified for their respective events on the national stage will need to perform well and have a number of first-place finishes in Eugene in order for USC to take the lead from Texas.

If the Longhorns underperform, however, there will be a Trojan victory for the Directors' Cup. Considering how well-rounded and how much depth this Director Quincy Watts roster has for both teams, it should not be dismissed already.

First or second will now fall on USC T&F team's shoulders

Track and field, like any of the other sports, is something that can have athletes have an off-day or perform even above the high expectations that someone had entering into the event. Between all of the athletes who have qualified for the NCAA championships and the season of success that these two squads have already had and displayed, a Trojan T&F victory could very easily mean this additional overarching victory as well, even with this latest Texas win in softball.