The USC Trojans football program represents

University of Southern California , mottoeng = "Let whoever earns the palm bear it" , religious_affiliation = Nonsectarian—historically Methodist , established = , accreditation = WSCUC , type = Private research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $8.1 ...

in the sport of

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

. The Trojans compete in the

Football Bowl Subdivision The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). As ...

(FBS) of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA) and the Pac-12 Conference (Pac-12). Formed in 1888, the program has 856 wins and claims 11

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

s, including 8 from the major wire-service ( AP, Coaches'), heading into the 2022 season. USC has had 13 undefeated seasons including 8 perfect seasons, and 39 conference championships. USC has produced eight Heisman Trophy winners, 81 first-team Consensus All-Americans, including 27 Unanimous selections, and 510

NFL draft The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...

picks, most all-time by any university, USC has had 34 members inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, including former players

Matt Leinart Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at USC, where he won the Heisman Trophy ...

, O. J. Simpson, and

Ronnie Lott Ronald Mandel Lott (born May 8, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback and safety in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. Lott played college football for the Univ ...

and former coaches John McKay and Howard Jones. The Trojans boast 14 inductees in the

Pro Football Hall of Fame The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame for professional American football, located in Canton, Ohio. Opened on September 7, , the Hall of Fame enshrines exceptional figures in the sport of professional football, including players, coa ...

, the most of any school, including

Junior Seau Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau Jr. (; ; January 19, 1969May 2, 2012) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), mostly with the San Diego Chargers. Known for his passionate play, he was a ...

, Bruce Matthews,

Marcus Allen Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and short- ...

, and

Ron Yary Anthony Ronald Yary (born July 16, 1946) is an American former professional football player who played as an offensive tackle primarily for the Minnesota Vikings and also for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL). He was ...

. Among all colleges and universities, as of 2022, USC holds the all-time record for the most quarterbacks (17) and is tied with the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...

for the most wide receivers (40) to go on to play in the NFL."Colleges with most NFL draft picks by position,"
NFL.com, retrieved April 30, 2022 The Trojans have 53 bowl appearances, 39 of which are among the

New Year's Six The New Year's Six, sometimes abbreviated as NY6, is an unofficial but commonly used term used to describe the following NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) bowl games: the Rose Bowl, Sugar Bowl, Orange Bowl, Cotton Bowl, Peach Bowl ...

Bowls. With a record of 34–19, USC has the highest all-time post-season winning percentage of schools with 50 or more bowl appearances. The Trojans play their home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which is located in Exposition Park adjacent to USC's

University Park, Los Angeles University Park is a neighborhood in the South Los Angeles region of Los Angeles, California.

History

1888–1910s

USC first fielded a football team in 1888. Playing its first game on November 14 of that year against the Alliance Athletic Club, USC achieved a 16–0 victory. Frank Suffel and Henry H. Goddard were playing coaches for the first team which was put together by quarterback Arthur Carroll, who in turn volunteered to make the pants for the team and later became a tailor.Mal Florence ''et al.''
The Trojan Heritage
''2004 USC Football Media Guide'', USC Athletic Department, pp. 201-209. USC faced its first collegiate opponent the following year in fall 1889, playing St. Vincent's College to a 40–0 victory. In 1893, USC joined the Intercollegiate Football Association of Southern California (the forerunner of the

SCIAC The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) is a college athletic conference that operates in the NCAA's Division III. The conference was founded in 1915 and it consists of twelve small private schools that are located i ...

), which was composed of USC, Occidental College, Throop Polytechnic Institute (Cal Tech), and Chaffey College.

Pomona College Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became t ...

was invited to enter, but declined to do so. An invitation was also extended to

Los Angeles High School Los Angeles High School is the oldest public high school in the Southern California Region and in the Los Angeles Unified School District. Its colors are royal blue and white and the teams are called the Romans. Los Angeles High School is a pub ...

. Before they were named Trojans in 1912, USC athletic teams were called the Methodists (occasionally the "Fighting Methodists"), as well as the Wesleyans. During the early years, limitations in travel and the scarcity of major football-playing colleges on the West Coast limited its rivalries to local Southern Californian colleges and universities. During this period USC played regular series against Occidental,

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, Whittier, Pomona and Loyola. The first USC team to play outside of Southern California went to Stanford University on November 4, 1905, where they were trampled 16–0 by the traditional West Coast powerhouse. While the teams would not meet again until 1918 (Stanford dropped football for

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

during the intervening years), this was also USC's first game against a future Pac-12 conference opponent and the beginning of its oldest rivalry. During this period USC also played its first games against other future Pac-12 rivals, including

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

(1914),

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

(1915),

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

(1915),

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

(1916) and

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

(1915-1917, 1919). Between 1911 and 1913, USC followed the example of California and Stanford and dropped football in favor of

. The results were disastrous, as USC was soundly defeated by more experienced programs while the school itself experienced financial reverses; it was during this period that Owen R. Bird, a sportswriter for the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...

'', coined the nickname "Trojans", which he wrote was "owing to the terrific handicaps under which the athletes, coaches and managers of the university were laboring and against the overwhelming odds of larger and better equipped rivals, the name 'Trojan' suitably fitted the players."

1920s–1930s

After several decades of competition, USC first achieved national prominence under head coach "Gloomy"

Gus Henderson Elmer Clinton "Gloomy Gus" Henderson (March 10, 1889 – December 16, 1965) was an American football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Southern California (1919–1924), the University of Tulsa (1925–1935), and Occidental ...

in the early 1920s. Another milestone came under Henderson in 1922, when USC joined the Pacific Coast Conference (PCC), the forerunner of the modern Pac-12. Success continued under coach Howard Jones from 1925 to 1940, when the Trojans were just one of a few nationally dominant teams. It was during this era that the team achieved renown as the "Thundering Herd", earning its first four national titles.

1940s–1950s

USC achieved intermittent success in the years following Jones' tenure.

Jeff Cravath Newell Jefferson Cravath (February 3, 1903 – December 10, 1953) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head football coach the University of Denver from 1929 to 1931, at the University of San Francisco in 1941, and at the U ...

, who coached from 1942 to 1950, won the Rose Bowl in 1943 and 1945.

Jess Hill Jesse Terrill Hill (January 20, 1907 – August 31, 1993) was an American athlete, coach, and college athletics administrator who was best known for his tenure as a coach and athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC). His c ...

, who coached from 1951 to 1956, won the Rose Bowl in 1953. From 1957 to 1959, the Trojans were coached by Don Clark. Future Hall of Famer

Ron Mix Ronald Jack Mix (born March 10, 1938) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle. He is a member of the American Football League (AFL) All-Time Team, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 19 ...

was an All American for the Trojans in 1959.

1960s–1970s

The program entered a new golden age upon the arrival of head coach John McKay (1960–1975). During this period the Trojans produced two

Heisman Trophy winners The Heisman Trophy, one of the highest individual awards in American college football, has been awarded 86 times since its creation in 1935, including 85 unique winners and one two-time winner. The trophy is given annually to the most outstandin ...

(

Mike Garrett Michael Lockett Garrett (born April 12, 1944) is a former American football player who won the Heisman Trophy in 1965 as a halfback for the USC Trojans. Garrett played professional football for eight seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and Sa ...

and O. J. Simpson) and won four national championships (1962, 1967, 1972 and 1974). McKay's influence continued even after he departed for the NFL when an assistant coach, John Robinson (1976–1982), took over as head coach. Under Robinson, USC won another national championship in 1978 (shared with Alabama; ironically, USC defeated Alabama, 24–14, that same season) and USC produced two more running-back Heisman Trophy winners in Charles White and

On September 12, 1970, USC opened the season visiting the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

under legendary coach

Paul "Bear" Bryant Paul William "Bear" Bryant (September 11, 1913 – January 26, 1983) was an American college football player and coach. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest college football coaches of all time, and best known as the head coach of t ...

and became the first fully integrated team to play in the state of Alabama. The game, scheduled by Bryant, resulted in a dominating 42–21 win by the Trojans. More importantly, all six touchdowns scored by USC team were by black players, two by USC running back Sam "Bam" Cunningham, against an all-white Crimson Tide team.Lenn Robbins
Trojans Have Horses
''New York Post'', August 26, 2007 After the game, Bryant was able to persuade the university to allow black players to play, hastening the racial integration of football at Alabama and in the Deep South.Pat Forde
The Dash is off and running
ESPN.com, August 28, 2007

1980s–1990s

In the 1980s, USC football did not realize a national championship, though it continued to experience relative success, with top-20 AP rankings and Pac-10 Conference championships under head coaches

Ted Tollner Alfred Theodore Tollner (born May 29, 1940) is a former American football player and coach. He had served as the head coach at the University of Southern California (USC) from 1983 to 1986 and San Diego State University (SDSU) from 1994 to 2001, ...

(1983–1986) and Larry Smith (1987–1992) Each coach led the team to a win in the Rose Bowl and USC was recognized among the nation's top-ten teams three times. Despite the moderate success of team during these years, some alumni had grown accustomed to the program's stature as a perennial national championship contender. In 1993, Robinson was named head coach a second time, leading the Trojans to a victory in the 1996 Rose Bowl over Northwestern. It was during this time that the Trojans were unable to defeat their rivals. They suffered winless streaks of 13 years (1983–1995, including the 1994 17–17 tie) to rival Notre Dame and 8 years (1991–1998) to crosstown rival

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

which were unacceptable to many USC supporters. Under Robinson the Trojans were 2–2–1 against Notre Dame, but unable to beat UCLA. After posting a 6–6 record in 1996, and a 6–5 record in 1997, Robinson was fired. In 1998, head coach Paul Hackett took over the team, but posted an even more disappointing 19–18 record in three seasons than any of his recent predecessors. By 2000, some observers surmised that USC football's days of national dominance were fading; the football team's record of 37–35 from 1996 to 2001 was their second-worst over any five-year span in history (only the mark of 29–29–2 from 1956 to 1961 was worse), and the period marked the first and only time USC had been out of the final top 20 teams for four straight years.

2000s–2010s

2001

In 2001, athletic director

released Hackett and hired

Pete Carroll Peter Clay Carroll (born September 15, 1951) is an American football coach who is the head coach and executive vice president for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the head football coach at USC from ...

, a former NFL head coach. Carroll went 6–6 in his first year, losing to

in the

Las Vegas Bowl The Las Vegas Bowl is an NCAA Division I FBS annual post-season college football bowl game held in the Las Vegas area. First played in 1992, the bowl was originally held at the 40,000-seat Sam Boyd Stadium in Whitney, Nevada before moving to the ...

, 10–6. After that, his teams became highly successful, ranking among the top ten teams in the country, with the exception of 2009 in which the team lost four regular season games.

2002

USC opened 3–2 in 2002, suffering losses to

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

and

Washington State Washington (), officially the State of Washington, is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. Named for George Washington—the first U.S. president—the state was formed from the western part of the Washington ...

. However, the Trojans went on to win the rest of their games, completing the regular season 11–2 on the strength of senior quarterback

Carson Palmer Carson Hilton Palmer (born December 27, 1979) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals. He played college football at ...

's breakout performance. After struggling for most of his collegiate career, Palmer excelled in the Pro Style offense installed by new offensive coordinator

Norm Chow Norman Yew Heen Chow (born May 3, 1946) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach for the Helvetic Guards in the European League of Football. He was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Ma ...

. In fact, Palmer's performance, particularly in the season-ending rivalry games against Notre Dame and UCLA, impressed so many pundits that he went on to win the Heisman Trophy, carrying every region of voting and becoming the first USC

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

to be so honored. Despite tying for the Pac-10 title (with Washington State), having the highest BCS "strength of schedule" rating, and fielding the nation's top defense led by safety

Troy Polamalu Troy Aumua Polamalu (; born Troy Benjamin Aumua; April 19, 1981) is an American former football strong safety who played his entire 12-year career for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football ...

, USC finished the season ranked No. 5 in the BCS rankings. Facing off against BCS No. 3

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

in the

Orange Bowl The Orange Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game played in the Miami metropolitan area. It has been played annually since January 1, 1935, making it, along with the Sugar Bowl and the Sun Bowl, the second-oldest bowl game ...

, USC defeated the Hawkeyes 38–17.

2003

In 2003, highly touted but unproven redshirt sophomore

took over the quarterback position from Palmer. Although his first

pass Pass, PASS, The Pass or Passed may refer to: Places * Pass, County Meath, a townland in Ireland * Pass, Poland, a village in Poland * Pass, an alternate term for a number of straits: see List of straits * Mountain pass, a lower place in a moun ...

went for a

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Amer ...

in a win over Auburn, the Trojans suffered an early season triple-overtime loss to their conference rival the

Golden Bears in Berkeley. After the Loss to California, USC went on a 10-game winning streak and finished the season with a record of 11–1. Before the postseason, both the coaches' poll and the

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...

ranked USC number 1, but the BCS—which also gave consideration to computer rankings—ranked Oklahoma first, another one-loss team but one that had lost its own

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

title game 35–7, with USC ranked third. In the 2003 BCS National Championship Game, the Sugar Bowl, BCS No. 2

LSU Louisiana State University (officially Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as LSU) is a public land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The university was founded in 1860 near ...

defeated BCS No. 1 Oklahoma 21–14. Meanwhile, BCS No. 3 USC defeated BCS No. 4

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

28–14 in the Rose Bowl. USC finished the season ranked No. 1 in the AP poll and was awarded the AP National Championship; LSU, however, won the BCS National Championship title for that year, prompting a split national title between LSU and USC. In the wake of the controversy, corporate sponsors emerged who were willing to organize an LSU-USC game to settle the matter; nevertheless, the NCAA refused to permit the matchup.

2004

In 2004, USC was picked preseason No. 1 by the Associated Press, thanks to the return of Leinart as well as sophomore running backs

LenDale White LenDale Anthony White (born December 20, 1984) is a former American football running back. He was drafted by the Tennessee Titans in the second round (45th overall) of the 2006 NFL Draft. He has also been a member of the Seattle Seahawks and De ...

and

Reggie Bush Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...

. The defense—led by

All-America The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...

n defensive tackles Shaun Cody and Mike Patterson, as well as All-American linebackers Lofa Tatupu and Matt Grootegoed—was considered to be among the finest in the nation. Key questions included the offensive line, with few returning starters, and the receiving corps, which had lost previous year's senior Keary Colbert and the breakout star of 2003, Mike Williams. Williams had tried to enter the NFL draft a year early during the

Maurice Clarett Maurice Edward Clarett (born October 29, 1983) is a former American football running back who played for the Ohio State Buckeyes football team. He also played professionally for the Omaha Nighthawks of the United Football League. During his fr ...

trial when it was ruled that the NFL could not deny them entering the draft. The decision was appealed and overturned leaving Williams unable to enter the draft. When he applied to the NCAA for reinstatement of his eligibility, it was denied. Despite close calls against Stanford and California, the Trojans finished the regular season undefeated and headed for the 2004 BCS Championship Game at the Orange Bowl. USC was the second team in NCAA football history to have gone wire-to-wire (ranked first place from preseason to postseason since the AP began releasing preseason rankings); the first was

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

in 1999 (two other schools went wire-to-wire before the existence of preseason polls - Notre Dame in 1943 and

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

in 1945). Quarterback Leinart won the Heisman Trophy, with running back Bush placing fifth in the vote tally. The Trojans' opponent in the Orange Bowl, Oklahoma, were themselves undefeated and captained by sixth-year quarterback Jason White, who had won the Heisman in 2003; the game marked the first time in NCAA history that two players who had already won the Heisman played against each other. Most analysts expected the game to be close—as USC matched its speed and defense against the Oklahoma running game and skilled offensive line—but the reality proved to be far different. USC scored 38 points in the first half, and won the BCS National Championship Game by the score of 55–19, making them the BCS Champions and earning the team the AP National Championship as well. In June 2010, after a four-year investigation, the NCAA imposed sanctions against the Trojan football program for a "lack of institutional control," including a public reprimand and censure, a two-year postseason ban, a loss of 30 scholarships over three years, and vacating all games in which

participated as an ineligible player (14 wins, 1 loss), including the 2005 Orange Bowl, in which the Trojans won the BCS National Championship. These sanctions have been criticized by some NCAA football writers,Bryant Gumbel
"Student/Athlete Behavior"
''

Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel ''Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel'' is a monthly sports news magazine on HBO. Since its debut on April 2, 1995, the program has been presented by television journalist and sportscaster Bryant Gumbel. Overview Format Each episode consists of fo ...

'', September 21, 2010.Jay Bilas
"Anyone know what NCAA's standards are?"
''

ESPN.com ESPN.com is the official website of ESPN. It is owned by ESPN Internet Ventures, a division of ESPN Inc. History Since launching in April 1995 as ESPNET.SportsZone.com (ESPNET SportsZone), the website has developed numerous sections including ...

'', July 1, 2010.Bryan Fischer
" Trojans never stood a chance after taking NCAA's best shot"
, '' CBSSports.com'', May 26, 2011.Pete Fiutak
"USC paying for NCAA's inconsistency?"
'' FoxSports.com'', May 26, 2011.Stewart Mandel
"What USC's sanctions mean for Ohio State"
''

SportsIllustrated.com ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'', April 27, 2011. including

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

's Ted Miller, who wrote, "It's become an accepted fact among informed college football observers that the NCAA sanctions against USC were a travesty of justice, and the NCAA's refusal to revisit that travesty are a massive act of cowardice on the part of the organization." Following the NCAA sanctions, BCS Executive Director Bill Hancock stated that a committee would decide whether to vacate USC's 2004 BCS Championship, but the final decision would be delayed until after the NCAA had heard USC's appeals against some of the sanctions.USC files appeal to NCAA; no bowl this season
usc.ocregister.com. June 25, 2010 On July 20, 2010, incoming USC president Max Nikias stated that the school would remove jerseys and murals displayed in Bush's honor from its facilities, and would return the school's copy of Bush's Heisman Trophy. On September 14, Bush announced that he would forfeit the Heisman and return his copy of the trophy. On May 26, 2011, the NCAA upheld all findings and penalties against USC. The team did not participate in the

Pac-12 Football Championship Game The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champi ...

or a bowl game during the 2011–12 season. The BCS announced June 6, 2011, that it had stripped USC of the 2004 title,"BCS strips Southern California of 2004 national championship"
Erick Smith, ''

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...

'', June 6, 2011 but the Associated Press still recognizes USC as the 2004 AP National Champion.

2005

The 2005 regular season witnessed a resuscitation of the rivalry with Notre Dame, after a last-second play in which senior quarterback Matt Leinart scored the winning touchdown with help from a controversial push from behind by running back Reggie Bush, nicknamed the " Bush Push". The year climaxed with a 66–19 USC defeat of cross-town rival UCLA. Running back

finished his stellar year by winning the Heisman Trophy (later returned by USC and reclaimed by the Heisman Trophy Trust considering Bush accepted improper benefits while at USC and was ineligible during the 2005 season), while Leinart finished third in the Heisman voting. Several other players also earned accolades, being named All-Americans (AP, Football Coaches, Football Writers, Walter Camp, ESPN.com, SI.com, CBS Sportsline.com, Rivals.com, Collegefootballnews.com). These include QB Matt Leinart, RB Reggie Bush, RB LenDale White, S Darnell Bing, OT Taitusi Lutui, OT Sam Baker, WR Dwayne Jarrett, C

Ryan Kalil Ryan Joseph Kalil (born March 29, 1985) is an American film and television producer and former NFL center. He played college football at USC, where he was a member of two national championship teams, was named a first-team All-American, and wo ...

, OG Fred Matua, and DE

Lawrence Jackson Lawrence Christopher Jackson (born August 30, 1985) is a former American football defensive end who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played colleg ...

. Additionally, OL Winston Justice did well enough to forgo his senior year and enter the NFL draft. The regular season ended with two clear-cut contenders facing off in the Rose Bowl to decide the national championship. Both USC and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

were 12–0 entering the game; although USC was the slight favorite, USC lost to Texas 41–38. As with the 2004 season, later NCAA investigations into alleged improper benefits given to Reggie Bush altered the official record of the 2005 Trojan season. All twelve wins from the 2005 season were officially vacated.

2006

For the 2006 football season, USC tried to rebuild its strength following the loss of offensive stalwarts Leinart, Bush, and White, defensive leader Bing, and offensive linemen Matua, Justice, and Lutui. The Trojans developed their offense using unproven QB

John David Booty John David Booty (born January 3, 1985) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football at USC and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft. Booty also played for the Tennessee Titans a ...

and returning star receivers Dwayne Jarrett and

Steve Smith Stephen, Steve, Stevie, or Steven Smith may refer to: Academics * Steve Smith (political scientist) (born 1952), British international relations theorist and senior university manager * Stephen Smith (journalist) (born 1956), American journalist, ...

along with second-year wide-out Patrick Turner.

Mark Sanchez Mark Travis John Sanchez (born November 11, 1986) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football at the University of Southern California (USC) and was draft ...

, the highly touted QB of the recruiting class of 2005 (

Mission Viejo High School Mission Viejo High School is a four-year comprehensive public high school located in Mission Viejo, California, United States, as part of the Saddleback Valley Unified School District. The school has served the area since 1966. Students within ...

) was widely viewed as a dark horse to win the starting job from Booty, although Booty was named the starter at the end of fall training camp. The starting tailback position was initially a battle between returning players Chauncey Washington and Desmond Reed (both recovering from injuries) and heralded recruits Stafon Johnson (Dorsey High School in Los Angeles), C.J. Gable, Allen Bradford and Emmanuel Moody. 11-11-06-LA-Coliseum-USC-UO

USC had many experienced players as well, including linebacker Dallas Sartz and wide receiver Chris McFoy, who had already graduated with their bachelor's degrees and were pursuing master's degrees. Fullback Brandon Hancock would have been part of that group as well until an injury ended his collegiate career. Additionally, fifth-year (redshirt) senior linebacker Oscar Lua, running back Ryan Powdrell and offensive lineman Kyle Williams were expected to either start or play frequently in 2006. The 2006 Trojans came out strong, easily defending their top 10 status throughout the year. As the season progressed, USC began to display marked inconsistencies, as their margins of victory began to slip. The first setback proved to be a 31–33 loss to unranked

, in which the Beavers were able to repeatedly capitalize on several Trojan turnovers.Three and out: Beavers stun USC; BCS race wide open
''Associated Press'', October 28, 2006, Accessed October 15, 2008. Even though USC dropped initially in the polls, they worked their way back up. After defeating both Cal and Notre Dame, they held the number 2 spot heading into the final week of the season. The Trojans were considered to be a virtual lock for the National Championship Game against Ohio State and just needed to beat UCLA. USC was shocked in the final game of the season, losing to crosstown rival

13–9. This eliminated the Trojans from championship contention and opened the door for

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

to become Ohio State's opponent. The Trojans did earn a Rose Bowl bid and defeated

32–18. It was the Trojans' fifth straight BCS Bowl appearance. On January 6, 2007, six days after the Rose Bowl Game, USC kicker

Mario Danelo Mario Danelo (July 3, 1985 – January 6, 2007) was an American college football placekicker for the University of Southern California. High school career Danelo was an all–Los Angeles linebacker at San Pedro High School in San Pedro, Califor ...

was found dead at the bottom of the White Point Cliff near Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro, California.

2007

In July 2007,

named USC its No. 1 team of the decade for the period between 1996 and 2006, citing the Trojans' renaissance and dominance under Carroll.Ivan Maisel
Carroll's coaching propels USC to top of decade ranking
ESPN.com, July 27, 2007.Storied programs dominate Ladder 119's top rungs
ESPN.com, July 27, 2007. The 2007 Trojans were the presumptive No. 1 pick before the season. However, they lost two games, including a major upset to 41-point underdog Stanford, and they did not get into the National Championship game. However, the Trojans did win their sixth conference championship and defeated

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

in the

2008 Rose Bowl The 2008 Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi, the 94th Rose Bowl Game, played on January 1, 2008 at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena, California, was a college football bowl game. The contest was televised on ABC, the 20th straight year the network ...

Game. Under Carroll, USC was known to attract numerous celebrities to its practices, including USC alumni

Will Ferrell John William Ferrell (; born July 16, 1967) is an American actor, comedian, and producer. He first established himself in the mid-1990s as a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show '' Saturday Night Live'', where he performed from 1995 to 2 ...

, George Lucas,

LeVar Burton Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''R ...

, and

Sophia Bush Sophia Anna Bush Hughes (born July 8, 1982) is an American actress. She starred as Brooke Davis in The WB/ CW drama series ''One Tree Hill'' (2003–2012), and as Erin Lindsay in the NBC police procedural drama series ''Chicago P.D.'' (2014� ...

as well as Snoop Dogg, Henry Winkler,

Kirsten Dunst Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film '' New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her ro ...

Nick Lachey Nicholas Scott Lachey ( ; born November 9, 1973) is an American singer, actor, television personality, and host. He rose to fame as the lead singer of the multi-platinum-selling boyband 98 Degrees, and later starred in the reality series '' Newl ...

, Dr. Dre,

Spike Lee Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut ...

Alyssa Milano Alyssa Jayne Milano (born December 19, 1972) is an American actress. She has played Samantha Micelli in '' Who's the Boss?'', Jennifer Mancini in '' Melrose Place'', Phoebe Halliwell in ''Charmed'', Billie Cunningham in '' My Name Is Earl'', Sa ...

Flea Flea, the common name for the order Siphonaptera, includes 2,500 species of small flightless insects that live as external parasites of mammals and birds. Fleas live by ingesting the blood of their hosts. Adult fleas grow to about long, a ...

Wilmer Valderrama Wilmer Eduardo Valderrama ( , ; born January 30, 1980) is an American actor, producer, and television personality. He is known for his role as Fez in the sitcom ''That '70s Show'' (1998–2006), Agustín Madrigal in '' Encanto'', and as Carlo ...

Jake Gyllenhaal Jacob Benjamin Gyllenhaal (; ; born December 19, 1980) is an American actor. Born into the Gyllenhaal family, he is the son of director Stephen Gyllenhaal and screenwriter Naomi Foner, and his older sister is actress Maggie Gyllenhaal. He ...

and Andre 3000.Dave Albe
Carroll Chronicles: Celebrities love to practice with Pete
, ''Marin Independent Journal'', August 29, 2007. The Trojans benefited from Los Angeles's lack of NFL teams (with the Los Angeles Rams and Raiders having left in the early 1990s), combined with the Trojans' 21st century success, leading them to sometimes be called LA's "de facto NFL team."Christine Daniels
They're No. 1 on this list too
''Los Angeles Times'', September 28, 2007. During Pete Carroll's first eight years as head coach, USC lost only one game by more than seven points, a 27–16 loss at Notre Dame in his first season, until the second half of the 2009 season. The early part of the 2000s also saw the rise of USC football's popularity in the Los Angeles market: without any stadium expansions, USC broke its average home attendance record four times in a row: reaching 77,804 in 2003, 85,229 in 2004, 90,812 in 2005 and over 91,416 with one game to go in 2006 (the capacity of the Coliseum is 92,000). As of 2022, USC is one of only two of the 131 Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly Division I-A) teams to have never played a Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA) team since the split of Division I football in 1978.Chris Dufresne
UCLA victory is crucial for Dorrell
''Los Angeles Times'', September 20, 2007.

2008

After beating Penn State in the Rose Bowl, USC finished the season 12–1, and ranked No. 2 in the Coaches' Poll and No. 3 in the

. The 2008 season culminated in USC's seventh straight Pac-10 Championship, seventh straight BCS bowl appearance and seventh straight finish in the top 4 of the AP Poll. This also marked seven consecutive seasons where USC has not lost a game by more than 7 points. Their only loss was on the road against Oregon State, which was mentioned in the preseason as a possible upset.Mark Schlabach
Keep up-to-date on the best the 2008 season has to offer
ESPN.com, August 25, 2008, Accessed August 25, 2008

2009

After beating Boston College in the Emerald Bowl, USC finished the season 9–4, and ranked No. 20 in the Coaches' Poll and No. 22 in the

. USC ended its seven-year streak of Pac-10 Championship, BCS bowl appearance and top 4 finish of the AP Poll. The Trojans started the season strong beating No. 8

Ohio State The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...

at The Horseshoe. But they would lose to four Pac-10 teams (

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, Stanford, and

). Blowout losses to Oregon 47–20 and Stanford 55–21 marked a turning point in USC's season and sparked debate in the media about the future dominance of USC football. After the season concluded, head coach

resigned to accept a head coaching position with the Seattle Seahawks. In 2009, USC was named "Team of the Decade" by both CBSSports.com and Football.com, as well as the "Program of the Decade" by SI.com, plus was No. 1 in CollegeFootballNews.com's "5-Year Program Rankings" and was ranked No. 2 in ESPN.com's "Prestige Rankings" among all schools since 1936 (behind Oklahoma).USC Sports Information Office (July 26, 2011
"2011 USC Trojans Football Notes."
/ref> Additionally, in 2009, ESPN.com ranked USC the second-best program in college football history.

2010

On January 12, 2010,

Lane Kiffin Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nati ...

was hired as the head coach. This came following

's departure from USC to become the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. In June 2010, after a prolonged four-year investigation into whether former USC

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

and his family had accepted financial benefits and housing from two sports agents in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

while he was a student athlete at USC, the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

imposed sanctions against the Trojan football program for a "lack of institutional control," including a two-year postseason ban, the loss of 30 scholarships over three years, and the vacation of all wins in which Bush participated as an "ineligible" player, including the 2005 Orange Bowl, in which the Trojans won the BCS National Championship. These sanctions have been criticized by many NCAA football writers, including

2011

On February 9, 2010, Commissioner Larry Scott announced that the Pac-10 would be considering expanding to twelve schools. The Pac-10 Conference officially became the Pac-12 Conference following the addition of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and

on July 1, 2011. In 2011, although USC finished in first place in its conference division with a 7–2 record, due to their ineligibility to participate in a bowl game, the UCLA Bruins became champions of the inaugural Pac-12 South Division. In the final regular-season game, USC's 50–0 win over UCLA was the largest margin of victory in the rivalry since 1930. The release of the December 4, 2011, final regular-season Associated Press college football poll marked USC's return to national prominence with the No. 5 ranking. The Trojans were not eligible for postseason play and did not participate in any Bowl game. When the final AP Football Poll was released, USC dropped one spot to the No. 6 ranking.

2012

USC was ranked number one in The

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. ne ...

' preseason college football poll for the seventh time in school history and the first time in five seasons, edging out No. 2 Alabama and No. 3 LSU. However, the early season expectations would backfire as the Trojans would eventually finish 7–5 (5–4 versus Pac-12 opponents), including losses to all three of their major rivals (Notre Dame, UCLA, and Stanford) all in the same year for the first time since 1992. The team finished second in the Pac-12 South standings and unranked in any poll.

2013

The 2013 USC Trojans football team finished the season 10–4, 6–3 in Pac-12 play to finish in a tie for second place in the South Division. They were invited to the

where they defeated Fresno State. Head coach

, who was in his fourth year, was fired on September 29 after a 3–2 start to the season. He was replaced by interim head coach

Ed Orgeron Edward James Orgeron Jr. (; born July 27, 1961) is an American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at Louisiana State University (LSU), a position he held from midway through the 2016 season until the 2021 season. Orge ...

. At the end of the regular season, Washington head coach Steve Sarkisian was hired as the new head coach beginning in 2014. This prompted Orgeron to resign before the bowl game. Clay Helton led the Trojans in the Las Vegas Bowl.

2014

Steve Sarkisian, in his first year as head coach at USC, led the Trojans to a 9–4 season (6–3 in the Pac-12) to finish in a three-way tie for second place in the South Division. They were invited to the

Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has ...

where they defeated

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

45-42. On September 8, 2014, Sarkisian and athletic director

Pat Haden Patrick Capper Haden (born January 23, 1953) is the former athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles from August 2010 to June 2016. He played quarterback for the USC Trojans before playing professionally in ...

were reprimanded by Pac-12 Conference commissioner Larry Scott for attempting "to influence the officiating, and ultimately the outcome of a contest" during the game against Stanford two days earlier.

2015

The 2015 season was a tumultuous one for the Trojans with a season record of 8–4 overall and 6–3 in Pac-12 play to finish as Pac-12 Southern Conference champions. Mid-season, coach Steve Sarkisian was fired to deal with personal issues, and Clay Helton was again named the interim head coach.

later reported that Sarkisian came to a pre-practice meeting, appearing to be intoxicated. According to Scott Wolf, the USC beat writer for the '' Los Angeles Daily News'', several players smelled alcohol on Sarkisian's breath. The Trojans had lost to Stanford and Washington under Sarkisian. Under Helton, USC lost to Notre Dame, but then rallied to win the next four games. A loss to Oregon left the South Division conference championship to be decided by the USC-UCLA game; USC won 40–21. USC played in its first-ever Pac-12 Conference championship game, losing to Stanford (41–22) after the Cardinal (8-1 in Pac-12, 9-2 overall) locked up the North Division title, its third in four years, with its victory over

. USC went on to lose the

2015 Holiday Bowl The 2015 Holiday Bowl was an American college football bowl game played on December 30, 2015 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California. The 38th edition of the Holiday Bowl, it featured 2015 Wisconsin Badgers football team, Wisconsin from the ...

23–21 to the

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin). They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level ( Football Bowl Subdivis ...

Zach Banner Zachery Samuel Banner (born December 25, 1993), nicknamed "The Hulk", is an American football offensive tackle who is currently a free agent. At Lakes High School, he was a two-time All-American offensive lineman. He played tackle in college foo ...

started all 14 games at tackle, was First Team All-Pac-12, and won USC's Offensive Lineman of the Year Award after allowing only nine total pressures on 426 pass attempts, according to

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

, which graded him as the season's top pass-blocking right tackle.''Media Guide; 2020 Pittsburgh Steelers''
/ref> On December 7, Sarkisian filed a $30 million termination lawsuit against USC.^{5/sup>

2016

The 2016 USC Trojans football season marked Clay Helton's first full season as USC head coach. The team finished the season 10–3, (7–2 Pac-12), finishing as the runner-up of the South Division title and as Rose Bowl champions. After a 1–3 start during the month of September that featured losses to teams such as No. 1 Alabama, No. 7 Stanford, and No. 24 Utah, the Trojans began a nine-game winning streak to end their season. Some notable wins include victories over No. 21 Colorado, No. 4 Washington, and No. 5 Penn State in the Rose Bowl. Sam Darnold, a redshirt freshman quarterback, became the starter over Max Browne (1–2 record as starting QB) a few days before the Utah game. With that, the Trojans received much-needed stability after years of turmoil and coaching changes. The season was capped off with a dramatic 52–49 win in the Rose Bowl over Penn State, their first Rose Bowl victory in 8 years. USC finished No. 3 in the final AP polls for the season. Zach Banner, captain of the team, was again All-Pac-12 first-team, was CollegeSportsMadness.com All American first-team, Senior CLASS Award All-American first-team, Phil Steele All-Pac-12 first-team, a finalist for the Senior CLASS Award
The Senior CLASS Award is awarded to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in 10 NCAA Division I sports. An acronym for "Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School," the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete ...
(given to the nation's top senior excelling in community/classroom/character/competition), and was the team's Co-Offensive Lineman of the Year."Seattle Seahawks"
''The News Tribune''.

2017

Entering the season, the Trojans were ranked No. 4 in the AP Poll's preseason rankings. They finished the season 11–3, 8–1 in Pac-12, to be champions of the South Division. They represented the South Division in the Pac-12 Championship Game

The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champi ...
where they defeated Stanford to become Pac-12 Champions. They were invited to play in the Cotton Bowl against Ohio State

The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
, but lost 24–7. In the final AP poll, they were ranked No. 12.

Notable players to depart to the NFL include Sam Darnold and Ronald Jones II. Darnold is the 5th USC quarterback to be drafted in the first round of the NFL since 1967.

2018

Through ranked No. 15 in the AP Poll's preseason rankings, the Trojans finished the season 5–7, (4–5 Pac-12), the program's first losing record since 2000

File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...
where they held the same record. USC lost to both of its major rivals, UCLA

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
and Notre Dame, in the same season for the first time since 2013

File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...
, and it also lost to all other California Pac-12 schools (UCLA, California

California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, and Stanford) in the same season for the first time since 1996. They tied Arizona

Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
for third place in the Pac-12 South Division.

On November 25, USC athletic director Lynn Swann

Lynn Curtis Swann (born March 7, 1952) is an American former football player, broadcaster, politician, and athletic director, best known for his association with the University of Southern California and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He served on the ...
announced that head coach Clay Helton would return in 2019.

2019

The Trojans finished the regular season 8–4, (7–2 Pac-12), holding second place in the Pac-12's South Division. USC was 2–3 against ranked teams. Following the regular season, they lost to the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Holiday Bowl

The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has ...
24–49.

2020

On September 24, the conference announced that a six-game conference-only season would begin on November 6 with the conference's championship game to be played on December 18 after initially announcing in August that all fall sports competitions were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
. Teams not selected for the championship game would be seeded to play a seventh game.

The Trojans finished the regular season with a 5–0 record, and qualified for the Pac-12 Championship Game

The Pac-12 Football Championship Game is an annual college football game held by the Pac-12 Conference to determine the season's conference champion. The game from the 2011–2021 seasons had the champion of the North Division against the champi ...
, which they lost to Oregon

Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...
24–31. The following day, USC announced that it would not play in any bowl game

In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...
, ending the season with an overall 5–1 record.

2021

The Trojans were led by sixth-year head coach Clay Helton in the first two games. Helton was subsequently fired on September 13 following the team's 42–28 loss to Stanford. Associate head coach Donte Williams took over as the team's interim head coach. They finished the 2021 season with 4–8, their worst record since 1991

File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phi ...
where they went 3–8. They were not bowl eligible for the second time in 4 years (they were not bowl eligible the 2018 season after finishing with a 5-7 record).

2022

On November 28, 2021, Lincoln Riley

Lincoln Michael Riley (born September 5, 1983) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head coach of the USC Trojans football program at the University of Southern California.

He previously served as the head coach ...
was named the 30th head coach coming off of a five year stint at Oklahoma. First-year offensive coordinator Josh Henson and first-year defensive coordinator Alex Grinch are both intended to coach alongside him for the season. As of February 28, USC's recruiting class was ranked 65th among NCAA D1 schools. A notable incoming transfer is QB Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the USC Trojans. Williams played for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, i ...
, who reunites with Lincoln Riley from Oklahoma. The Trojans went on to improve dramatically over their 2021 season, going from finishing 4-8, to 10-1, and being ranked #5 in the AP poll as of Week 12. During Lincoln Riley's inaugural season, the Trojans racked up wins against Rice

Rice is the seed of the grass species '' Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima'' (African rice). The name wild rice is usually used for species of the genera '' Zizania'' and '' Porteresia'', both wild and domesticat ...
66-14, Stanford 41-28, Fresno State

California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...
45-17, Oregon State

Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...
17-14, Arizona State 42-25, and Washington State 30-14 before losing a close match to #20 ranked Utah 43-42. After this setback, the Trojans would bounce back and go on to beat Arizona 45-37, California 41-35, Colorado 55-17, and #16 ranked UCLA 48-45, clinching them a spot in the Pac-12 Championship.

Conference affiliations

* Independent (1888–1921)
* Pac-12 Conference (1922–present)
** Pacific Coast Conference (1922–1958)
** Athletic Association of Western Universities (1959–1967)
** Pacific-8 Conference

The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...
(1968–1977)
** Pacific-10 Conference (1978–2010)
** Pac-12 Conference (2011–present)
* Big 10 (as early as 2024)

Championships

National championships

USC has won 17 national championships from NCAA-designated major selectors. USC claims 11 national titles, including 7 from the major wire-service AP Poll

The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broad ...
and/or Coaches' Poll. Two of USC's championships, 1928 and 1939, are based on the Dickinson System
The Dickinson System was a mathematical point formula that awarded national championships in college football. Devised by University of Illinois economics professor Frank G. Dickinson, the system crowned national champions from 1925 to 1940. Dicki ...
, a formula devised by a University of Illinois

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
professor that awarded national championships between 1926 and 1940. The Dickinson System is cited in the Official 2010 NCAA FBS Record Book as a legitimate national title selector. USC's claim is consistent with other FBS programs that won the Dickinson title. In 2004, USC recognized the 1939 squad as one of their national championship teams. The 2004 team was forced to vacate the final two games of its season, including the 2005 Orange Bowl due to NCAA sanctions incurred as a result of loss of institutional control, and namely, in connection with Reggie Bush. USC appealed the sanctions, delaying consideration of vacating USC's 2004 championship by the BCS. Ultimately, USC lost the appeals and forfeited the 2004 BCS championship. The AP did not vacate its 2004 championship, hence the Trojans retain a share of the national title.

^Claimed national championships - USC claims the 1928, 1931, 1932, 1939, 1962, 1967, 1972, 1974, 1978, 2003, and 2004 championships.

† The FWAA stripped USC of its 2004 Grantland Rice Trophy and vacated the selection of its national champion for 2004. The BCS also vacated USC's participation in the 2005 Orange Bowl and USC's 2004 BCS National Championship, and the AFCA Coaches' Poll Trophy was returned. In addition to the Orange Bowl victory over Oklahoma, the 2004 regular season finale win against UCLA was also vacated, making the official record of 2004 USC Trojans 11-0.

Conference championships

USC has won 39 conference championships, all within the Pac-12 Conference or its predecessors. The 2004 and 2005 championships were vacated.

* 1927†, 1928, 1929, 1931, 1932, 1938†, 1939, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1947, 1952, 1959†, 1962, 1964†, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1979, 1984, 1987†, 1988, 1989, 1993†, 1995†, 2002†, 2003, 2004^, 2005^, 2006†, 2007†, 2008, 2017

† Co-championship

^ Vacated due to NCAA penalty

Division championships

USC has won 3 division championships, all in the South division of the Pac-12.

† Co-championship

Bowl games

USC has a bowl game

In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivi ...
record of 34–20 through the 2019 season. The Trojans appeared in 34 Rose Bowls

The Rose Bowl Game is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 (New Year's Day) at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2. The Rose ...
, winning 25, both records for the bowl. These are also the most times a team has appeared in or won any bowl game. USC was banned from entering a bowl during either the 2010 or 2011 seasons as part of the extremely extensive sanctions resulting from the University of Southern California athletics scandal.
Below is the list of USC's ten most recent bowl appearances.

Head coaches

USC head coaches from 1888 to present.

† Does not include 14 wins and 1 loss vacated due to NCAA penalty
''In 2013, Kiffin was fired after first 5 games, Orgeron served as interim head coach for next 8 games before resigning and Helton was interim head coach for bowl game. In 2015, Sarkisian was fired after first 5 games and Helton was interim head coach for next 7 games before becoming permanent head coach. In 2021, Helton was fired after first 2 games and Williams will serve as interim head coach for next 10 games.''

Coaching staff

Traditions

Tailback U

USC is sometimes called "Tailback U" (Tailback University) because a number of running backs who played for the Trojans won the Heisman Trophy. These running backs include Mike Garrett

Michael Lockett Garrett (born April 12, 1944) is a former American football player who won the Heisman Trophy in 1965 as a halfback for the USC Trojans. Garrett played professional football for eight seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and Sa ...
(1965), O. J. Simpson (1968), Charles White (1979), Marcus Allen

Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and short- ...
(1981), and Reggie Bush

Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...
(2005).

"Fight On"

" Fight On" is the fight song

A fight song is a rousing short song associated with a sports team. The term is most common in the United States and Canada. In Australia, Mexico, and New Zealand these songs are called the team anthem, team song, or games song. First associated ...
of the USC Trojans. The term "Fight On" is also used as a battle cry, often with the two finger "V" salute for Victory given in accompaniment. The V gesture has its origins with the ancient Trojans, who would cut off the index and middle finger of soldiers they conquered so the conquered could no longer wield a sword in battle.

Jersey No. 55

"Tradition surrounds certain numbers at USC, most notably 55," wrote Gary Klein of the ''Los Angeles Times.'' "Junior Seau

Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau Jr. (; ; January 19, 1969May 2, 2012) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), mostly with the San Diego Chargers. Known for his passionate play, he was a ...
, Willie McGinest

William Lee McGinest Jr. (born December 11, 1971) is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the New England Patriots. He played college football at USC and was select ...
, Chris Claiborne

Christopher Ashon Claiborne (born July 26, 1978) is an American football coach and former player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. Claiborne played college football for the University of Southern Cali ...
and Keith Rivers," he added, "are among the linebackers who have worn a number that Trojans coaches have been careful to distribute." Wrote Andy Kamenetzky of ESPN.com in an article titled "Tradition of elite linebackers alive in 55," "Membership, along with the hallowed No. 55 jersey, has been offered to a select few over the past few decades. Names such as Junior Seau. Keith Rivers. Willie McGinest. Chris Claiborne. Names forever etched in USC lore."

Rivalries

In the first 30 years of USC football, the school maintained rivalries with local Southern California schools like Occidental and Pomona, but these ended by the 1920s when USC joined the PCC and grew into a national caliber team.

"Perfect Day"

A "Perfect Day" (a phrase created by the school's football announcer Pete Arbogast
Pete Arbogast (born December 5, 1954) is a radio announcer who is the voice of the USC Trojans.
Biography
Arbogast was born in Chicago but grew up in Los Angeles. He has called football, men's basketball, and women's basketball for the Trojans and ...
) to any USC fan is a USC win coupled with losses by UCLA and Notre Dame. There have been 63 "Perfect Days" since the first one occurred in 1921. Perfect days have been possible since 1919, when UCLA began playing football.

Notre Dame

USC plays Notre Dame each year, with the winner keeping the Jeweled Shillelagh. The inter-sectional game has featured more national championship teams, Heisman trophy winners, All-Americans, and future NFL hall-of-famers than any other collegiate match-up. The two schools have played the game annually since 1926 (except for years 1943–1945 when World War II travel restrictions kept the game from being played or 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Unlike most rivalry games, the game enjoys neither the possibility of acquiring regional "bragging rights" nor the import of intra-league play. The game has been referred to as the greatest inter-sectional rivalry in college football.John Walters
Does it get any better than this?
SI.com, October 13, 2005, Accessed March 24, 2009.Dave Revsine
Michigan, Ohio State set bar high for other rivalries
ESPN.com, November 24, 2006, Accessed March 24, 2009.
SI.com, October 12, 2005, Accessed March 24, 2009.Adam Rose

LATimes.com, October 20, 2007, Accessed March 24, 2009.
Pacific 10 Conference, November 20, 2006, Accessed March 24, 2009. Notre Dame leads the series 50–36–5 through the 2022 season.

UCLA

USC's rivalry with UCLA

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
is unusual in that they are one of a few pairs of Division I FBS

The NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), formerly known as Division I-A, is the highest level of college football in the United States. The FBS consists of the largest schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). A ...
programs that share a major city, as well as conference. Both are located within the Los Angeles city limits, approximately apart. Until 1982, the two schools also shared the same stadium: the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

The crosstown rivals play each year for city bragging rights and the Victory Bell; and often for the right to go to the Rose Bowl as representative for the Pac-12. The UCLA rivalry tends to draw the focus of student supporters since many USC students have friends or family members attending "that other school" (of course, many UCLA students refer to their USC friends in the same manner) and many Southern California families are divided between Trojan Cardinal and Bruin Blue. The annual matchup always has both teams wearing their traditional home uniforms, featuring a Cardinal vs Blue matchup. USC leads the all-time series 50–33–7 through the 2022 season.

Stanford

Stanford is USC's oldest rival,Beano Cook

Carroll Hoff "Beano" Cook (September 1, 1931 – October 11, 2012) was an American television personality who worked for ESPN. He was a college football historian and commentator. He received his B.A. from the University of Pittsburgh in 1954.
...

Longstanding West Coast rivalry
ESPN Classic, September 26, 2001, ''Accessed September 9, 2006''. in a series that dates to 1905. In the early years of football on the West Coast, the power sat in the Bay Area with the Stanford-Cal rivalry and USC rose to challenge the two established programs. During the early and mid-20th century Stanford football occasionally enjoyed periods of great regional success on the gridiron. USC and Stanford, being the two private universities with major football teams on the west coast, naturally drew the ire of one another. During the early 2000s, however, Stanford had not maintained their earlier success and the rivalry had faded to many USC fans.

The rivalry was renewed with the arrival of Jim Harbaugh at Stanford in 2007. Harbaugh defeated Carroll 2–1 in their three matchups with both victories occurring in the Coliseum. In the 2009 meeting, USC sustained their worst loss in 43 years and surrendered the most points to an opponent, a record that would stand for three seasons. The game led the ''Los Angeles Times'' to declare that Stanford was "at the top of the USC 'Must Kill' list." Harbaugh added another win in 2010 against Carroll's successor Lane Kiffin

Lane Monte Kiffin (born May 9, 1975) is an American football coach who is currently the head coach of the Ole Miss Rebels. Kiffin formerly was the offensive coordinator for the USC Trojans football team from 2005 to 2006, head coach of the Nati ...
before leaving after that season to become head coach of the San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
.

USC leads the series 63–34–3 through the 2022 season.

Facilities

Early facilities

Prior to the construction of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 1923, the Trojans played football in a number of facilities. Before 1893, the Trojans played football in a vacant lot on Jefferson Boulevard before the lot was developed as residences. In the 1890s, USC's primary home field was Athletic Park. Several games in the 1890s and all games in 1916 were played in Fiesta Park

Fiesta Park was a grandstand and sports and entertainment venue in South Park, Los Angeles, California. From 1894 to 1916, it served as venue for various exhibitions and festivals, as well as a field for USC Trojans football games.
History
Fi ...
in downtown Los Angeles. The 1900 homestand was played at Chutes Park, a facility located within a Los Angeles pleasure park shared with the Los Angeles Angels

The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. Since 1966, the team h ...
baseball team, while the 1903 season was played at nearby Prager Park. Three games in the 1910s were played at Washington Park, the successor to Chutes Park. From 1904 to 1910, 1914–15, and 1917–22, most of USC's home games were played at the on-campus Bovard Field. USC also played home games in Pasadena, at Sportsman's Park, Tournament Park

Tournament Park is a park and athletics venue in Pasadena, California, United States, northeast of Los Angeles. Currently maintained by the California Institute of Technology, it was simply known as the "town lot" before being renamed "Tournament ...
, and the Rose Bowl.

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is one of the largest stadiums in the United States. USC has played football in the Coliseum ever since the grand stadium was built in 1923. In fact, the Trojans played in the first varsity football game ever held there (beating Pomona College

Pomona College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It was established in 1887 by a group of Congregationalists who wanted to recreate a "college of the New England type" in Southern California. In 1925, it became t ...
23–7 on October 6, 1923).

The Coliseum hosted the opening and closing ceremonies and track events of the 1932

Events January

* January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel.
* January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort to assassinate Emperor Hiro ...
and 1984 Summer Olympics

The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...
, and is slated to be a venue for the 2028 Summer Olympics

The 2028 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad, also known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28) is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from July 14 to July 30, 2028, in and around Los Angeles, Cali ...
. Over the years, the Coliseum has been home to many sports teams besides the Trojans, including UCLA

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...
football, the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and Raiders, the Los Angeles Chargers in 1960 of the AFL, and Los Angeles Dodgers

The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
baseball, including the 1959 World Series. The Coliseum has hosted various other events, from concerts and speeches to track meets and motorcycle races. The Coliseum is located on in Exposition Park, which also houses museums, gardens and Banc of California Stadium

Banc of California Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It is the home of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC and the National Women's Soccer League's Angel City FC. Opened on ...
. It has also earned the nickname, “The Grand Old Lady.”

The Coliseum is both managed and operated by USC under a master lease agreement with the LA Memorial Coliseum Commission, as was the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena

The Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena was a multi-purpose arena at Exposition Park, in the University Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. It was located next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and just south of the campus of the University of ...
for a number of years prior to its 2016 demolition. The Coliseum has a present full-capacity of 77,500 seats after USC completed a major $315 million renovation of the stadium in 2019 that added a new seven-story Tower on the stadium’s south side housing luxury suites, loge boxes, club seats, a new concourse with concession stands, a new press box, and rooftop club lounge.

The John McKay Center at USC

Opened in 2012, the $70 Million, 110,000-square-foot athletic and academic center named after legendary football coach John McKay is home to the USC Trojan Football Department. The building houses meeting rooms, coaches' offices and a locker room for the football program, as well as the Stevens Academic Center (including space for tutoring, counseling, study and computer rooms for student-athletes), a weight room, an athletic training room and a state-of-the-art digital media production facility for all of USC's 21 sports.Paskwietz, Gary (April 6, 2012
“State-of-the-art facility.”
ESPN.com. (Retrieved May 5, 2017.)

The centerpiece of the McKay Center is the two-story video board in the Parker Hughes atrium, which can display six big-screen televisions at once as well as promotional videos and graphics. The building's 60,000-square-foot basement includes a weight room, athletic training room, locker rooms and a players lounge, a 25,000-square-foot ground floor with Student-Athlete Academic Services center, a reception area and outdoor courtyard, and a 25,000-square-foot second floor with football coaches' offices, football team meeting rooms, outdoor patio and a state-of-the-art video production facility. The John McKay Center is adjacent to Heritage Hall, the Galen Dining Center, Brittingham Field and the Howard Jones Field/Brian Kennedy Field practice facility.

Howard Jones Field/Brian Kennedy Field

The USC football team practices on campus at Howard Jones Field/Brian Kennedy Field. The facility originally known as Howard Jones Field was expanded in the fall of 1998 to include Brian Kennedy Field. In early 1999, Goux's Gate, named for the player and popular long-time assistant coach Marv Goux, was erected at the entrance to the practice field.

Individual award winners

Individual players have won numerous accolades with seven officially recognized Heisman Trophy winners, 38 College Football Hall of Fame inductees, and 157 All-America

The All-America designation is an annual honor bestowed upon an amateur sports person from the United States who is considered to be one of the best amateurs in their sport. Individuals receiving this distinction are typically added to an All-Am ...
ns. USC's first consensus All-American was offensive guard Brice Taylor

Brice Union Taylor (July 4, 1902 – September 18, 1974) was an American football player and coach and track athlete. He played college football as a guard at the University of Southern California (USC), where he was one of first All-Americans in ...
in 1925, who notably excelled despite missing his left hand, and who was one of USC's first black

Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
players.

Heisman Trophy winners and retired numbers

Eight USC players have been awarded the Heisman Trophy. All of them (with the exception of Reggie Bush

Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...
and Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the USC Trojans. Williams played for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, i ...
) have also their numbers retired by the Trojans."At USC, football really is a numbers game"
on ''Los Angeles Times

The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'', September 20, 2011"USC has no plans to let someone wear Reggie Bush's jersey"
''USA Today

''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgi ...
'', September 21, 2011 Bush's Heisman was forfeited in 2010 after an NCAA investigation ruled him ineligible to participate as a student-athlete during his Trophy season.

Special cases

;Notes

Heisman Trophy voting

All-time USC football team

Chosen by ''Athlon Sports'' in 2001

Offense

WR: Lynn Swann

Lynn Curtis Swann (born March 7, 1952) is an American former football player, broadcaster, politician, and athletic director, best known for his association with the University of Southern California and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He served on the ...
''71-73''

WR: Keyshawn Johnson

Joseph Keyshawn Johnson (born July 22, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons.

He played college football for the University of Southern Calif ...
''92-95''

TE: Hal Bedsole

Harold Jay "Hal" Bedsole (December 21, 1941 – December 22, 2017) was an American football player. He played as a tight end and end early in his career during the single platoon days.
High school career
Bedsole prepped at Reseda High School ...
''61-63''

OL: Ron Yary

Anthony Ronald Yary (born July 16, 1946) is an American former professional football player who played as an offensive tackle primarily for the Minnesota Vikings and also for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL). He was ...
''65-67''

OL: Tay Brown ''30-32''

OL: Tony Boselli

Don Bosco Anthony Boselli Jr. (born April 17, 1972) is an American former football tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at USC, where he received th ...
''91-94''

OL: John Baker ''29-31''

OL: Brad Budde

Brad Edward Budde (born May 9, 1958) is a former American college and professional football player who was an offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons during the 1980s. Budde played college football for the Unive ...
''76-79''

OL: Anthony Muñoz

Michael Anthony Muñoz (born August 19, 1958) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle for 13 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for t ...
''76-79''

OL: Bruce Matthews ''80-82''

QB: Pat Haden

Patrick Capper Haden (born January 23, 1953) is the former athletic director at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles from August 2010 to June 2016. He played quarterback for the USC Trojans before playing professionally in ...
''72-74''

RB: Mike Garrett

Michael Lockett Garrett (born April 12, 1944) is a former American football player who won the Heisman Trophy in 1965 as a halfback for the USC Trojans. Garrett played professional football for eight seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and Sa ...
''63-65''

RB: O. J. Simpson ''67-68''

RB: Charles White ''76-79''

RB: Marcus Allen

Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and short- ...
''78-81''

PK: Quin Rodriguez ''87-90''

Defense

DL: Ernie Smith ''30-32''

DL: Tim Ryan ''86-89''

DL: Harry Smith ''37-39''

DL: Aaron Rosenberg

Aaron "Rosy" Rosenberg (August 26, 1912 – September 1, 1979) was a two-time " All-American" college football player, and a film and television producer with more than 60 credits.Robert Slater (2000)''Great Jews in Sports''/ref> He received a ...
''31-33''

LB: Chris Claiborne

Christopher Ashon Claiborne (born July 26, 1978) is an American football coach and former player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. Claiborne played college football for the University of Southern Cali ...
''96-98''

LB: Richard Wood ''72-74''

LB: Jack Del Rio

Jack Louis Del Rio Jr. (born April 4, 1963) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football as a linebacker at the University of South ...
''81-84''

LB: Junior Seau

Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau Jr. (; ; January 19, 1969May 2, 2012) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), mostly with the San Diego Chargers. Known for his passionate play, he was a ...
''88-89''

DB: Ronnie Lott

Ronald Mandel Lott (born May 8, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback and safety in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s.

Lott played college football for the Univ ...
''77-80''

DB: Morley Drury ''25-27''

DB: Mark Carrier ''87-89''

DB: Tim McDonald

Timothy McDonald (born January 6, 1965) is a former college and professional American football player who was a strong safety in the National Football League (NFL) for thirteen seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. McDonald played college footba ...
''83-86''

P: Des Koch ''51-53''

National player awards

* Maxwell Award

The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the college football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best al ...

: O. J. Simpson, TB (1968)
: Charles White, TB (1979)
:Marcus Allen

Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and short- ...
, TB (1981)
:Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the USC Trojans. Williams played for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, i ...
, QB (2022)
*Archie Griffin Award

The Touchdown Club of Columbus was founded in Columbus, Ohio, in 1956 by Sam B. Nicola at the request of state auditor Jim Rhodes, James A. Rhodes, who later became governor of the state. Nicola served as the club's president until his death in 1 ...

:Matt Leinart

Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at USC, where he won the Heisman Trophy ...
, QB (2003, 2004)
: Sam Darnold, QB (2016)
* Walter Camp Award

The Walter Camp Player of the Year Award is given annually to the collegiate American football player of the year, as decided by a group of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I FBS head coaches and sports information directo ...

: O. J. Simpson, TB (1967, 1968)
: Charles White, TB (1979)
:Marcus Allen

Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and short- ...
, TB (1981)
:Matt Leinart

Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at USC, where he won the Heisman Trophy ...
, QB (2004)
:Reggie Bush

Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...
, RB (2005)
:Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the USC Trojans. Williams played for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, i ...
, QB (2022)
* Dick Butkus Award
:Chris Claiborne

Christopher Ashon Claiborne (born July 26, 1978) is an American football coach and former player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for eight seasons. Claiborne played college football for the University of Southern Cali ...
, MLB (1998)

* Lombardi Award

The Rotary Lombardi Award is an award for college football in the United States. Awarded by the Rotary Club of Houston, Texas annually to the college football player "who best embodies the values and spirit of NFL's legendary coach Vince Lomba ...

:Brad Budde

Brad Edward Budde (born May 9, 1958) is a former American college and professional football player who was an offensive guard in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons during the 1980s. Budde played college football for the Unive ...
, OG (1979)
* Chuck Bednarik Award

The Chuck Bednarik Award is presented annually to the defensive player in college football as judged by the Maxwell Football Club to be the best in the United States. The award is named for Chuck Bednarik, a former college and professional Ameri ...

: Rey Maualuga, LB (2008)
* AP Player of the Year
:Matt Leinart

Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at USC, where he won the Heisman Trophy ...
, QB (2004)
:Reggie Bush

Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...
, RB (2005)
:Caleb Williams

Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the USC Trojans. Williams played for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, i ...
, QB (2022)
* Manning Award

The Manning Award has been presented annually since the 2004 football season to the collegiate American football quarterback as judged by the Sugar Bowl Committee to be the best in the United States. It is the only quarterback award that incl ...

:Matt Leinart

Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at USC, where he won the Heisman Trophy ...
, QB (2004)
* Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award

The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award is given annually in the United States to the nation's top upperclassmen quarterback in college football. Candidates are judged on accomplishments on the field as well as on their character, scholastic achievemen ...

: Rodney Peete, QB (1988)
:Carson Palmer

Carson Hilton Palmer (born December 27, 1979) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 15 seasons, primarily with the Cincinnati Bengals and Arizona Cardinals. He played college football at ...
, QB (2002)
:Matt Leinart

Matthew Stephen Leinart (born May 11, 1983) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football at USC, where he won the Heisman Trophy ...
, QB (2005)
* Outland Trophy

The Outland Trophy is awarded to the best college football interior lineman in the United States as adjudged by the Football Writers Association of America. It is named after John H. Outland. One of only a few players ever to be named an All-Am ...

:Ron Yary

Anthony Ronald Yary (born July 16, 1946) is an American former professional football player who played as an offensive tackle primarily for the Minnesota Vikings and also for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL). He was ...
, OT (1967)

* Jim Thorpe Award

The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport athlete Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986. It is voted on by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame. In 2017, the award became sponsored by Payco ...

: Mark Carrier, FS (1989)
: Adoree' Jackson, CB (2016)
* John Mackey Award

The John Mackey Award is presented annually to college football's most outstanding tight end. Established in 2000 by the Nassau County Sports Commission, the award is given annually to the tight end who best exemplifies the play, sportsmanship, a ...

: Fred Davis, TE (2007)
* Fred Biletnikoff Award

The Fred Biletnikoff Award is presented annually to the most outstanding receiver in American college football by the Tallahassee Quarterback Club Foundation, Inc. (TQCF), an independent not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The award was creat ...

:Marqise Lee

Marqise Lee (born November 25, 1991) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at USC, where he was the 2012 Bilet ...
, WR (2012)
* Jim Brown Award
:Reggie Bush

Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...
, RB (2005)
* Chic Harley Award
:Mike Garrett

Michael Lockett Garrett (born April 12, 1944) is a former American football player who won the Heisman Trophy in 1965 as a halfback for the USC Trojans. Garrett played professional football for eight seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and Sa ...
, RB (1965)
: O. J. Simpson, RB (1968)
: Charles White, RB (1979)
:Marcus Allen

Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and short- ...
, RB (1981)
:Reggie Bush

Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. (born March 2, 1985) is an American former football running back who now serves as an on-air college football analyst for Fox Sports. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twi ...
, RB (2004, 2005)

* Paul Warfield Trophy
:Keyshawn Johnson

Joseph Keyshawn Johnson (born July 22, 1972) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League (NFL) for eleven seasons.

He played college football for the University of Southern Calif ...
, WR (1995)
: Dwayne Jarrett, WR (2005)
:Marqise Lee

Marqise Lee (born November 25, 1991) is an American football wide receiver who is a free agent. He was drafted by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the second round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at USC, where he was the 2012 Bilet ...
, WR (2012)

National coaching awards

* Paul "Bear" Bryant Award
: John McKay, Head Coach (1962, 1972)
* The Home Depot Coach of the Year Award, Home Depot Coach of the Year Award
:Pete Carroll

Peter Clay Carroll (born September 15, 1951) is an American football coach who is the head coach and executive vice president for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the head football coach at USC from ...
, Head Coach (2003)
* Broyles Award
:Norm Chow

Norman Yew Heen Chow (born May 3, 1946) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head coach for the Helvetic Guards in the European League of Football. He was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Ma ...
, Offensive Coordinator (2002)
* Football Writers Association of America, FWAA Co-First Year Coach of the Year
: Clay Helton, Head Coach (2017)

Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame inductees

Pro Football Hall of Fame

* Frank Gifford, HB (1977)
* Ron Mix

Ronald Jack Mix (born March 10, 1938) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle. He is a member of the American Football League (AFL) All-Time Team, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 19 ...
, OT (1979)
* Red Badgro, Morris 'Red' Badgro, E (1981)
* O. J. Simpson, RB (1985)
* Willie Wood (American football), Willie Wood, DB (1989)
* Anthony Muñoz

Michael Anthony Muñoz (born August 19, 1958) is an American former professional football player who was an offensive tackle for 13 seasons with the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for t ...
, OT (1998)
* Ronnie Lott

Ronald Mandel Lott (born May 8, 1959) is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback and safety in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons during the 1980s and 1990s.

Lott played college football for the Univ ...
, DB (2000)
* Lynn Swann

Lynn Curtis Swann (born March 7, 1952) is an American former football player, broadcaster, politician, and athletic director, best known for his association with the University of Southern California and the Pittsburgh Steelers. He served on the ...
, WR (2001)
* Ron Yary

Anthony Ronald Yary (born July 16, 1946) is an American former professional football player who played as an offensive tackle primarily for the Minnesota Vikings and also for the Los Angeles Rams in the National Football League (NFL). He was ...
, OT (2001)
* Marcus Allen

Marcus LeMarr Allen (born March 26, 1960) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and short- ...
, RB (2003)
* Bruce Matthews, OT, OG, C (2007)
* Junior Seau

Tiaina Baul "Junior" Seau Jr. (; ; January 19, 1969May 2, 2012) was an American professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), mostly with the San Diego Chargers. Known for his passionate play, he was a ...
, LB (2015)
* Troy Polamalu

Troy Aumua Polamalu (; born Troy Benjamin Aumua; April 19, 1981) is an American former football strong safety who played his entire 12-year career for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL).

He played college football ...
, S (2020)
* Tony Boselli

Don Bosco Anthony Boselli Jr. (born April 17, 1972) is an American former football tackle who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He played college football at USC, where he received th ...
, OT (2022)

Canadian Football League

* C.J. Gable, RB – Edmonton Eskimos
* Taylor Mays, S - Saskatchewan Roughriders

NFL

Among all colleges and universities, as of 2022, USC holds the all-time record for the most quarterbacks (17) and is tied with the University of Miami

The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private research university in Coral Gables, Florida. , the university enrolled 19,096 students in 12 colleges and schools across nearly 350 academic majors and programs, i ...
for the most wide receivers (40) to go on to play in the NFL."Colleges with most NFL draft picks by position,"
NFL.com, retrieved April 30, 2022

Trojans in the entertainment industry

Beginning in the Silent film, silent movie era, wrote Garry Wills, "USC football players mingled with the movie stars who came to their games and offered them bit parts in their movies." One such player was John Wayne, who played tackle on the 1925 and 1926 team; another was Ward Bond, who played on the 1926–1928 teams. (As a publicity stunt, the Atlanta Falcons drafted the 64-year-old John Wayne the 1971 NFL draft.)

Other Trojan football players who went on to have movie careers include O. J. Simpson (actor), Allan Graf (director and stunt coordinator), Aaron Rosenberg

Aaron "Rosy" Rosenberg (August 26, 1912 – September 1, 1979) was a two-time " All-American" college football player, and a film and television producer with more than 60 credits.Robert Slater (2000)''Great Jews in Sports''/ref> He received a ...
(producer), Mazio Royster (actor), Patrick O'Hara (actor), Russell Saunders (director), Nate Barragar (director), Jesse Hibbs (actor), Tim Rossovich (actor), Phil Hoover, Cotton Warburton (film editor), and Mike Henry (American football), Mike Henry (actor),Internet Movie Database: Mike Henry.
Internet Movie Database. (Retrieved December 28, 2021.)

Media

* Radio flagship: KABC-AM 790 which also held the rights from 1973 to 1976.
* Spanish-language radio flagship: KTNQ (AM), KTNQ 1020-AM in Glendale, California
* Broadcasters: Pete Arbogast (play-by-play), Shaun Cody and John Jackson (wide receiver), John Jackson share duties as color analyst with Jordan Moore acting as the sideline announcer.
* Spanish-language broadcasters: Pepe Mantilla (play-by-play), Daniel Arreola (analyst/play-by-play) and Erika Garza (analyst)
* Past broadcasters: Tom Kelly, Lee Hamilton (radio), Lee Hacksaw Hamilton, Larry Kahn, Mike Walden, Chick Hearn, have also been full time play-by-play announcers for the team since 1956.

Past color analysts include Paul McDonald (American football), Paul McDonald, Tom Harmon, Braven Dyer, Bill Symes, Jim Wilkerson, Dick Danahe, Don Anderson, Bud Tucker, Jim Perry, Fred Gallagher, Mike Lamb and Jeremy Hogue.

Sideline announcers have been Arbogast, Jackson, Tony Femino, Tim Ryan, Petros Papadakis, Lindsey Soto, Mark Willard and Brandon Hancock.

Radio station KNX (AM), KNX AM-1070 in Los Angeles has had the most years as the team's flagship station, holding that honor from 1956 to 1968 and again from 1977 to 1994. KFI AM-640 was the flagship from 1969 to 1972, KLSX FM-97.1 held the flag in 1998, followed by XTRA AM-690 in 1999 and 2000. From 2001 to 2005, KMPC AM-1540 was the Trojans' flagship station. KSPN AM-710 was the flagship from 2006 to 2018. Pete Arbogast, who has called Trojans football since 1989, announced his seventh Rose Bowl game on January 1, 2017. Arbogast also called the Rose Bowl game for USC for the university's campus radio station, KSCR, in 1978 and 1979. Arbogast, Kelly and Walden are all members of the Southern California Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

* Public address announcer: Eric Smith
Previously: John Ramsey (member of the Southern California Sportscasters Hall of Fame), and Dennis Packer.

Future non-conference opponents

Announced schedules as of January 27, 2020.

See also

* Giles Pellerin, who attended 797 consecutive USC football games from 1925 until his death during the USC - UCLA game in 1998

References

External links

*

{{Pac-12 Conference football navbox

USC Trojans football,
American football teams established in 1888
1888 establishments in California, Trojans}