The 2020 USC Trojans football team represented the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

in the

2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football in the United States, organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level, the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Fo ...

. They played their home games at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the Los Angeles Coliseum or L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park, Los Angeles, Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. Conceived as a hal ...

and competed as members of the South Division of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the Western United States. It participates at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level for all sports, and its Co ...

. They were led by fifth-year head coach

Clay Helton Clay Charles Helton (born June 24, 1972) is an American college football coach and former player, who is currently the head coach at Georgia Southern Eagles football, Georgia Southern. He was previously the head coach of USC Trojans football, US ...

. On August 11, the Pac-12 Conference initially canceled all fall sports competitions due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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. Teams not selected for the championship game would be seeded to play a seventh game. USC compiled a 5–0 regular season record, and qualified for the

Pac-12 Championship Game The Pac-12 Football Championship Game was 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 cham ...

, which they lost to

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

. The following day, USC announced that it would not play in any

bowl game In North America, a bowl game, or simply bowl, is one of a number of postseason college football games primarily played by NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. For most of its history, the FBS did not use a playoff tourname ...

, ending the season with an overall 5–1 record.

Offseason

Transfers

The Trojans lost nine players to transfer. The Trojans added 5 players via transfer.

Returning Starters

USC returns 37 starters in 2020 including 15 on offense, 19 on defense, and 3 on special teams. Key departures include

Michael Pittman Jr. Michael Pittman Jr. (born October 5, 1997) is an American professional American football, football wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the USC Trojans football, USC Troja ...

( WR – 13 games), Austin Jackson ( OT – 13 games), Drew Richmond ( OT – 12 games), Christian Rector ( DE – 10 games), John Houston Jr. ( ILB – 13 games) Other departures include Jack Sears ( QB – 1 game in 2018), Dominic Davis ( WR – 9 games), and Jacob Daniel ( OG – 6 games).

Offense (15)

Defense (19)

Special teams (3)

Recruiting class

2020 NFL draft

NFL Combine

The official list of participants for the 2020 NFL Combine included USC football players Michael Pittman (WR) and Austin Jackson (OT).

Team players drafted into the NFL

Preseason

Pac-12 media days

Pac-12 media polls

In the 2020 Pac-12 preseason media poll.

Preseason All-Pac-12 teams

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

Depth chart

* Official Depth Chart as of 11/6/2020 ''True Freshman''
Double Position : *

Scholarship distribution chart

/ / * Former Walk-on – 85 scholarships permitted, 82 currently allotted to players – 81 recruited players on scholarship (on former walk-ons) – Transfer portal out : Palaie Gaoteote IV (ILB, -), Abdul-Malik McClain (OLB, Jackson State), Chase McGrath (K, -) – COVID-19 Opt out to NFL : Jay Tufele (DL) Scholarship Distribution 2020

Schedule

Regular season

USC had games scheduled against

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

, and Notre Dame, but canceled these games on July 10 because the Pac-12 Conference decided to play a conference-only schedule because of the

Game summaries

Arizona State

Arizona

Utah

Washington State

UCLA

Oregon

Rankings

Statistics

Pac-12 opponents

Offense

Defense

Key: POS: Position, SOLO: Solo Tackles, AST: Assisted Tackles, TOT: Total Tackles, TFL: Tackles-for-loss, SACK: Quarterback Sacks, INT: Interceptions, BU: Passes Broken Up, PD: Passes Defended, QBH: Quarterback Hits, FR: Fumbles Recovered, FF: Forced Fumbles, BLK: Kicks or Punts Blocked, SAF: Safeties, TD : Touchdown

Special teams

Players drafted into the NFL

References

{{USC Trojans football navbox

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

USC Trojans football seasons

USC Trojans football The USC Trojans football program represents the University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate ...