USC Trojans football
The USC Trojans football team represents the University of Southern California in American football. The Trojans compete in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision and the Big Ten Conference. They play home games at the 77,500-capacity Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, located in Exposition Park adjacent to USC's University Park, Los Angeles campus.
Formed in 1888, the program has over 860 wins and claims 11 national championships, including 7 from the major wire-services: AP Poll and/or Coaches Poll. USC has had 13 undefeated seasons including 8 perfect seasons, and 37 conference championships. The Trojans have produced eight Heisman Trophy winners, the most all-time by a university, and have had 582 NFL draft picks, which is only bettered by the University of Notre Dame. USC alumni include 84 first-team Consensus All-Americans, including 27 unanimous selections, and 35 College Football Hall of Fame members, including former players Matt Leinart, O. J. Simpson, and Ronnie Lott and former coaches John McKay and Howard Jones. The Trojans boast 14 inductees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, tied with Notre Dame for most of any school, including Junior Seau, Bruce Matthews, Marcus Allen, and Ron Yary. Among all colleges and universities, as of 2022, USC holds the all-time record for the most quarterbacks and is tied with the University of Miami for the most wide receivers to play in the NFL. The Trojans have 56 bowl appearances, 39 of which are among the New Year's Six Bowls. With a record of 36–20, USC has the highest all-time post-season winning percentage of schools with 50 or more bowl appearances.
The Trojans play in red uniforms and helmets, both with gold highlights. Recognizable symbols include their fight song, "Fight On", and a horse mascot named Traveler. USC's fiercest and most prominent rivalry is with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. It arose from frequent competition for national championships and is one of the best-known in college football. They also share a significant crosstown rivalry with the UCLA Bruins.
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. 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, which was composed of USC, Occidental College, Throop Polytechnic Institute, and Chaffey College. Pomona College was invited to enter, but declined to do so. An invitation was also extended to Los Angeles High School.
Before they were named Trojans in 1912, USC athletic teams were called the 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, Whittier, Pomona and Loyola. The first USC team to play outside of Southern California went to Stanford 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, 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, California, Oregon, Arizona and Utah.
Between 1911 and 1913, USC followed the example of California and Stanford and dropped football in favor of rugby union. 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, 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 in the early 1920s. Another milestone came under Henderson in 1922, when USC joined the Pacific Coast Conference, 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, who coached from 1942 to 1950, won the Rose Bowl in 1943 and 1945. Jess Hill, 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 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. During this period, the Trojans produced two Heisman Trophy winners and won four national championships. McKay's influence continued even after he departed for the NFL when an assistant coach, John Robinson, took over as head coach. Under Robinson, USC won another national championship in 1978 and USC produced two more running-back Heisman Trophy winners in Charles White and Marcus Allen.On September 12, 1970, USC opened the season at Alabama under legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant 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. 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.
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 and Larry Smith 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 to rival Notre Dame and 8 years to crosstown rival UCLA 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, and the period marked the first and only time USC had been out of the final top 20 teams for four straight years.
2000s
2001
In 2001, athletic director Mike Garrett released Hackett and hired Pete Carroll, a former NFL head coach. Carroll went 6–6 in his first year, losing to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl, 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. Carroll's final season with the Trojans was 2009.2002
USC opened 3–2 in 2002, suffering losses to Kansas State and Washington State. 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'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. 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 to be so honored. Despite tying for the Pac-10 title, having the highest BCS "strength of schedule" rating, and fielding the nation's top defense led by safety Troy Polamalu, USC finished the season ranked No. 5 in the BCS rankings. Facing off against BCS No. 3 Iowa in the Orange Bowl, USC defeated the Hawkeyes 38–17.2003
In 2003, highly touted but unproven redshirt sophomore Matt Leinart took over the quarterback position from Palmer. Although his first pass went for a touchdown in a win over Auburn, the Trojans suffered an early season triple-overtime loss to their conference rival California 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 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 title game 35–7, with USC ranked third.In the 2003 BCS National Championship Game, the Sugar Bowl, BCS No. 2 LSU defeated BCS No. 1 Oklahoma 21–14. Meanwhile, BCS No. 3 USC defeated BCS No. 4 Michigan 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.