USC football
USC football ha a long and proud tradition. The Trojans are one of the most remarkable teams in college football and they always manage to sell tons of USC tickets.
USC Football has won more NCAA men’s individual and men’s team titles than any other university (and is third in co-ed team titles, behind fellow Pac-10 schools UCLA and Stanford). USC football plays home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which has a capacity of 92,500.The current USC football head coach is Pete Carroll.
USC Football played its first season in 1888. The Trojans are one of the most storied football programs in all of college sports. They can claim no less than 11 National Championships. Their all time winning record is .714, an overall record of 753-302-54, and the Trojan’s post-season bowl record is 30-16. They have won a total of seven National titles and 37 Conference Titles.
USC has produced 7 Heisman Trophy winners and 148 All-Americans. Notable Trojans include: Mike Garrett, O.J. Simpson, Charles White, Marcus Allen, Carson Palmer, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush, Frank Gifford, Willie Wood, Lynn Swann, Matt Cassel, Willie McGinest, Troy Polamalu, Junior Seau and more.
ThE USC Trojan Fight Song is “Fight On,” and their mascot is Traveler.
Big USC football rivalries include Notre Dame and UCLA.
USC Football history
USC played its first football game on November 14, 1888, beating the Alliance Athletic Club 16-0. The next year USC Football faced its first college opponent, St. Vincent’s College in a 40-0 win. The Trojans are members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I-A, and they compete in the Pacific Ten Conference (Pac-10). The past few years in particular have been quite successful for Trojans football. They have ended the season ranked in the top #5 in both the BCS and AP polls.
USC Football rose in stature over the years, an in the 1920 became a national name as far as college football. Head coach “Gloomy” Gus Henderson was the first to place USC in national conversations, and coach Howard Jones continued the success when he took over in 1925. he would coach the USC Football team until 1940. During this time the Trojans were one of the few college football teams that we consistently dominant. Under Jones, the team earned the nickname the “Thundering herd,” and won its first four national titles. Even back then, USC football tickets were very much a big item.
The USC Trojans football team won the Rose Bowl under Coach Jeff Cravath in 1943 and 1945. The team also won the Rose Bowl in 1953 under Coach Jess Hill.
In 1960, coach John McKay started coaching the team and led them once again to be an unstoppable college football force. He coached until 1975, and the school produced 2 Heisman Trophy winners as well as four National Championships. McKay’s assistant coach John Robinson took the help when MCKay left for the NFL, and continued the winning tradition with a shared National Championship in 1978 as well as 2 more Heisman Trophy winners.
The legendary college football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant. He was the first to bring a fully-integrated team to Alabama, and won 42-21. What was most notable about the game was that all six touchdowns were scored by African-American players against the all-white Crimson Tide team. The game has been credited with quickening racial integration in the South and Alabama in particular.
In 1993, Coach Robinson once again took over. He led the team to a Rose Bowl victory in 1996.
The team entered a bit of a funk during the 1990s. The team was still posting respectable numbers, but not up to snuff as far as USC’s previous winning ways. They posted a 37-35 record from 1996-2001, and USC football was not in the top 20 rankings for four consecutive years.
Former NFL coach Pete Carroll was brought aboard in 2001. The Trojans did not show marked improvement in Carroll’s first year, but finished the 2002 season with a record of 11-2 after opening the season at 3-2. This season was when Carson Palmer began to dominate college football teams when USC Football adopted the West Coast Offense under offensive coordinator Norm Chow. Carson was so impressive that he became the first Heisman Trophy winner to carry every region of voting. That year USC ended the season ranked #5 and beat the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Orange Bowl 38-17.
Sophomore Matt Leinart took over the QB position in 2003. The team finished the season 11-1, with their only loss a triple-OT loss to California. This season resulted in one of the biggest national championship arguments of all time. Both the coaches Poll and the AP Poll had USC #1, but the BCS poll had them at #3. The BCS National Championship game that year was the Sugar Bowl, and BCS#2 LSU beat BCS #! Oklahoma 21-14, while the USC Trojans (BCS#3) beat BCS#4 Michigan 28-14 in the Rose Bowl. Many fans, pundits and college football insiders believed that USC show be the National Champion in place of LSU. There were even corporate sponsors who offered to pay and organize a title game, but the NCAA would not allow the game to take place.
The 2004 USC Trojans team was picked #1 in preseason rankings and could claim Leinart, LenDale White, Reggie Bush, Shaun Cody and Mike Patterson as star s on the team. The Trojans went on to finish the season undefeated and went to the 2004 BCS Championship Game, the Orange Bowl, to face Oklahoma, also undefeated. Oklahoma’s QB Jason White was a sixth-year quarterback. White had won the Heisman in 2003. This was the first time two player that had won the Heisman faced off against each other. In the Orange Bowl, USC football showed it true power and defeated Oklahoma 55-19, scoring 38 by the end of the first half. USC Football became the second team to go wire-to-wire that season, holding the #1 ranking from pre-season to end of the season. Leinart won the Heisman Trophy and Bush was fifth in voting that year.
In 2005 Bush won the Heisman, while Leinart finished third in voting. That year also saw one of the best National Championship game ever when USC Football faced off against Texas in the Rose Bowl. Both teams were 12-0 entering the game. Matt Leinart and the USC Trojans were slight favorite entering the game against the Vince Young-led Longhorns. That was one of the best college bowl games ever, and anyone with USC tickets that year will never forget the game. Young led the Longhorns in a spectacular drive that sealed the deal and put the Longhorns ahead 41-38.
In 2996, the Trojans had an up and down year, loosing to the unranked Oregon Ducks but climbing back to the #3 spot entering the final game of the regular season. That was a dark day indeed for USC football, when UCLA stunned the Trojans 13-9 and dashed our hopes for a bowl game.
USC Football Pacific Ten conference titles
The Trojans only had three losing seasons since 1961, while they have been the PAC-10 Champion 37 times. They have the 4th most conference championships of any NCAA school, and have twice as many Pac-10 Championships as member team.
USC Trojans Bowl games
The Trojans have played in 46 bowl games–placing them fourth nationally– and they have won 30 of these appearances. Only Alabama’s Crimson Tide with 31 has more Bowl Wins. USC’s 23 victories and 32 Rose Bowl appearances are the most of any school in a single bowl.
USC Football Individual award winers
USC has seen seven Heisman Trophy winners, which is tied for the most with Ohio State and Notre Dame. USC Heisman Trophy Winners include 1965 Mike Garrett, 1968 O.J. Simpson, 1979 Charles White, 1981 Marcus Allen, 2002 Carson Palmer, 2004 Matt Leinart, and 2005 Reggie Bush.
The Trojans have 34 College Football Hall of Fame inductees, and 151 All-Americans. USC’s first All-American was offensive guard Brice Taylor in 1925, who notably excelled despite missing his left hand and was one of USC’s first African-American players.