The USC Trojans football team competes as part of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS), representing the University of Southern California in the Big Ten Conference (B10). Since the establishment of the team in 1888, USC has appeared in 56 bowl games, with a record of 36-20. The Trojans have appeared in 34 Rose Bowls, winning 25, both records for the bowl.
The USC Trojans football program represents the University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Big Ten Conference.
Elmer Clinton "Gloomy Gus" Henderson 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 College (1940–1942), compiling a career college football record of 126–42–7. Henderson's career winning percentage of .865 at USC is the best of any Trojans football coach, and his 70 wins with the Tulsa Golden Hurricane remain a team record. In between his stints at Tulsa and Occidental, Henderson moved to the professional ranks, helming the Los Angeles Bulldogs of the American Football League in 1937 and the Detroit Lions of the National Football League (NFL) in 1939. Henderson also coached basketball and baseball at USC, each for two seasons.
The 2006 Rose Bowl Game, played on January 4, 2006, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, was an American college football bowl game that served as the BCS National Championship Game for the 2005 NCAA Division I-A football season. It featured the only two unbeaten teams of the season: the defending Rose Bowl champion and reigning Big 12 Conference champion Texas Longhorns played Pacific-10 Conference titleholders and two-time defending AP national champions, the USC Trojans. Texas would defeat USC 41–38 to capture its fourth football championship in program history and first consensus national title since 1969. The game was a back-and-forth contest; Texas's victory was not secured until the game's final nineteen seconds. Vince Young, the Texas quarterback, and Michael Huff, a Texas safety, were named the offensive and defensive Rose Bowl Players of the Game. ESPN named Young's fourth-down, game-winning touchdown run the fifth-highest rated play in college football history. The game is the highest-rated BCS game in TV history with 21.7% of households watching it, and is often considered the greatest Rose Bowl game of all time, as well as the greatest college football game ever played.
The 2006 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California during the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season, winning the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) and playing in the Rose Bowl. The team was coached by Pete Carroll, led on offense by quarterback John David Booty, and played their home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The Victory Bell is the trophy that is awarded to the winner of the UCLA–USC football rivalry game. The game is an American college football rivalry between the UCLA Bruins and USC Trojans, part of the overall UCLA–USC rivalry.
The UCLA–USC rivalry is the American collegiate athletics rivalry between the UCLA Bruins sports teams of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and USC Trojans teams of the University of Southern California (USC).
The 1967 UCLA vs. USC football game was an American college football game played during the 1967 NCAA University Division football season on November 18, 1967. The UCLA Bruins, 7–0–1 and ranked No. 1, with senior quarterback Gary Beban as a Heisman Trophy candidate, played the USC Trojans, 8–1 and ranked No. 4, with junior running back O. J. Simpson also as a Heisman candidate. This game is widely regarded as the signature game in the UCLA–USC rivalry as well as one of the 20th-century Games of the Century. The 64-yard run by Simpson for the winning touchdown is regarded as one of the greatest run plays in college football.
The 2004 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2004 NCAA Division I-A football season. The 2004 Trojans football team won the 2004 BCS National Championship by winning the 2005 Orange Bowl, that year's BCS National Championship Game. The team also won the AP title for the second year in a row. It was the Trojans' first unanimous national championship since 1972, and the second time a team had gone wire-to-wire, with the Trojans holding the number 1 spot in the polls all season. The team was coached by Pete Carroll in his fourth year with the Trojans, and played their home games in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The team is widely considered one of the greatest college football teams of all time.
The 1973 Rose Bowl was the 59th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Monday, January 1. It matched the undefeated and top-ranked USC Trojans of the Pacific-8 Conference with the #3 Ohio State Buckeyes of the Big Ten Conference. The game was a de facto national championship game, as both teams would compete for the Associated Press (AP) title.
The 1940 Rose Bowl was the 26th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Monday, January 1.
The Notre Dame–USC football rivalry is an American college football rivalry between the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team of the University of Notre Dame and USC Trojans football team of the University of Southern California, customarily played on the Saturday following Thanksgiving Day when the game is in Los Angeles or on the second or third Saturday of October when the game is in South Bend, Indiana.
The 1963 Rose Bowl was the 49th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California on Tuesday, January 1, at the end of the 1962 season. The top-ranked USC Trojans defeated the Wisconsin Badgers, 42–37. The Associated Press and United Press International both awarded the national championship to USC in early December 1962, a month before the game was played, and the UPI's national championship trophy was presented to USC on the day before the game was played. Nevertheless, the game remained historic as the first matchup between the AP or UPI No. 1 vs. No. 2 in a bowl game, although such matchups had occurred previously in the regular season. Moreover, a five-man committee of the Football Writers Association of America voted after the Rose Bowl game and unanimously selected USC as the winner of the ninth annual Grantland Rice Award.
The 2009 Rose Bowl, the 95th edition of the annual game, was a college football bowl game played on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at the same-named stadium in Pasadena, California. Because of sponsorship by Citi, the first game in the 2009 edition of the Bowl Championship Series was officially titled the Rose Bowl Game presented by Citi. The contest was televised on ABC with a radio broadcast on ESPN Radio beginning at 4:30 p.m. US EST with kickoff at 5:10 p.m.. Ticket prices for all seats in the Rose Bowl were listed at $145. The Rose Bowl Game was a contractual sell-out, with 64,500 tickets allocated to the participating teams and conferences. The remaining tickets went to the Tournament of Roses members, sponsors, City of Pasadena residents, and the general public.
The 1988 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1988 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their second year under head coach Larry Smith, the Trojans compiled a 10–2 record, won the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10) championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 370 to 184.
The 1953 Rose Bowl was the 39th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Thursday, January 1, at the end of the 1952 college football season. The fifth-ranked USC Trojans of the Pacific Coast Conference defeated the #11 Wisconsin Badgers of the Big Ten Conference, 7–0.
The 1968 Rose Bowl was the 54th edition of the college football bowl game, played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, on Monday, January 1. The USC Trojans of the Pacific-8 Conference defeated the Indiana Hoosiers of the Big Ten Conference, 14–3. USC tailback O. J. Simpson was named the Player of the Game.
The 1976 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1976 NCAA Division I football season. In their first year under head coach John Robinson, the Trojans compiled an 11–1 record, won the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8) championship, defeated Michigan in the 1977 Rose Bowl, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 386 to 139. The team was ranked #2 in both the final AP Poll and the final UPI Coaches Poll.
The 2012 Hyundai Sun Bowl, the 79th edition of the game, was a post-season American college football bowl game, held on December 31, 2012, at Sun Bowl Stadium in El Paso, Texas, as part of the 2012–13 NCAA Bowl season. The game, the 79th edition of the Sun Bowl, was televised in the United States on CBS.
The USC Trojans football statistical leaders are individual statistical leaders of the USC Trojans football program in various categories, including passing, rushing, receiving, total offense, defensive stats, and kicking/special teams. Within those areas, the lists identify single-game, single-season, and career leaders. Through the 2023 season, the Trojans represented the University of Southern California in the NCAA Division I FBS Big 10 team, but will join the Big Ten Conference for 2024 and beyond.
The 2017 Rose Bowl was a college football bowl game played on January 2, 2017 at the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California. This 103rd Rose Bowl Game matched the Big Ten Conference champions Penn State Nittany Lions against the USC Trojans of the Pac-12 Conference, a rematch of the 1923 and 2009 Rose Bowls, the former the first appearance for either team in the bowl and the latter the most recent appearance for either team. It was one of the 2016–17 bowl games that concluded the 2016 FBS football season. Sponsored by the Northwestern Mutual financial services organization, the game was officially known as the Rose Bowl Game presented by Northwestern Mutual. USC received the Lathrop K. Leishman trophy for winning the game.