Breaking down USC's 2024 anniversary teams: Part One (2024)

Final W-L: 8-5

Final Game: Holiday Bowl - No. 19 Iowa 49, No. 22 USC 24

Final AP Ranking: Unranked

Clay Helton's fourth team rebounded from a 5-7 2018 season. This was the last full season ahead of the pandemic. As opposed to 2023, the Trojans' season ended with a San Diego thud. The Hawkeyes put it on the Trojans in the Holiday Bowl.

USC lost its starting quarterback on the final play of the first half of the season opener as JT Daniels was lost to a torn ACL. Still the Trojans beganthe season,2-0,after a 45-20 boatracing of No. 23 Stanford. After the game, Stanford head coach David Shaw gave an impassioned endorsem*nt of Clay Helton. That should probably have been a major red flag in retrospect.

The next week, USC's toughest stretch of the year began with a tough 30-27 overtime loss to BYU. The Trojans would lose three of four games starting with the setback in Provo. The famous Matt Fink"Yolo Raid" was next, as USC's backup quarterback stepped in for an injured Kedon Slovis and guided the Trojans to an upset win over No. 10 Utah. The Trojans could not maintain momentum as both No. 17 Washington and No. 9 Notre Dame dealt the visiting Trojans losses.

USC got it together after that 3-3 nadir and won five of its final six games. That included a 52-35 mollywhomping of visiting UCLA in the regular-season finale at the Coliseum. Dorian Thompson-Robinson put the Bruins up 14-10 early in the third quarter. Then USC avalanched UCLA with 28 straight points. Two touchdown passes from Slovis to Michael Pittman and a 32-yard toss to Drake London helped the Trojans leave the Bruins in the dust. Slovis played one of his finest games as a Trojan. He completed 37 of 47 passes for 515 yards (11 yards per attempt) with four touchdown passes and no interceptions. But most impressively, USC had four different receivers go over 100 yards in the contest as Pittman, London, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Tyler Vaughns each surpassed the century mark.

That game was a fairly representative sample of USC's overall profile. USC finished with the No. 22 offense (points per drive) and the No. 61 defense (points allowed per drive).

Final W-L: 9-4

Final Game: Holiday Bowl - No. 24 USC 45, No. 25 Nebraska 42

Final AP Ranking: 20

Steve Sarkisian's first USC team could never settle into a groove over the course of the season. Like 2019, USC went to 2-0 with a win over Stanford. The Trojans went to The Farm and put on one of the best bend-but-don't-break defensive performances in both program and college football history. USC allowed just one touchdown in five Stanford red-zone drives. All nine Cardinal drives went as least as far as the USC 32-yard line but Stanford finished with just 10 points.

The Trojans couldn't keep the good vibes going the next week in Chestnut Hill (Mass.) as Boston College got the better of USC 37-31. Boston College quarterback Tyler Murphy hurt the Trojans on the ground with 191 yards rushing, including the game-winning 66-yard touchdown run with 3:30 left in the game. The Trojans allowed the Eagles to rush for a staggering 452 yards while the Trojans tallied just 20 yards on 29 carries.

That began a 2-2 stretch USC punctuated with an upset win over No. 10 Arizona in Tucson. The victory gave USC 800 wins as a program. Javorious Allen ran for 205 yards and three touchdowns, but the Trojans had to sweat out a Casey Skowron 36-yard field goal attempt after the Wildcats recovered an onside kick. Skowron missed wide right to secure the win for USC. The win came on the heels of a heart-breaking loss to Arizona State in the Coliseum in which Sun Devil wide receiver Jaelen Strong answered Mike Bercovici's 46-yardJael Mary prayer by snagging the ball out of the air and coming down with it in the end zone. The score eliminated what remained of a nine-point Trojan lead with less than three minutes left in the game. Strong's reception was the first touchdown pass USC had allowed all season.

The Trojans came back the next game to wax Colorado 56-28 in the Coliseum, but a frustrating trip to Salt Lake City ended with a 24-21 loss to No. 19 Utah. Utah quarterback Travis Wilson hit Kaelin Clay from one yard out with eight seconds left in the game to wrench out the hearts of the Trojans and their fans.

Sarkisian's crew righted the ship and won four of the next five but that one loss was to rival UCLA in the Rose Bowl. The No. 11 Bruins put it on the Trojans to the tune of a 45-20 final score. USC rebounded by throttling Notre Dame in the Coliseum the next weekend and then finishing the season off with the shootout win over the Cornhuskers at the venue once known as Jack Murphy Stadium. Against the Fighting Irish, USC was up 21-0 after one quarter and never looked back. The Trojans went on to score the game's first 35 points as Cody Kessler threw for 372 yards and six touchdown passes. Adoree' Jackson caught one of those touchdown passes before sitting out the second half with an apparent concussion.

Fittingly, USC had to thwart a Hail Mary to finish its season with that Holiday Bowl win over Nebraska. The Trojans let most of an 18-point lead slip away before wide receiver Nelson Agholor stepped onto the field to help the Trojans defend Nebraska's final attempts at a win. Agholor knocked down Tommy Armstrong Jr.'s pass to secure the victory.

USC was a relatively balanced team in 2014. The Trojans averaged 2.72 points per drive (No. 19) and allowed 1.82 points per drive (No. 36).

Final W-L: 9-4

Final Game: Emerald Bowl -USC 24, Boston College 13

Final AP Ranking: 22

Pete Carroll's final USC team qualified as a disappointment relative to the jaw-dropping heights of the preceding seasons. Freshman quarterback Matt Barkley won the starting job over Aaron Corp in training camp and became the first non-redshirt freshman starter in program history in the opener against San José State.

"I don't feel intimidated at all," Barkley said. "There's been some great quarterbacks here, we all know that, and I'm just excited to be a part of it. ... I've been preparing this whole time like I'm the starter. That's what I came in here in January hoping to do."

After one pass, he had -2 career passing yards. After four series, USC lost two fumbles, punted twice and was down 3-0 to the Spartans. Barkley and the Trojans settled in during the second quarter and scored the game's next 56 points.

The next week, Barkley found himself in the famed Horseshoe and his team found themselves down 15-10 and pinned deep late in the fourth quarter. Barkley and Joe McKnight collaborated to get the Trojans on a roll that jumpstartedan 86-yard drive the culminated with a Stefon Johnson touchdown run from two yards away. Barkley and McKnight tacked on the two-point conversion, and the Trojans shut down Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeyes to close out the win.

The third-game curse that plagued the first two teams on our list also got the Trojans in 2009. USC was 2-0 after the win over Ohio State but fell the very next week to Washington in a 16-13 Husky Stadium slobberknocker. Barkley missed that game with a shoulder injury and backup Aaron Corp could only watch as Jake Locker led the Huskies down the field for a 22-yard Erik Folk field goal that sealed the win with three seconds remaining, triggering the fans, including Washington hooper alumni Nate Robinson and Spencer Hawes. Corp completed 13 of 22 passes for just 110 yards and an interception. It was the fourth straight year in which an unranked team beat the Trojans. This one came at the hands of a program led by none other than Steve Sarkisian.

The Trojans ripped off four straight wins to reach a peak of 6-1 on the season.

That included a wild win in South Bend over No. 25 Notre Dame. The Trojans led the Fighting Irish 34-14 after a 1-yard Joe McKnight touchdown plunge early in the fourth quarter. Southern California native Jimmy Clausen led Notre Dame on two touchdown drives and brought the Irish to the doorstep of a third. Three forced incompletions in the same end zone as the Bush Push turned back Notre Dame for the seventh straight season.

Unfortunately, a trip to Eugene ended in a 47-20 loss to No. 10 Oregon and triggered a 2-3 close to Carroll's final regular season. That stretch included the infamous "What's Your Deal?" game against Stanford in which the Cardinal won 55-21 with Jim Harbaughgoing for a two-point conversion late in the game with the final result already decided.

Few remember the prologue to that game the previous year. USC was in firm control at Stanford up 38-17 with the ball inside the Cardinal 5-yard line and less than two minutes to play. Carroll passed up a chance to take a knee and the Trojans scored to go up 45-17. Harbaugh then used a timeout to help Stanford matriculate on the final drive and the equally competitive Carroll actually called timeout with three seconds left to try and thwart Stanford's final march. The Cardinal scored and the game ended 45-23, but Harbaugh's memory was long enough to set up what happened in the Coliseum a year later. Stanford's 55 points was a record for a Trojan opponent at the time.

Back in 2009, USC rebounded to beat UCLA 28-7 in the Coliseum before falling at home to Arizona 21-17 in Carroll's final regular-season game as head coach.

USC struggled on offense in Matt Barkley's freshman season. The Trojans finished No. 55 in the FBS in points per drive while the defense finished No. 22 in points allowed per drive.

Final W-L: 13-0

Final Game: Orange Bowl - No. 1 USC 55, No. 2 Oklahoma 19.

Final AP Ranking: 1 (National Champions)

As good as it gets.

Pete Carroll's Trojans went wire to wire as the No. 1 team in the country. The Trojans were the preseason No. 1 and never relinquished that spot en route to an undefeated season. The year ended in spectacular fashion with a rout of No. 2 Oklahoma. It was a fitting conclusion to a comic level of dominance. USC outscored its opponents 496-169 over the course of 13 games. Quarterback Matt Leinert won the program's sixth (and second in three seasons) Heisman Trophy. LenDale White and Reggie Bush combined to run for 2,011 yards. The duo averaged 5.8 yards per carry cumulatively. Does anybody remember that Bush also threw a 52-yard touchdown pass that season? Defensively, USC intercepted 22 passes (Matt Grootegoed led the team with five) and opponents averaged just 4.3 yards per play against Pete Carroll's defense.

Only four Trojan opponents came within double digits of USC all season long. USC opened the season in Landover (Md.) for a neutral-site tilt against Virginia Tech. The Hokies actually led USC at halftime 10-7. One of the subplots heading into the game was USC receiver Mike Williams' failed attempt to regain eligibility and be reinstated after a failed attempt to enter the NFL Draft. The talented young Trojan receivers (sound familiar?) were not quite in sync in the opener so Leinert turned to Bush to fuel the passing game. Bush caught five passes for 127 yards including touchdown receptions of 35, 53 and 29 yards to push the Trojans to a 1-0 start.

"He's a special player and he proved it tonight," USC quarterback Matt Leinart said. "He's real fast, he's got great hands and he can make defenses kind of look silly out there sometimes."

One of the hallmarks of those great Carroll teams was the ability to shut the lights out on opposing offenses after halftime. In the second half, Virginia Tech's six meaningful drives produced three points, four punts and a lost fumble.

That trend continued in the Weekender after two blowout wins over Colorado State and BYU. Lowly Stanford was actually up 28-17 at halftime before the Trojans came back to win on a White touchdown run with 6:15 left to play in the game. USC shut the Cardinal out in the second half with Stanford's six drives producing a total of 29 yards on 22 plays (1.31 yards per play). California (six-point margin of victory), Oregon State (eight points) and UCLA (five points) all gave the Trojans true tests over the course of the season. USC stacked up seven regular-season wins with margins of 30 or more points outside of those tough tests.

The Golden Bears had USC on the ropes as Aaron Rodgers' passing vexed the Trojans all day. Cal reached the Trojan 9-yard line, but USC stood tall and forced three final incompletions to foil the upset bid. Rodgers was 29 for 31 for 267 yards and a touchdown before the final Trojan stand.

"I was running on empty, our defense was running on empty, but I knew they weren't going to score," Trojans defensive end Shaun Cody said. Bush continued to prove there was no place on the field where opponents were safe. He added an 84-yard kickoff return to his highlight reel against Cal. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.

One of the long-standing bylaws of Pac-12/10/8/6 play has been that crazy things happen in Corvallis. Even this all-time team was forced to emerge from the coastal Oregon fog and put in a full night's work to get the win. Bush found the paint on a punt return from 65 yards out and LenDale White added a five-yard touchdown score to provide the winning 28-20 margin. Dominique Byrd also caught two touchdown passes to turn around what started out as a 13-0 Oregon State lead in the first half. Once again, Pete Carroll declared "No Soup!" for an opponent in the second half. The Beavers' first seven possessions of the final two quarters went interception, punt, interception, fumble, punt, punt and loss of downs before a late touchdown provided the final single-digit touchdown.

USC held on to the Victory Bell with a frustrating but effective approach to scoring. The Trojans got five field goals from Ryan Kileen and Reggie Bush used touchdown runs of 65 and 81 yards to fuel a jaw-dropping 15-carry, 204-yard rushing performance that also included six receptions for 73 yards. This was the era in which the BCS standings determined the participants in the national championship, but there was very little doubt the close win over the Bruins punched USC's ticket.

There was even less doubt in Miami on January 4, 2005 when the Trojans completed their first ever 13-win season with a clinical 55-19 demolition of No. 2 Oklahoma. USC avalanched Bob Stoops' Sooners with 38 points over the final 20 minutes of the second half to make the rest of the game a fitting coronation to an epic season.

"I think they're great, and they sure proved it," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "We just got whupped."

"We didn't expect it to be this easy, but the game went our way from the beginning," USC coach Pete Carroll said. "I was a little surprised."

The Trojan defense intercepted former Heisman winner Jason White three times and held Adrian Peterson to 82 yards on 25 carries. Leinert threw five touchdown passes to make the quarterback duel a truly lopsided affaread coach Tommy Tuberville groaned about his undefeated Tigers losing out on any claim to the national title after the Trojans' victory, but Leinert and his teammates made it clear on and off the field who this season's best team was.

"I think we proved tonight that we are the No. 1 team in the country without a doubt," Leinart said.

USC won consecutive AP national championships and made it just the 10th time the feat had been accomplished. The Trojans won their third straight Pac-10 championship and by season's end had won 20 straight games.

Trojan fans showed up in droves for this team. Three home sellouts, seven regular-season sellouts and eight total for the season all set school records. Six Trojans were named first-team All-Americans (Leinert, Bush, Shaun Cody, Mike Patterson, Grootegoed and Lofa Tatupu). Leinert and Bush were the Co-Offensive Players of the Year in the Pac-10, and Cody was the conference's Defensive Player of the Year.

Final W-L: 6-6

Final Game: USC 45, No. 25 Louisiana Tech 19

Final AP Ranking: Unranked

Paul Hackett's penultimate USC team actually needed a season-ending three-game winning streak just to get to that 6-6 record. Yet again, the third game of the season was USC's first loss. This time a tough 33-30 loss to Oregon in Eugene was USC's first setback of the 20th century's final college football season. Mike Van Raaphorst came off the bench to replace an injured Carson Palmer for the Trojans. Van Raaphorst led two touchdown drives in the fourth quarter. The final one put USC up 23-20 with 3:08 to play. A bad snap led to a failed point after try and kicker David Newbury missed two field goal attempts in overtime periods. The Ducks took advantage with a Josh Frankel 27-yard field goal to end the game after three overtimes.

The Trojans bounced back with a win over Oregon State, but the roof caved in after that.

Dick Tomey's Arizona offense ambushed the Trojan defense in Tucson to the tune of 550 total yards. Arizona's Trung Canidate ran for 194 yards on 31 carries (6.3 yards per carry) with one rushing touchdown. A 10-10 game at the half became a 17-10 USC lead when Windrell Hayes caught an 18-yard scoring toss from Van Raaphorst early in the third quarter. Arizona's Keith Smith hit Dennis Northcutt for the tying touchdown with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. Arizona finished off a 21-0 scoring run when Van Raaphorst fumbled a fourth-down snap, and Arizona's Kelvin Hunter recovered the fumble and scored to put the Wildcats up 31-17 with 1:57 left. The defensive score matched one triggered by USC to start the game. Linebacker Zeke Moreno sacked Smith and forced a fumble that Antuan Simmons recovered and took 44 yards to the paint.

Van Raaphorst led a late scoring drive that ended in a 21-yard touchdown pass to Marcell Almond. Down 31-24, USC's final onside kick attempt went out of bounds and the Trojan cause was lost. USC's run game was MIA in the desert, as the Trojans finished with -20 rushing yards for the game.

A rain-soaked South Bend collapse was also part of that quintet of defeats. USC gave up 22 unanswered points to squander what had been a 24-3 early second half lead. The loss ended a three-game win streak against the Fighting Irish.

The next week the Trojans fell to Stanford 35-31 inside Stanford Stadium. The Trojan defense once again fell short in a wild affair that produced 1,043 yards of combined offense from the two teams. Stanford overcame both 21-0 and 24-7 deficits in the first half to push ahead 35-31 when quarterback Todd Husak scored from one yard out. Mike Biselli's extra point made it 35-31 Cardinal. Van Raaphorst again led a late drive down the field, but Stanford safety Tim Smith intercepted the Trojan signal caller's final pass from the Stanford 7-yard line.

Five straight losses brought the Trojans to a 3-6 record.

The Trojans finished the year off with wins over Washington State, UCLA and Louisiana Tech.

The USC defense answered and secured the Victory Bell in USC's regular-season finale. That side of the ball turned running back Chad Morton into a prophet. Before the season began, Morton guaranteed USC would end a nine-game losing streak to UCLA. Both teams were under .500 entering the game for the first time since 1941, so it really was about rivalry pride and very little else. Van Raaphorst was down with an ankle injury for the third straight game so it was on John Fox to run the USC offense. The veteran tossed two scoring passes to Kareem Kelly from 22 and five yards out for the only Trojan touchdowns of the day. USC's defense intercepted redshirt freshman Ryan McCann three times and stifled the Bruin rushing attack. UCLA rushers totaled just 45 yards and USC also stopped two Bruin fourth down attempts. That lights-out performance overcame a staggering 126 penalty yards (16 penalties) against the Trojans.

USC finished its final chapter of the season off the right way with a convincing 45-19 win over No. 25 Louisiana Tech in the Coliseum. Fox tied a bow on his Trojan career by leading the Trojans on the field and then proposing to girlfriend Nicole Barros moments after the game ended. Thanks to a dominant rushing attack, Barros was engagedthe game's winning quarterback. USC roared out to a 21-0 lead thanks to a 53-yard touchdown pass from Fox to R. Jay Soward and two touchdown runs by Morton. The Trojans grounded and pounded their way to 309 rushes on 55 carries (5.6 yards per carry) to keep the ball away from Tim Rattay and Louisiana Tech's passing attack. Rattay completed 35 of 68 passes for 405 yards (six yards per attempt), but USC also intercepted him three times while also recovering one of four Bulldog fumbles. Louisiana Tech also amassed 116 yards of penalty yardage (USC had 72 penalty yards) on the evening. Freshman Kevin Arbet took Rattay's final pick 75 yards for a touchdown to put the Trojans up 35-13.

"The defense. I thought, rattled (Rattay) early," USC coach Paul Hackett said. "He looked very, very out of sorts. While that was happening, the offense picked up a 21-0 lead. I thought that set the tone."

USC had the No. 23 offense based on points scored per game (29.0) and the No. 44 defense thanks to just 23.2 points allowed per game.