The Stanford-USC football rilvalry got started 118 years ago in 1905 and since the end of WWII they have played every year except the 2020 Covid season. USC has certainly won the lion’s share of the games but there were times when the Cardinal seemed to get the best of the Trojans like in the four years that Jim Harbaugh was coach of Stanford and the two year’s after when they were still loaded with the players that he had recruited. In 2007, Harbaugh’s very first year as head coach, he brought his 41 point underdog Cardinals into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and beat the No. 1 ranked USC Trojans who were expected to compete for the National Championship that year and is one of the greatest upsets in all of college football. As a result of the loss USC fell to No. 2 in the Coaches Poll and No. 3 in the AP. In spite of the upset loss the Trojans were still named national champion by the Dunkel index and ten of their players that year were selected in the 2008 NFL draft—seven in the first two rounds along with 25 more players from the 2007 team drafted into the NFL over the next four years. Altogether since 1936 Stanford and USC have collectively had more than 800 players drafted into the NFL. That being said, how sad is it that their meeting this past Saturday could be their very last although one can hope that the schools will work together going forward to schedule each other from time-to-time at the beginning of their seasons when they are playing non-conference opponents.
As bad as Stanford has been over the last couple of seasons you can imagine how Saturday’s game went. Once you imagine that, think worse. The Cardinal were able to get just three points up on the board through three quarters and finally got a TD in the fourth, only long after the Trojans had pulled their starters out of the game. USC’s QB, Caleb Williams, was surgically accurate while connected on 90% of his throws for 281 yards, 3 TD’s, and no interceptions while also adding another score on the ground—all just in the first half after which he took the rest of the game off turning the reigns over to backup Sophomore QB Miller Moss who was pretty accurate as well connecting on over 70% of his throws for 112 yards, no TD’s in the air or interceptions, but did pick up a rushing TD on a 15 yard run with less than a minute left in the game. In addition to the two rushing TD’s by their QB’s, the Trojans rushed a total of 28 times for 180 yards and two more TD’s—four in all. They led the whole way—up 21-0 at the end of the 1st Qtr, 39-3 at the break, and 56-10 when it was all over. They out-paced the Cardinal in 1st Downs, 27-20; total yards, 573-349, and turnovers where Stanford couldn’t seem to get out of their own way fumbling twice and losing both with one leading to a TD to go along with another TD after an interception.
With Alabama losing at home to Texas it is expected that the Trojan’s could move up into the Top 5 when this week’s AP Top 25 comes out. USC will hit the road to play Arizona State on September 23rd after a week off while Stanford will host Sacramento State this next Saturday.