1978 USC Trojans football team

The 1978 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. Following the season, the Trojans were crowned national champions according to the Coaches Poll. While Alabama claimed the AP Poll title because it had defeated top-ranked Penn State in the Sugar Bowl, the Trojans felt they deserved the title since they had defeated Alabama and Notre Dame during the regular season, and then Michigan in the Rose Bowl.[1] Both USC and Alabama ended their seasons with a single loss.

1978 USC Trojans football
Coaches' Poll national champion Pac-10 champion Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 17–10 vs. Michigan
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 2
1978 record	12–1 (6–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	John Robinson (3rd season)
Captain	Lynn Cain Rich Dimler
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

1978 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 USC $	6	–	1	–	0			12	–	1	–	0
No. 14 UCLA	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	1
Washington	6	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Arizona State	4	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 17 Stanford	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
California	3	–	4	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Arizona	3	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0			2	–	9	–	0
Oregon State	2	–	6	–	0			3	–	7	–	1
Washington State	1	–	7	–	0			3	–	7	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Schedule

The Trojans finished the regular season with an 11–1 record before going on to defeat the Michigan Wolverines 17–10 in the Rose Bowl.

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 9	Texas Tech*	No. 9	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 17–9	50,321
September 16	at Oregon	No. 8	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR	W 37–10	31,000
September 23	at No. 1 Alabama*	No. 7	Legion Field Birmingham, AL	W 24–14	77,313
September 29	Michigan State*	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 30–9	65,319
October 14	at Arizona State	No. 2	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	L 7–20	70,138
October 21	Oregon State	No. 7	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 38–7	53,734
October 28	California	No. 6	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 42–17	56,954
November 4	at Stanford	No. 6	Stanford Stadium Palo Alto, CA (rivalry)	W 13–7	84,084
November 11	No. 19 Washington	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 28–10	54,071
November 18	at No. 14 UCLA	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Battle for the Victory Bell)	W 17–10	90,387
November 25	No. 8 Notre Dame*	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Jeweled Shillelagh)	W 27–25	84,256
December 2	at Hawaii*	No. 3	Aloha Stadium Honolulu, HI	W 21–5	48,767
January 1, 1979	vs. No. 5 Michigan*	No. 3	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)	W 17–10	105,629
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1978 USC Trojans football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB Marcus Allen TE Hoby Brenner OL Brad Budde WR Ray Butler RB Lynn Cain (C) RB Paul DiLulo RB Dwight Ford WR Dan Garcia WR Michael Hayes OL Pat Howell TE James Hunter QB Paul McDonald OL Anthony Muñoz OL Otis Page OL Ray Peters QB Rob Preston TE Vic Rakhshani QB Walt Ransom WR Calvin Sweeney OL Keith Van Horne RB Charles White WR Kevin Williams	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL Chip Banks DB Larry Braziel DL Gary Cobb DB Willie Crawford DL Rich Dimler (C) DL Dennis Edwards LB Riki Gray DB Carter Hartwig LB Dennis Johnson DL Myron Lapka DB Tim Lavender DB Ronnie Lott LB Larry McGrew LB Charlie Moses LB Eric Scoggins DB Dennis Smith DL Ty Sperling DB Herb Ward	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Frank Jordan P Marty King	Head coach John Robinson Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total Notre Dame 3 0 3 19 25 • USC 6 11 7 3 27 Date: November 25 Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles Game attendance: 84,256

Scoring summary 1 USC Williams 50-yard pass from McDonald (kick failed) USC 6-0 1 ND Unis 47-yard field goal USC 6-3 2 USC Garcia 35-yard pass from McDonald (McDonald to Hunter pass) USC 14-3 2 USC Jordan 39-yard field goal USC 17-3 3 ND Unis 26-yard field goal USC 17-6 3 7:38 USC White 1-yard run (Jordan kick) USC 24-6 4 12:26 ND Haines 57-yard pass from Montana (pass failed) USC 24-12 4 3:01 ND Buchanan 1-yard run (Unis kick) USC 24-19 4 0:46 ND Holohan 2-yard pass from Montana (pass failed) ND 25-24 4 0:02 USC Jordan 37-yard field goal USC 27-26

[2]

Rose Bowl

Main article: 1979 Rose Bowl

See also: 1978 Michigan Wolverines football team

Rose Bowl: Michigan Wolverines vs. USC Trojans

	1	2	3	4	Total
Michigan	0	3	7	0	10
USC	7	10	0	0	17

at Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

• Date: January 1
• Game attendance: 105,629
• TV announcers (NBC): Curt Gowdy, John Brodie, and O.J. Simpson
• Recap/Box

Game information

First quarter USC – Hoby Brenner 9-yard pass from Paul McDonald (Frank Jordan kick). USC 7–0. Drive: Second quarter MICH – Gregg Willner 36-yard field goal. USC 7–3. Drive: USC – Charles White 3-yard run (Frank Jordan kick). USC 14–3. Drive: USC – Frank Jordan 35-yard field goal. USC 17–3. Drive: Third quarter MICH – R. Smith 44-yard pass from Rick Leach (Gregg Willner kick). USC 17–10. Drive: Top passers MICH – Rick Leach – 10/21, 137 yards, TD, 2 INT USC – Paul McDonald – 4/9, 23 yards, TD Top rushers MICH – Russell Davis – 8 rushes, 28 yards USC – Charles White – 32 rushes, 99 yards, TD Top receivers MICH – Roosevelt Smith – 4 receptions, 58 yards, TD USC – Dan Garcia – 1 reception, 12 yards

1978 Trojans in the NFL

All 22 starters played in the NFL.[3]

• Marcus Allen
• Chip Banks
• Rich Dimler
• Ronnie Lott
• Anthony Muñoz
• Charles White
• Brad Budde
• Garry Cobb
• Larry Braziel
• Paul McDonald
• Riki Gray
• Ray Butler
• Steve Busick

Awards and honors

Charles White: Heisman trophy, Maxwell Award, Walter Camp Award, UPI Player of the Year

References

1. "USC Claims Title". The Evening Sun. Baltimore, Maryland. January 2, 1979. p. C7. Retrieved May 13, 2019 – via newspapers.com.
2. "Trojans' Late Field Goal Stymies Irish Comeback." Palm Beach Post. 1978 Nov 26.
3. Sikahema, Vai (2011-03-25). "Vai's View: What's in a name? Bobby Salazar knows". Deseret News. Retrieved 2019-02-13.