1971 USC Trojans football team

The 1971 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. In their 12th year under head coach John McKay, the Trojans compiled a 6–4–1 record (3–2–1 against conference opponents), finished in second place in the Pacific-8 Conference (Pac-8), and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 229 to 164.[1] The team was ranked #20 in the final AP Poll.

1971 USC Trojans football
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Ranking
AP	No. 20
1971 record	6–4–1 (3–2–1 Pac-8)
Head coach	John McKay (12th season)
Captains	Willie Hall John Vella
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (c. 94,500, grass)

1971 Pacific-8 Conference football standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 10 Stanford $	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 20 USC	3	–	2	–	1			6	–	4	–	1
No. 19 Washington	4	–	3	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
California	4	–	3	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
Oregon State	3	–	3	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Oregon	2	–	4	–	0			5	–	6	–	0
Washington State	2	–	5	–	0			4	–	7	–	0
UCLA	1	–	4	–	1			2	–	7	–	1
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

Jim Jones led the team in passing, completing 89 of 161 passes for 995 yards with seven touchdowns and ten interceptions. Lou Harris led the team in rushing with 167 carries for 801 yards and four touchdowns. Edesel Garrison led the team in receiving with 25 catches for 475 yards and five touchdowns.[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance
September 10	No. 16 Alabama*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 10–17	67,781
September 18	at Rice*	No. 17	Rice Stadium Houston, TX	W 24–0	22,000
September 25	Illinois*	No. 16	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 28–0	49,390
October 2	at No. 8 Oklahoma*	No. 17	Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Norman, OK	L 20–33	62,351
October 9	Oregon		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 23–28	50,111
October 16	No. 15 Stanford		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	L 18–33	65,375
October 23	at No. 6 Notre Dame*		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (Jeweled Shillelagh)	W 28–14	59,075
October 30	at California	No. 20	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 28–0	54,000
November 6	Washington State	No. 17	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 30–20	57,432
November 13	at No. 19 Washington	No. 15	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 13–12	59,982
November 20	UCLA	No. 15	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	T 7–7	68,426
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Season summary

Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total • USC 14 14 0 0 28 Notre Dame 7 0 7 0 14 Date: October 23 Location: Notre Dame Stadium • Notre Dame, Indiana Game attendance: 59,075

Scoring summary 1 USC Garrison 31-yard pass from Jones (Rae kick) USC 7-0 1 ND Huff 1-yard run (Thomas kick) Tie 7-7 1 USC Garrison 24-yard pass from Rae (Rae kick) USC 14-7 2 USC Cunningham 1-yard run (Rae kick) USC 21-7 2 USC Dyer 53-yard interception return (Rae kick) USC 28-7 3 ND Cieszkowski 4-yard run (Thomas kick) USC 28-14

[3]

Roster

1971 USC Trojans football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class T 77 Pete Adams Jr RB 39 Sam Cunningham Jr QB 8 Jim Jones Sr QB 6 Mike Rae Jr T 75 John Vella Sr TE 89 Charle Young Sr	Defense Pos. # Name Class DE 94 John Grant Jr DB 46 Skip Thomas Sr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class	Head coach John McKay Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

References

1. "Southern California Yearly Results (1970-1974)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
2. "1971 Southern California Trojans Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
3. "Notre Dame Falls 28-14". The Palm Beach Post. October 24, 1971.