California vs. USC
108 of their 112 meetings are on file: they first met in 1912, and the earliest on file is 1916; officially, USC leads 72–32–6; as played, 72–31–5 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s USC 8–2, and USC has won the last 2. The NCAA vacated USC’s win (2005) and California’s win (1999); they don’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played. Share
- Official series
- USC leads 72–32–6
- California wins on file
- 31
- USC wins on file
- 72
- Ties
- 5
- Earliest on file
- 1916 first met 1912
- Longest streak
- 14 USC
- Current streak
- 2 USC
- Last 10 meetings
- USC 8–2
- Most recent
- 2023
The series at a glance
| ’0 | ’1 | ’2 | ’3 | ’4 | ’5 | ’6 | ’7 | ’8 | ’9 | W–L | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1910s | 3–0–1 | ||||||||||
| 1920s | 5–2–1 | ||||||||||
| 1930s | 4–6 | ||||||||||
| 1940s | 4–8–1 | ||||||||||
| 1950s | 3–7 | ||||||||||
| 1960s | 0–10 | ||||||||||
| 1970s | 3–6–1 | ||||||||||
| 1980s | 1–9 | ||||||||||
| 1990s | 4–5–1 | ||||||||||
| 2000s | 2–8 | ||||||||||
| 2010s | 1–9 | ||||||||||
| 2020s | 1–2 |
- Both ranked
- 13 meetings: California 2, USC 11; 3 both in the top 10
- Average margin
- 15.7 points; 34 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
- At California
- 14–37–1 California’s record at home
- At USC
- 35–17–4 USC’s record at home
- Shutouts
- 20
Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.
Games that tell the story
- California’s biggest win1921: California 38, USC 7by 31 points
- USC’s biggest win1930: USC 74, California 0by 74 points
- Upset1940: California 20, USC 7California had a 19% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1970: California 13, USC 10California had a 19% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Upset1951: USC 21, California 14USC had a 22% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
- Ranked showdown2004: USC 23, California 17No. 7 California at No. 1 USC
- Ranked showdown1952: USC 10, California 0No. 4 California at No. 7 USC
- Ranked showdown1968: USC 35, California 17No. 11 California at No. 1 USC
Coach against coach
| Years | California | Series | USC |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1922–1924 | Andy Smith | 3–0 | Gus Henderson |
| 1926–1930 | Nibs Price | 1–3–1 | Howard Jones |
| 1931–1934 | William Ingram | 1–3 | Howard Jones |
| 1935–1940 | Stub Allison | 4–2 | Howard Jones |
| 1942–1944 | Stub Allison | 0–4–1 | Jeff Cravath |
| 1947–1950 | Pappy Waldorf | 3–1 | Jeff Cravath |
| 1951–1956 | Pappy Waldorf | 0–6 | Jess Hill |
| 1957–1959 | Pete Elliott | 2–1 | Don Clark |
| 1960–1963 | Marv Levy | 0–4 | John McKay |
| 1964–1971 | Ray Willsey | 1–7 | John McKay |
| 1972–1975 | Mike White | 1–2–1 | John McKay |
| 1978–1981 | Roger Theder | 0–4 | John Robinson |
| 1983–1986 | Joe Kapp | 1–3 | Ted Tollner |
| 1987–1991 | Bruce Snyder | 1–3–1 | Larry Smith |
| 1993–1995 | Keith Gilbertson | 0–3 | John Robinson |
| 1998–2000 | Tom Holmoe | 3–0 | Paul Hackett |
| 2002–2009 | Jeff Tedford | 1–7 | Pete Carroll |
| 2010–2012 | Jeff Tedford | 0–3 | Lane Kiffin |
| 2017–2019 | Justin Wilcox | 1–2 | Clay Helton |
Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from California’s side (Smith 3–0 against Henderson). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.
Both programs through the years
Our Elo rating at the end of each season, a measure of how strong a team was, not a forecast; 1500 is an average FBS team.
Stars of the series
Biggest days
| Nelson Agholor USC | 16 catches, 216 yards, 2 TD | 2014 Receiving | |
| Chauncey Washington USC | 29 carries, 220 yards, 1 TD | 2007 Rushing | |
| Michael Pittman Jr. USC | 11 catches, 180 yards, 1 TD | 2019 Receiving |
Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on).
From the newspapers
1916 · The Alaska citizen, Alaska, Nov 6, 1916
1917 · Honolulu star-bulletin, Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii], Nov 30, 1917
1926 · Imperial Valley press, California, Oct 25, 1926
1927 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 30, 1927
1928 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 21, 1928
Public-domain newspapers from the Library of Congress’s Chronicling America, found through the American Stories dataset (Dell and Harvard, CC BY 4.0). The earliest meetings with a story on file; each game’s page has the full text.
On television
ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game once: 2004.
College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA).
Every game
Every game is listed as played on the field; a win the NCAA later vacated is marked “vacated”; the official series above counts them the NCAA’s way.