Penn State vs. USC

Every meeting on file, as played. Ranks are the AP poll’s going in.

1. Penn State’s biggest win1994: Penn State 38, USC 14by 24 points
2. USC’s biggest win2000: USC 29, Penn State 5by 24 points
3. Upset1922: USC 14, Penn State 3USC had a 32% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
4. Ranked showdown2008: USC 38, Penn State 24No. 6 Penn State at No. 5 USC
5. Ranked showdown2016: USC 52, Penn State 49No. 9 USC at No. 5 Penn State
6. Ranked showdown1981: Penn State 26, USC 10No. 8 USC at No. 7 Penn State
7. Ranked showdown1996: Penn State 24, USC 7No. 7 USC at No. 11 Penn State

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Penn State’s side (Paterno 4–⁠0 against Robinson). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

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.

Biggest days: the week’s best individual games by our big-days rule, from box scores (2004 on). Most valuable: as the games’ Wikipedia articles name them (CC BY-SA).

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  1922 · New Britain herald, Connecticut, Jan 2, 1923

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.

ESPN’s College GameDay has broadcast from this game twice: 2016, 2008.

College GameDay’s sites from Wikipedia’s list of its locations (CC BY-SA).

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  The 2016 game

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  The 2016 game

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  The 2016 game

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  The 2016 game

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  The 2008 game

From the rivalry’s and its games’ categories on Wikimedia Commons (free licenses only, each credited).

Every game is listed as played on the field.

• Penn State vs. Pittsburgh99 meetings, Penn State 52–⁠43–⁠4
• Penn State vs. Syracuse71 meetings, Penn State 43–⁠23–⁠5
• Penn State vs. West Virginia61 meetings, Penn State 50–⁠9–⁠2
• Penn State vs. Maryland48 meetings, Penn State 44–⁠3–⁠1
• USC vs. California108 meetings, USC 72–⁠31–⁠5
• USC vs. Stanford102 meetings, USC 66–⁠33–⁠3
• USC vs. Notre Dame96 meetings, USC 38–⁠53–⁠5
• USC vs. UCLA95 meetings, USC 54–⁠34–⁠7