CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

Stanford vs. USC

102 of their 103 meetings are on file: they first met in 1905, and the earliest on file is 1918; officially, USC leads 65–⁠34–⁠3; as played, 66–⁠33–⁠3 in the games on file. Over the last 10 meetings it’s even at 5–⁠5, and USC has won the last 2. The NCAA vacated USC’s win (2005); it doesn’t count officially. This page counts every game as it was played.

Official series
USC leads 65–⁠34–⁠3
Stanford wins on file
33
USC wins on file
66
Ties
3
Earliest on file
1918 first met 1905
Longest streak
12 USC
Current streak
2 USC
Last 10 meetings
even at 5–⁠5
Most recent
2023

The series at a glance

’0’1’2’3’4’5’6’7’8’9W–L
1910s0–⁠2
1920s2–⁠5–⁠1
1930s4–⁠6
1940s4–⁠3
1950s4–⁠5–⁠1
1960s0–⁠10
1970s3–⁠6–⁠1
1980s0–⁠10
1990s4–⁠6
2000s4–⁠6
2010s7–⁠5
2020s1–⁠2
Both ranked
16 meetings: Stanford 9, USC 7; 1 both in the top 10
Average margin
13.6 points; 40 decided by one score (8 or fewer)
At Stanford
11–⁠35–⁠2 Stanford’s record at home
At USC
30–⁠20–⁠1 USC’s record at home
Neutral sites
2–⁠1 Stanford first
Shutouts
18

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

Games that tell the story

  1. Stanford’s biggest win2009: Stanford 55, USC 21by 34 points
  2. USC’s biggest win1977: USC 49, Stanford 0by 49 points
  3. Upset2007: Stanford 24, USC 23Stanford had a 7% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  4. Upset1933: Stanford 13, USC 7Stanford had a 19% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  5. Upset2009: Stanford 55, USC 21Stanford had a 20% chance, by our ratings before kickoff
  6. Ranked showdown1951: Stanford 27, USC 20No. 7 Stanford at No. 6 USC
  7. Ranked showdown1972: USC 30, Stanford 21No. 1 USC at No. 15 Stanford
  8. Ranked showdown1970: Stanford 24, USC 14No. 4 USC at No. 12 Stanford

Coach against coach

YearsStanfordSeriesUSC
1925–⁠1932Pop Warner2–⁠5–⁠1Howard Jones
1933–⁠1939Tiny Thornhill4–⁠3Howard Jones
1942–⁠1950Marchy Schwartz2–⁠3–⁠1Jeff Cravath
1951–⁠1956Chuck Taylor3–⁠3Jess Hill
1960–⁠1962Jack Curtice0–⁠3John McKay
1963–⁠1971John Ralston2–⁠7John McKay
1972–⁠1975Jack Christiansen1–⁠3John McKay
1977–⁠1994Bill Walsh0–⁠4John Robinson
1980–⁠1982Paul Wiggin0–⁠3John Robinson
1984–⁠1986Jack Elway0–⁠3Ted Tollner
1989–⁠1991Dennis Green1–⁠2Larry Smith
1995–⁠1997Tyrone Willingham1–⁠2John Robinson
1998–⁠2000Tyrone Willingham2–⁠1Paul Hackett
2002–⁠2004Buddy Teevens0–⁠3Pete Carroll
2007–⁠2009Jim Harbaugh2–⁠1Pete Carroll
2015–⁠2021David Shaw4–⁠3Clay Helton

Head-coach pairings with three or more meetings on file, the series read from Stanford’s side (Warner 2–⁠5–⁠1 against Jones). A season split between coaches goes to the one credited with the game.

Both programs through the years

End-of-season Elo ratings of Stanford and USC, 1918 on1300150017001900192019401960198020002020

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

Matt Barkley USC28 of 45, 390 yards, 3 TD2010 Passing
Robert Woods USC12 catches, 224 yards, 3 TD2010 Receiving
Toby Gerhart Stanford29 carries, 178 yards, 3 TD2009 Rushing
Christian McCaffrey Stanford32 carries, 207 yards, 1 TD2015 Rushing

Named most valuable

Sam Darnold USC2017
Christian McCaffrey Stanford2015

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).

From the newspapers

  • The The Washington times's story of the 1919 game: FOOTBALL RESULTS

    1919 · The Washington times, District of Columbia, Nov 28, 1919

  • The San Antonio light's story of the 1923 game: WASHINGTON STATE I HOLDS CALIFORNIA TO A CLOSE SCORE Famous Bears Win by Only 9 to 0-Trojans Beat Stanford.

    1923 · San Antonio light, San Antonio, Tex., Oct 28, 1923

  • The Evening star's story of the 1925 game: uyand Princeton Battle IOAA c. T. Impressive Downing FOOT BALL RESULTS LOCAL TEAMS.

    1925 · Evening star, District of Columbia, Oct 18, 1925

  • The The Indianapolis times's story of the 1928 game: Trojans' Surprise Victory Over Stanford Shocks Far West Fans u S. C. Will Win Pacific Conference Title If California Loses Big Game Nov. "a.

    1928 · The Indianapolis times, Indianapolis [Ind.], Nov 5, 1928

  • The The Daily Alaska empire's story of the 1929 game: so. CALIF RNIA STANFORD. Strength of Two Most Pow erful Teams Shown by 7 to 0 Score

    1929 · The Daily Alaska empire, Alaska, Oct 28, 1929

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 twice: 2013, 2011.

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

Photos

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

Every game

Sep 9, 20236USC 56, Stanford 10at USC
Sep 10, 202210USC 41, Stanford 28at Stanford
Sep 11, 2021Stanford 42, 14USC 28at USC
Sep 7, 2019USC 45, 23Stanford 20at USC
Sep 8, 201810Stanford 17, 17USC 3at Stanford
Dec 1, 201711USC 31, 14Stanford 28Levi’s StadiumPac-12 Championship Game
Sep 9, 20176USC 42, 14Stanford 24at USC
Sep 17, 20167Stanford 27, USC 10at Stanford
Dec 5, 20157Stanford 41, 24USC 22Levi’s StadiumPac-12 Championship Game
Sep 19, 2015Stanford 41, 6USC 31at USC
Sep 6, 201414USC 13, 13Stanford 10at Stanford
Nov 16, 2013USC 20, 5Stanford 17at USC
Sep 15, 201221Stanford 21, 2USC 14at Stanford
Oct 29, 20114Stanford 56, 20USC 48at USC
Oct 9, 201016Stanford 37, USC 35at Stanford
Nov 14, 200925Stanford 55, 11USC 21at USC
Nov 15, 20086USC 45, Stanford 23at Stanford
Oct 6, 2007Stanford 24, 2USC 23at USC
Nov 4, 20069USC 42, Stanford 0at Stanford
Nov 5, 20051USC 51, Stanford 21vacatedat USC
Sep 25, 20041USC 31, Stanford 28at Stanford
Oct 11, 20039USC 44, Stanford 21at USC
Nov 9, 200210USC 49, Stanford 17at Stanford
Sep 29, 2001Stanford 21, USC 16at USC
Oct 21, 2000Stanford 32, USC 30at Stanford
Oct 23, 1999Stanford 35, USC 31at USC
Nov 7, 1998USC 34, Stanford 9at Stanford
Nov 8, 1997USC 45, Stanford 21at USC
Nov 9, 1996Stanford 24, USC 20at Stanford
Nov 4, 199514USC 31, Stanford 30at USC
Oct 15, 1994USC 27, Stanford 20at Stanford
Nov 6, 1993USC 45, Stanford 20at USC
Nov 7, 199221Stanford 23, 11USC 9at Stanford
Oct 19, 1991Stanford 24, USC 21at USC
Oct 13, 199016USC 37, Stanford 22at Stanford
Oct 28, 198910USC 19, Stanford 0at USC
Sep 10, 19886USC 24, Stanford 20at Stanford
Nov 7, 1987USC 39, Stanford 24at USC
Oct 25, 1986USC 10, 19Stanford 0at Stanford
Oct 19, 1985USC 30, Stanford 6at USC
Nov 3, 198418USC 20, Stanford 11at Stanford
Nov 5, 1983USC 30, Stanford 7at USC
Oct 16, 198214USC 41, Stanford 21at Stanford
Oct 17, 19817USC 25, Stanford 17at USC
Nov 8, 19804USC 34, Stanford 9at Stanford
Oct 13, 19791USC 21, Stanford 21at USC
Nov 4, 19786USC 13, Stanford 7at Stanford
Nov 5, 197716USC 49, Stanford 0at USC
Nov 6, 19764USC 48, Stanford 24at Stanford
Nov 8, 1975Stanford 13, 9USC 10at USC
Nov 9, 197411USC 34, Stanford 10at Stanford
Nov 10, 19738USC 27, Stanford 26at USC
Oct 7, 19721USC 30, 15Stanford 21at Stanford
Oct 16, 197115Stanford 33, USC 18at USC
Oct 10, 197012Stanford 24, 4USC 14at Stanford
Oct 11, 19694USC 26, 16Stanford 24at USC
Oct 12, 19682USC 27, 18Stanford 24at Stanford
Oct 7, 19671USC 30, Stanford 0at USC
Oct 15, 19665USC 21, Stanford 7at Stanford
Oct 16, 19656USC 14, Stanford 0at USC
Nov 7, 1964USC 15, Stanford 10at Stanford
Nov 9, 1963USC 25, Stanford 11at USC
Nov 10, 19622USC 39, Stanford 14at Stanford
Nov 11, 1961USC 30, Stanford 15at USC
Oct 29, 1960USC 21, Stanford 6at Stanford
Oct 24, 19595USC 30, Stanford 28at USC
Nov 1, 1958USC 29, Stanford 6at Stanford
Nov 9, 1957Stanford 35, USC 7at USC
Oct 27, 1956Stanford 27, 6USC 19at Stanford
Nov 5, 1955Stanford 28, USC 20at USC
Nov 6, 195410USC 21, Stanford 7at Stanford
Nov 7, 195317USC 23, 11Stanford 20at USC
Nov 8, 19526USC 54, Stanford 7at Stanford
Nov 10, 19517Stanford 27, 6USC 20at USC
Nov 4, 1950Stanford 7, USC 7at Stanford
Nov 5, 1949Stanford 34, 12USC 13at USC
Oct 23, 1948USC 7, Stanford 6at Stanford
Nov 8, 19475USC 14, Stanford 0at USC
Oct 26, 1946USC 28, Stanford 20at Stanford
Oct 24, 1942Stanford 14, USC 6Neutral site
Nov 8, 19419Stanford 13, USC 0at USC
Oct 26, 19409Stanford 21, 17USC 7at Stanford
Nov 11, 19394USC 33, Stanford 0at USC
Oct 22, 1938USC 13, Stanford 2at Stanford
Nov 6, 1937Stanford 7, USC 6at USC
Oct 24, 19366USC 14, Stanford 7at Stanford
Nov 9, 1935Stanford 3, USC 0at USC
Oct 27, 1934Stanford 16, USC 0at Stanford
Nov 11, 1933Stanford 13, USC 7at USC
Oct 22, 1932USC 13, Stanford 0at Stanford
Nov 7, 1931USC 19, Stanford 0at USC
Oct 25, 1930USC 41, Stanford 12at Stanford
Oct 26, 1929USC 7, Stanford 0at Stanford
Nov 3, 1928USC 10, Stanford 0at USC
Oct 15, 1927Stanford 13, USC 13at Stanford
Oct 30, 1926Stanford 13, USC 12at USC
Oct 17, 1925Stanford 13, USC 9at USC
Oct 27, 1923USC 14, Stanford 7at Stanford
Nov 11, 1922USC 6, Stanford 0at Stanford
Oct 16, 1920USC 10, Stanford 0at USC
Nov 27, 1919USC 13, Stanford 0at USC
Nov 23, 1918USC 25, Stanford 8at USC

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.