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1953 USC

6–⁠3–⁠1 (4–⁠2–⁠1 Pacific Coast Conference), coached by Jess Hill.

Schedule and results

USC in 1953, game by game: won at Washington State 29–13; won vs. Minnesota 17–7; won vs. Indiana 27–14; tied at Washington 13–13; won vs. Oregon State 37–0; won at California 32–20; lost at Oregon 7–13; won vs. No. 11 Stanford 23–20; lost vs. No. 5 UCLA 0–13; lost vs. No. 2 Notre Dame 14–48+37−34Won 29–13 at Washington State+16Washington StateWon 17–7 vs. Minnesota+10MinnesotaWon 27–14 vs. Indiana+13IndianaTied 13–13 at Washington0WashingtonWon 37–0 vs. Oregon State+37Oregon StateWon 32–20 at California+12CaliforniaLost 7–13 at Oregon-6OregonWon 23–20 vs. No. 11 Stanford+3No. 11 StanfordLost 0–13 vs. No. 5 UCLA-13No. 5 UCLALost 14–48 vs. No. 2 Notre Dame-34No. 2 Notre Dame
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 19atWashington StateW 29–⁠1363%
Sep 26vsMinnesotaW 17–⁠779%
Oct 2vsIndianaW 27–⁠1487%
Oct 10atWashingtonT 13–⁠1363%
Oct 17vsOregon StateW 37–⁠090%
Oct 24atCaliforniaW 32–⁠2054%
Oct 31atOregonL 7–⁠1383%
Nov 7vs11StanfordW 23–⁠2072%
Nov 21vs5UCLAL 0–⁠1351%
Nov 28vs2Notre DameL 14–⁠4843%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Notre Dame 48–⁠14; unranked in the final AP poll; 3rd in the Pacific Coast Conference.

In program history: The 64th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 112 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 8
  2. Wk 2: 7
  3. Wk 3: 7
  4. Wk 4: 13
  5. Wk 5: 11
  6. Wk 6: 7
  7. Wk 7: 17
  8. Wk 8: 12
  9. Wk 9: 9
  10. Wk 10: 20

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1953.

Record
6–⁠3–⁠1
Conference
4–⁠2–⁠1 3rd in Pacific Coast Conference
AP final
Unranked peak No. 7
Points
199–⁠161
Coach
Jess Hill
Elo
1626 −25 this season
SP+ rating
—
SRS
8.2 No. 30 of 110 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Captains
George Bozanic and Tom Nickoloff

Drafted in 1954

The 1954 draft
Rd 3George Timberlake OGGreen Bay Packers
Rd 3Tom Nickoloff ELos Angeles Rams
Rd 7Charley Weeks OTLos Angeles Rams

All-Pacific Coast

3 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 1953 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1953 Pacific Coast Conference standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
UCLA6–⁠18–⁠25
Stanford5–⁠1–⁠16–⁠3–⁠119
USC4–⁠2–⁠16–⁠3–⁠1
California2–⁠2–⁠24–⁠4–⁠2
Washington State3–⁠44–⁠6
Oregon State3–⁠53–⁠6
Washington2–⁠4–⁠13–⁠6–⁠1
Oregon2–⁠5–⁠14–⁠5–⁠1
Idaho0–⁠31–⁠8

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.