CollegeFootballDigestfrom CooperSearch

2011 USC

10–⁠2 (7–⁠2 Pac-12), coached by Lane Kiffin, finished No. 6 in the AP poll.

Schedule and results

USC in 2011, game by game: won vs. Minnesota 19–17; won vs. Utah 23–14; won vs. Syracuse 38–17; lost at Arizona State 22–43; won vs. Arizona 48–41; won at California 30–9; won at Notre Dame 31–17; lost vs. No. 4 Stanford 48–56; won at Colorado 42–17; won vs. Washington 40–17; won at No. 4 Oregon 38–35; won vs. UCLA 50–0+50−21Won 19–17 vs. Minnesota+2MinnesotaWon 23–14 vs. Utah+9UtahWon 38–17 vs. Syracuse+21SyracuseLost 22–43 at Arizona State-21Arizona StateWon 48–41 vs. Arizona+7ArizonaWon 30–9 at California+21CaliforniaWon 31–17 at Notre Dame+14Notre DameLost 48–56 vs. No. 4 Stanford-8No. 4 StanfordWon 42–17 at Colorado+25ColoradoWon 40–17 vs. Washington+23WashingtonWon 38–35 at No. 4 Oregon+3No. 4 OregonWon 50–0 vs. UCLA+50UCLA
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below; orange marks an upset win.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 3vsMinnesotaW 19–⁠1774%
Sep 10vsUtahW 23–⁠1455%
Sep 17vsSyracuseW 38–⁠1770%
Sep 24atArizona StateL 22–⁠4355%
Oct 1vsArizonaW 48–⁠4170%
Oct 13atCaliforniaW 30–⁠954%
Oct 22atNotre DameW 31–⁠1738%
Oct 29vs4StanfordL 48–⁠5642%
Nov 4atColoradoW 42–⁠1776%
Nov 12vsWashingtonW 40–⁠1768%
Nov 19at4OregonW 38–⁠3524%
Nov 26vsUCLAW 50–⁠083%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Beat UCLA 50–⁠0; No. 6 in the final AP poll; 3rd in the Pac-12.

In program history: The 30th-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 112 on file).

AP poll, week by week

  1. Wk 1: 25
  2. Wk 4: 23
  3. Wk 9: 20
  4. Wk 10: 21
  5. Wk 11: 18
  6. Wk 12: 18
  7. Wk 13: 10
  8. Wk 14: 9
  9. Wk 15: 5
  10. Final: 6

Consensus All-AmericanRobert Woods, WR

Record
10–⁠2
Conference
7–⁠2 3rd in Pac-12
AP final
No. 6 peak No. 5
Points
429–⁠283
Coach
Lane Kiffin
Elo
1713 +133 this season
SP+ rating
24.7 No. 7 of 120; offense No. 6, defense No. 33, special teams No. 2
SRS
14.3 No. 11 of 120 in FBS
Recruiting class
No. 3
Offensive coordinator
Kennedy Polamalu
Defensive coordinator
Ed Orgeron
Captains
Matt Barkley, Rhett Ellison, T.J. McDonald and Christian Tupou
Offense
West Coast
Defense
4–⁠3

How good, play by play

  • Offense16th of 120
  • Defense93rd of 120
  • Offense, opponent-adjusted19th of 120
  • Defense, opponent-adjusted84th of 120
EPA per playSuccessExplosivenessFBS rank
Offense0.1247%0.9316th of 120
Defense0.0943%0.9993rd of 120
Opponent-adjusted0.09 off
0.07 def		46% off
42% def		—19th off
84th def
How these are measured

Play-weighted averages over games against FBS opponents; raw numbers, not adjusted for the strength of the opponent. EPA (expected points added) measures how much each play changed the expected score; success rate counts plays that kept the offense on schedule; explosiveness is the average EPA on successful plays. Lower is better on defense. Ranked by EPA per play among teams that were FBS that season. The opponent-adjusted row (offense / defense) is CollegeFootballData.com’s WEPA, which accounts for who each team played.

Drives and havoc

Points per trip inside the 40Average startHavoc
Offense-0.1own 312% allowed
Defense0.0own 272% caused

A trip inside the 40 is a drive that reaches the opponent’s 40-yard line; points per trip is how many it scored on average (allowed, on defense). Average start is where drives began (the defense’s line is where its opponents started). Havoc is the share of plays ending in a tackle for loss, a forced fumble, an interception or a pass broken up. From CollegeFootballData.com.

Leaders

Passing yardsMatt Barkley QB3,528 yds
Passing touchdownsMatt Barkley QB39 TD
Rushing yardsCurtis McNeal 1,005 yds
Rushing touchdownsCurtis McNeal 6 TD
Receiving yardsRobert Woods WR1,292 yds
Receiving touchdownsRobert Woods WR15 TD
InterceptionsT.J. McDonald S3 INT

Top recruits in the 2011 class

George Farmer WR★★★★★No. 8
Greg Townsend Jr. SDE★★★★No. 35
Marqise Lee ATH★★★★No. 47
Amir Carlisle APB★★★★No. 82
Victor Blackwell WR★★★★No. 88
Max Wittek PRO★★★★No. 91
Cyrus Hobbi OG★★★★No. 98
Christian Heyward DT★★★★No. 104

247Sports composite rankings via CollegeFootballData.com; national rank in the class.

The 2011 class by position

SignedStarsRating
Quarterbacks24.00.946
Running backs24.00.926
Receivers34.30.954
Offensive line33.70.905
Defensive line34.00.953
Linebackers34.00.921
Athletes and specialists42.80.845
Whole class203.80.916

High-school signees by position group, with their average stars and 247Sports composite rating (out of 1), via CollegeFootballData.com. Athletes are signees with no set position.

Drafted in 2012

The 2012 draft
Rd 1Matt Kalil OTMinnesota Vikings
Rd 1Nick Perry DEGreen Bay Packers
Rd 4Rhett Ellison FBMinnesota Vikings

Roster 113

The 2011 roster

113 players, with numbers, heights, hometowns and each player’s 2011 line; 25 have a stat line. See the roster

All-Pac-12

7 first team, 5 second team

First team

Second team

From Wikipedia’s 2011 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

2011 Pac-12 standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Oregon8–⁠112–⁠24
Stanford8–⁠111–⁠27
USC7–⁠210–⁠26
Washington5–⁠47–⁠6
UCLA5–⁠46–⁠8
California5–⁠57–⁠6
Utah4–⁠58–⁠5
Arizona State4–⁠56–⁠7
Oregon State3–⁠63–⁠9
Washington State2–⁠74–⁠8
Arizona2–⁠74–⁠8
Colorado2–⁠83–⁠10

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