1978 USC Trojans football team

National Champions (Coaches Poll)
Pac-10 Champions
Rose Bowl Champions

Conference

Ranking

Coaches

1978 record

12–1 (6–1 Pac-10)

Head coach

Home stadium

Seasons

v t e	Conf					Overall
1978 Pacific-10 football standings
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
#2 USC †	6	–	1	–	0	12	–	1	–	0
#14 UCLA	6	–	2	–	0	8	–	3	–	1
Washington	6	–	2	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Arizona State	4	–	3	–	0	9	–	3	–	0
#17 Stanford	4	–	3	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
California	3	–	4	–	0	6	–	5	–	0
Arizona	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0	2	–	9	–	0
Oregon State	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	7	–	1
Washington State	1	–	7	–	0	3	–	7	–	1

† – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. Following the season, the Trojans were crowned national champions according to the Coaches Poll. While Alabama claimed the AP Poll title because it had defeated top-ranked Penn State on the field, the Trojans pointed out that they had also only lost once and had beaten Alabama in the regular season.

Schedule

The Trojans finished the regular season with a 11–1 record before going on to defeat the Michigan Wolverines 17–10 in the Rose Bowl.

Date	Opponent^#	Rank^#	Site	Result	Attendance
September 9	Texas Tech*	#9	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA	W 17–9	50,321
September 16	at Oregon	#8	Autzen Stadium • Eugene, OR	W 37–10	31,000
September 23	vs. #1 Alabama*	#7	Legion Field • Birmingham, AL	W 24–14	77,313
September 29	Michigan State*	#3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA	W 30–9	65,319
October 14	at Arizona State	#2	Sun Devil Stadium • Tempe, AZ	L 7–20	70,138
October 21	Oregon State	#7	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA	W 38–7	53,734
October 28	California	#6	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA	W 42–17	56,954
November 4	at Stanford	#6	Stanford Stadium • Palo Alto, CA	W 13–7	84,084
November 11	#19 Washington	#5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA	W 28–10	54,071
November 18	at #14 UCLA	#5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA (Battle for the Victory Bell)	W 17–10	90,387
November 25	#8 Notre Dame*	#3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum • Los Angeles, CA (Notre Dame – USC rivalry)	W 27–25	84,256
December 2	at Hawaii*	#3	Aloha Stadium • Honolulu, HI	W 21–5	48,767
January 1	vs. #5 Michigan*	#3	Rose Bowl • Pasadena, CA (1979 Rose Bowl)	W 17–10	105,629
*Non-conference game. Homecoming. ^#Rankings from AP Poll.

	1	2	3	4	Total
Notre Dame	3	0	3	19	25
• USC	6	11	7	3	27

Scoring summary

1		USC	Williams 50 yard pass from McDonald (kick failed)	USC 6-0

1		ND	Unis 47 yard field goal	USC 6-3

2		USC	Garcia 35 yard pass from McDonald (McDonald to Hunter pass)	USC 14-3

2		USC	Jordan 39 yard field goal	USC 17-3

3		ND	Unis 26 yard field goal	USC 17-6

3	7:38	USC	White 1 yard run (Jordan kick)	USC 24-6

4	12:26	ND	Haines 57 yard pass from Montana (pass failed)	USC 24-12

4	3:01	ND	Buchanan 1 yard run (Unis kick)	USC 24-19

4	0:46	ND	Holohan 2 yard pass from Montana (pass failed)	ND 25-24

4	0:02	USC	Jordan 37 yard field goal	USC 27-26

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v t e USC Trojans football

Venues	Bovard Field (?–1922) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923–present) Howard Jones Field (practice)

Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Notre Dame (Jeweled Shillelagh) UCLA (Victory Bell)

Culture & lore	Traveler George Tirebiter Giles Pellerin "Fight On" Spirit of Troy Tommy Trojan

People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks

Seasons	1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

National championship seasons in bold

1978 USC Trojans football—UPI national champions