2002 USC Trojans football team

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Ranking
Coaches	No. 4
AP	No. 4

2002 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
v t e
Team	W		L	W		L
No. 10 Washington State $+	7	–	1	10	–	3
No. 4 USC %+	7	–	1	11	–	2
Arizona State	5	–	3	8	–	6
UCLA	4	–	4	8	–	5
Oregon State	4	–	4	8	–	5
California	4	–	4	7	–	5
Washington	4	–	4	7	–	6
Oregon	3	–	5	7	–	6
Arizona	1	–	7	4	–	8
Stanford	1	–	7	2	–	9

$ – BCS representative as conference champion % – BCS at-large representative + – Conference co-champions Rankings from AP Poll

The 2002 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California in the 2002 NCAA Division I-A football season. USC ended the regular season ranked #5 in both the AP Poll and the Coaches' Poll. Trojans quarterback Carson Palmer won the 2002 Heisman Trophy as the best college football player in America. During the bowl games, USC had a convincing 38–17 win over #3 Iowa in the Orange Bowl. USC became #4 in the final AP Poll and Coaches' Poll. Other notable players for the USC Trojans in 2002 include WR#2 Kareem Kelly, RB#21 Malaefou Mackenzie, QB#10 Matt Cassel, RB#4 Sultan McCullough, RB#39 Sunny Byrd, RB#34 Chad Pierson, WR#44 Gregg Guenther, TE#86 Dominique Byrd, WR#83 Keary Colbert, WR#1 Mike Williams, and WR#87 Grant Mattos.

Recruiting

USC was ranked highly (#12 by Scout, #13 by Rivals) for getting Darnell Bing, Manuel Wright, Winston Justice, Fred Matua, Tom Malone, Jason Mitchell, Hershel Dennis, Kyle Williams, Dominique Byrd, Dallas Sartz, Justin Wyatt, Chris McFoy, Mike Williams, LaJuan Ramsey, Oscar Lua and Brandon Hancock among others.

Schedule

The Trojans finished the season with an 11–2 record, 7–1 in the Pac-10.[8]

September 25:00 PMAuburn*No. 20

ABCW 24–17 63,269^[1] September 1412:30 PMat No. 18 Colorado*No. 18

ABCW 40–3 53,119^[1] September 214:00 PMat No. 25 Kansas State*No. 11

TBSL 20–27 49,276^[1] September 283:30 PMNo. 23 Oregon StateNo. 18

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, CA

FSNW 22–0 56,417^[1] October 54:00 PMat No. 17 Washington StateNo. 18

TBSL 27–30 ^OT36,861^[1] October 123:30 PMCaliforniaNo. 20

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, CA

FSNW 30–28 63,113^[1] October 1912:30 PMNo. 22 WashingtonNo. 19

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, CA

ABCW 41–21 52,961^[1] October 2612:30 PMat No. 14 OregonNo. 15

ABCW 44–33 56,754^[1] November 95:00 PMat StanfordNo. 10

ABCW 49–17 44,950^[1] November 164:00 PMArizona StateNo. 8

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, CA

TBSW 34–13 73,923^[1] November 2312:30 PMat No. 25 UCLANo. 7

ABCW 52–21 91,084^[1] November 305:00 PMNo. 7 Notre Dame*No. 6

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Los Angeles, CA

ABCW 44–13 91,432^[1] January 25:00 PMvs. No. 3 Iowa*No. 5

ABCW 38–17 75,971^[1]

Template:CFB Schedule End

Game summaries

Auburn

	1	2	3	4	Total
Auburn	7	7	0	3	17
• USC	7	7	3	7	24

Date: September 2
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles

^[2]

Colorado

	1	2	3	4	Total
• USC	14	6	0	20	40
Colorado	0	0	3	0	3

Date: September 14
Location: Folsom Field, Boulder, Colorado

^[3]

Kansas State

	1	2	3	4	Total
USC	0	6	0	14	20
• Kansas State	0	12	7	8	27

Date: September 21
Location: KSU Stadium, Manhattan, Kansas

^[4]

Oregon State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Oregon State	0	0	0	0	0
• USC	0	13	6	3	22

Date: September 28
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles

^[5]

Washington State

	1	2	3	4	OT	Total
USC	7	0	7	13	0	27
• Washington State	10	0	7	10	3	30

Date: October 5
Location: Martin Stadium, Pullman, Washington

^[6]

California

	1	2	3	4	Total
California	14	7	0	7	28
• USC	3	14	7	6	30

Date: October 12
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles

^[7]

Washington

#22/17 Washington at #19/20 USC

	1	2	3	4	Total
Washington	7	0	0	14	21
• USC	7	10	17	7	41

Date: October 19
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson, Dan Fouts & Todd Harris

^[8]

Oregon

Stanford

Arizona State

UCLA

Notre Dame

	1	2	3	4	Total
Notre Dame	6	7	0	0	13
• USC	0	17	13	14	44

Date: November 30
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
Game start: 8:00 p.m. EST
Elapsed time: 3:26
Game attendance: 91,432
Game weather: Cloudy; 60°F; wind variable
Referee: Chuck McFerrin
Television network: ABC

Carson Palmer 32/46, 425 Yds
Justin Fargas 20 Rush, 120 Yds
Mike Williams 10 Rec, 169 Yds

^[9]

Orange Bowl

#3/5 Iowa Hawkeyes at #5/4 USC Trojans

	1	2	3	4	Total
Iowa	10	0	0	7	17
• USC	7	3	14	14	38

Date: January 2
Location: Pro Player Stadium
Game attendance: 75,971^[10]
TV announcers (ABC): Tim Brant, Ed Cunningham

USC played third ranked Iowa in the Orange Bowl. The matchup featured the top two finalists for that season's Heisman Trophy; Trophy winner Carson Palmer and runner up Brad Banks.^[11] Banks was the quarterback for the Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes had only lost one game all year and it was to their rival Iowa State. Iowa opened the play up with a bang and set an Orange Bowl record when C.J. Jones returned the opening kickoff of the game 100 yards for a touchdown. USC responded with a touchdown run on from running back Justin Fargas. Iowa regained the lead with a field goal from Nate Kaeding. USC would kick a field goal in the second quarter to even the score 10-10 at the half. USC came out in the second half and separated themselves from Iowa scoring twice in the third quarter to take a 24-10 lead. The first score was a pass from Palmer to Mike Williams and the second was another run from Fargas. USC ended the third quarter with the ball and scored quickly in the fourth quarter giving them a 31-10 lead. The lead grew when Iowa continued to be unable to do anything with the ball and USC took advantage on a rushing touchdown from fan favorite Sunny Byrd to make the score 38-10. Iowa would score off a touchdown pass from Banks however it was too late. USC would end up winning 38-17.

The Trojans dominated time of possession in the game, having control of the ball for 38:06 seconds. This allowed for the Trojans defense to rest while keeping the Iowa defense out on the field and making them tired. USC's defense did not give up a touchdown to Iowa until the fourth quarter of the game and forced Banks to throw his first interception since October 19.^[12]

2002 team players in the NFL

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m "Cumulative Season Statistics". University of Southern California Department of Athletics. Retrieved November 7, 2014.
^ [1]
^ [2]
^ [3]
^ [4]
^ [5]
^ [6]
^ [7]
^ USC Official Athletic Site - Football - History. Retrieved 2014-Oct-19.
^ http://web.archive.org/web/20090602014445/http://www.orangebowl.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=11800&KEY=&ATCLID=1249402
^ http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-2002.html
^ http://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?id=230020030

[statistics-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m "Cumulative Season Statistics". University of Southern California Department of Athletics. Retrieved November 7, 2014.

[2] [1]

[3] [2]

[4] [3]

[5] [4]

[6] [5]

[7] [6]

[8] [7]

[9] USC Official Athletic Site - Football - History. Retrieved 2014-Oct-19.

[10] ttp://web.archive.org/web/20090602014445/http://www.orangebowl.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=11800&KEY=&ATCLID=1249402

[11] ttp://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/awards/heisman-2002.html

[12] ttp://espn.go.com/ncf/recap?id=230020030

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[5]

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v t e USC Trojans football
Venues	Athletic Park (1895–1898) Fiesta Park (1897–1898, 1901–1902, 1904–1906, 1916) Chutes Park (1900) Prager Park (1903) Bovard Field (1904–1910, 1914–1915, 1917–1923) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923–present) Jones Field/Kennedy Field (practice)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Notre Dame Stanford UCLA: Victory Bell
Culture & lore	Traveler George Tirebiter Giles Pellerin "Fight On" Spirit of Troy Student Body Right Tommy Trojan Tribute to Troy Athletics scandal 1967 "Game of the Century" "Bush Push" 2007 Stanford game So This Is College
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911–1913 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 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Pac-12 Conference football champions
Pacific Coast	Washington (1916) Washington State (1917) California (1918) Oregon & Washington (1919) California (1920) California (1921) California (1922) California (1923) Stanford (1924) Washington (1925) Stanford (1926) Idaho, Stanford, & USC (1927) USC (1928) USC (1929) Washington State (1930) USC (1931) USC (1932) Oregon & Stanford (1933) Stanford (1934) California, Stanford, & UCLA (1935) Washington (1936) California (1937) California & USC (1938) USC (1939) Stanford (1940) Oregon State (1941) UCLA (1942) USC (1943) USC (1944) USC (1945) UCLA (1946) USC (1947) California & Oregon (1948) California (1949) California (1950) Stanford (1951) USC (1952) UCLA (1953) UCLA (1954) UCLA (1955) Oregon State (1956) Oregon & Oregon State (1957) California (1958)
AAWU	UCLA, USC, & Washington (1959) Washington (1960) UCLA (1961) USC (1962) Washington (1963) Oregon State & USC (1964) UCLA (1965) USC (1966) USC (1967)
Pacific-8	USC (1968) USC (1969) Stanford (1970) Stanford (1971) USC (1972) USC (1973) USC (1974) California & UCLA (1975) USC (1976) Washington (1977)
Pacific-10	USC (1978) USC (1979) Washington (1980) Washington (1981) UCLA (1982) UCLA (1983) USC (1984) UCLA (1985) Arizona State (1986) USC & UCLA (1987) USC (1988) USC (1989) Washington (1990) Washington (1991) Washington & Stanford (1992) Arizona, UCLA, & USC (1993) Oregon (1994) USC & Washington (1995) Arizona State (1996) UCLA & Washington State (1997) UCLA (1998) Stanford (1999) Oregon, Oregon State, & Washington (2000) Oregon (2001) USC & Washington State (2002) USC (2003) USC (2004) vacated USC (2005) vacated California & USC (2006) Arizona State & USC (2007) USC (2008) Oregon (2009) Oregon (2010)
Pac-12	Oregon (2011) Stanford (2012) Stanford (2013) Oregon (2014) Stanford (2015) Washington (2016) USC (2017) Washington (2018) Oregon (2019) Oregon (2020) Utah (2021) Utah (2022) Washington (2023)
National championships in bold