The 2023 USC Trojans football team represented the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

(USC) as a member of the

Pac-12 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

during the

2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2023 NCAA Division I FBS football season is the 154th season of college football in the United States organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). ...

. In their second year under head coach

Lincoln Riley Lincoln Michael Riley (born September 5, 1983) is an American college football coach and former player who is the head coach of the USC Trojans football program at the University of Southern California. He previously served as the head coach a ...

, the Trojans were preseason picks to win the Pac-12 championship, but compiled a 7–5 record (5–4 against conference opponents) during the regular season. The team began the season by winning six consecutive games but lost five of their final six games, including losses to rivals Notre Dame and

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

. The unranked Trojans defeated No. 16

Louisville Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border. ...

in the 2023 Holiday Bowl. The season was USC's last season as a member of the

before joining the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

on July 1, 2024. The Trojans played their home games at the

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (also known as the L.A. Coliseum) is a multi-purpose stadium in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. Conceived as a hallmark of civic pride, the Coliseum was commissioned in 1921 as a mem ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Preseason

USC's spring football game was held on April 15, 2023 at the

. The defense (white team) defeated the offense (red team) by a 42-34 score. The Pac-12 Media Day was held on July 21, 2023, in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Head coach

, quarterback

Caleb Williams Caleb Williams (born November 18, 2001) is an American football quarterback for the USC Trojans. Williams played for the Oklahoma Sooners in 2021 before transferring to USC as a sophomore in 2022, where he won several player of the year awards, i ...

, and linebacker Mason Cobb represented USC at the event. USC was picked to finish first in the conference, receiving 25 out of a possible 36 first-place votes.

Schedule

Games summaries

vs San Jose State

vs Nevada

vs Stanford

at Arizona State

at Colorado

vs Arizona

at No. 21 Notre Dame

vs No. 14 Utah

at California

vs Washington

at Oregon

vs UCLA ( Victory Bell)

vs Louisville (
Holiday Bowl The Holiday Bowl is a post-season NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game that has been played in San Diego since 1978. San Diego County Credit Union has been the game's title sponsor since 2017, and the bowl has b ...
)

Personnel

Roster and coaching staff

Depth chart

''True Freshman''
Double Position : *
official Depth Chart Week 0 vs San José State (08/26/2023)

Injury report

Scholarship distribution chart

*Projected Scholarship Distribution 2023 chart ^ : the players who still have to make an official choice and the players who are eligible for the Covid year. / / * Former Walk-on / – 84 players on scholarship (+ 1 LDS Mission) / 85 scholarships permitted

Coaching staff departures

Coaching staff additions

Transfers

Transfers out

The Trojans have lost 23 players via transfer.

Transfers in

The Trojans have added 16 players via transfer. According to 247 Sports, USC had the No. 2 ranked transfer class in the country.

Entered NFL draft

Returning starters

Offense Defense Special teams

Recruiting class

USC signed 22 players in the 2023 recruiting cycle. Eight USC signees were ranked in the ESPN 300 top prospect list. The Trojans finished ranked eighth by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

. In addition to bringing in a Top 5 transfer portal class. USC added 5 walk-ons during the national signing period. *= 247Sports Composite rating; ratings are out of 1.00. ''(five stars= 1.00–.98, four stars= .97–.90, three stars= .80–.89, two stars= .79–.70, no stars= <70)''
†= Despite being rated as a four and five star recruit by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, On3.com,

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

and

247Sports.com 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite be ...

, Malachi Nelson and Zachariah Branch received a five star 247Sports Composite rating.
Δ= Left the USC program following signing but prior to the 2023 season. 2023 overall class rankings

Walk-ons

Award watch lists

Listed in the order that they were released

Preseason All-Pac-12 teams and All-American honors

First team Second team All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention Source:

Rankings

Statistics

Team

Individual Leaders

Offense

Defense

Key: POS: Position, SOLO: Solo Tackles, AST: Assisted Tackles, TOT: Total Tackles, TFL: Tackles-for-loss, SACK: Quarterback Sacks, INT: Interceptions, BU: Passes Broken Up, PD: Passes Defended, QBH: Quarterback Hits, FR: Fumbles Recovered, FF: Forced Fumbles, BLK: Kicks or Punts Blocked, SAF: Safeties, TD : Touchdown

Special teams

Scoring

USC vs. non-conference opponents

USC vs. Pac-12 opponents

USC vs. all opponents

References

{{USC Trojans football navbox

USC USC most often refers to: * University of South Carolina, a public research university ** University of South Carolina System, the main university and its satellite campuses **South Carolina Gamecocks, the school athletic program * University of ...

USC Trojans football seasons Holiday Bowl champion seasons

USC Trojans football The USC Trojans football program represents University of Southern California in the sport of American football. The Trojans compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Pac-12 Con ...