The 2020 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 ...

in the

2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season The 2020 NCAA Division I FBS football season was the 151st season of college football games in the United States. Organized by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at its highest level of competition, the Football Bowl Subdivision ...

. They 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 ...

and competed as members of the South Division 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 ...

. They were led by fifth-year head coach

Clay Helton Clay Charles Helton (born June 24, 1972) is an American college football coach and former player, who is currently the head coach at Georgia Southern. He was previously the head coach of USC from 2015 to 2021. Helton has also been an assistan ...

. On August 11, the Pac-12 Conference initially canceled all fall sports competitions due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. On September 24, the conference announced that a six-game conference-only season would begin on November 6, with the conference's championship game to be played on December 18. Teams not selected for the championship game would be seeded to play a seventh game. USC compiled a 5–0 regular season record, and qualified for the Pac-12 Championship Game, which they lost to

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. The following day, USC announced that it would not play in any

bowl game In North America, a bowl game is one of a number of post-season college football games that are primarily played by teams belonging to the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). For most of its history, the Division I Bowl Subdivis ...

, ending the season with an overall 5–1 record.

Previous season

The Trojans finished 8–5 in

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and 7–2 in Conference play, placing 2nd place in the South Division behind the South Division Champions

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

Offseason

Transfers

The Trojans lost nine players to transfer. The Trojans added 5 players via transfer.

Returning Starters

USC returns 37 starters in 2020 including 15 on offense, 19 on defense, and 3 on special teams. Key departures include

Michael Pittman Jr. Michael Pittman Jr. (born October 5, 1997) is an American football wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at USC, where he was named a consensus second-team All-American as a ...

( WR – 13 games), Austin Jackson ( OT – 13 games), Drew Richmond ( OT – 12 games), Christian Rector ( DE – 10 games), John Houston Jr. ( ILB – 13 games) Other departures include Jack Sears ( QB – 1 game in 2018), Dominic Davis ( WR – 9 games), and Jacob Daniel ( OG – 6 games).

Offense (15)

Defense (19)

Special teams (3)

Recruiting class

2020 NFL Draft

NFL Combine

The official list of participants for the 2020 NFL Combine included USC football players Michael Pittman (WR) and Austin Jackson (OT).

Team players drafted into the NFL

Preseason

Pac-12 media days

Pac-12 media polls

In the 2020 Pac-12 preseason media poll.

Preseason All-Pac-12 teams

Personnel

Coaching staff

Roster

Depth chart

* Official Depth Chart as of 11/6/2020 ''True Freshman''
Double Position : *

Scholarship distribution chart

/ / * Former Walk-on – 85 scholarships permitted, 82 currently allotted to players – 81 recruited players on scholarship (on former walk-ons) – Transfer portal out : Palaie Gaoteote IV (ILB, -), Abdul-Malik McClain (OLB, Jackson State), Chase McGrath (K, -) – COVID-19 Opt out to NFL : Jay Tufele (DL) Scholarship Distribution 2020

Schedule

Regular season

USC had games scheduled against

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

New Mexico ) , population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano) , seat = Santa Fe , LargestCity = Albuquerque , LargestMetro = Tiguex , OfficialLang = None , Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...

, and Notre Dame, but canceled these games on July 10 because the Pac-12 Conference decided to play a conference-only schedule because of the

Game summaries

Arizona State

Arizona

Utah

Washington State

UCLA

Oregon

Rankings

Statistics

Pac-12 opponents

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

Players drafted into the NFL

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

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 ...