1978 USC Trojans football team

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 in the Sugar Bowl, the Trojans felt they deserved the title since they had defeated Alabama and Notre Dame during the regular season, and then Michigan in the Rose Bowl. Both USC and Alabama ended their seasons with a single loss.

1978 USC Trojans football
Coaches Poll national champion Pac-10 champion Rose Bowl champion
Rose Bowl, W 17–10 vs. Michigan
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 1
AP	No. 2
Record	12–1 (6–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	John Robinson (3rd season)
Captains	Lynn Cain Rich Dimler
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Seasons ← 1977 1979 →

1978 Pacific-10 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf.							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 2 USC $	6	–	1	–	0			12	–	1	–	0
No. 14 UCLA	6	–	2	–	0			8	–	3	–	1
Washington	6	–	2	–	0			7	–	4	–	0
Arizona State	4	–	3	–	0			9	–	3	–	0
No. 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

This would be the last national championship won by the Trojans until 2003.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 9	Texas Tech*	No. 9	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 17–9	50,321
September 16	at Oregon	No. 8	Autzen Stadium Eugene, OR		W 37–10	31,000
September 23	at No. 1 Alabama*	No. 7	Legion Field Birmingham, AL		W 24–14	77,313
September 29	Michigan State*	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 30–9	65,319
October 14	at Arizona State	No. 2	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ		L 7–20	70,138
October 21	Oregon State	No. 7	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 38–7	53,734
October 28	California	No. 6	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 42–17	56,954
November 4	at Stanford	No. 6	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (rivalry)		W 13–7	84,084
November 11	No. 19 Washington	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 28–10	54,071
November 18	at No. 14 UCLA	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)		W 17–10	90,387
November 25	No. 8 Notre Dame*	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)		W 27–25	84,256
December 2	at Hawaii*	No. 3	Aloha Stadium Halawa, HI		W 21–5	48,767
January 1, 1979	vs. No. 5 Michigan*	No. 3	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)	NBC	W 17–10	105,629
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game Source:

Game summaries

Notre Dame

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

• Date: November 25
• Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
• Game attendance: 84,256

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 27–25

Rose Bowl

Rose Bowl: Michigan Wolverines vs. USC Trojans

Quarter	1	2	3	4	Total
Michigan	0	3	7	0	10
USC	7	10	0	0	17

at Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

• Date: January 1
• Game attendance: 105,629
• TV announcers (NBC): Curt Gowdy, John Brodie, and O.J. Simpson
• Recap/Box

Game information

First quarter USC – Hoby Brenner 9-yard pass from Paul McDonald (Frank Jordan kick). USC 7–0. Drive: Second quarter MICH – Gregg Willner 36-yard field goal. USC 7–3. Drive: USC – Charles White 3-yard run (Frank Jordan kick). USC 14–3. Drive: USC – Frank Jordan 35-yard field goal. USC 17–3. Drive: Third quarter MICH – R. Smith 44-yard pass from Rick Leach (Gregg Willner kick). USC 17–10. Drive: Top passers MICH – Rick Leach – 10/21, 137 yards, TD, 2 INT USC – Paul McDonald – 4/9, 23 yards, TD Top rushers MICH – Russell Davis – 8 rushes, 28 yards USC – Charles White – 32 rushes, 99 yards, TD Top receivers MICH – Roosevelt Smith – 4 receptions, 58 yards, TD USC – Dan Garcia – 1 reception, 12 yards

Roster

1978 USC Trojans football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB Marcus Allen TE Hoby Brenner OL Brad Budde WR Ray Butler RB Lynn Cain (C) RB Paul DiLulo RB Dwight Ford WR Dan Garcia WR Michael Hayes OL Pat Howell TE James Hunter QB Paul McDonald OL Anthony Muñoz OL Otis Page OL Ray Peters QB Rob Preston TE Vic Rakhshani QB Walt Ransom WR Calvin Sweeney OL Keith Van Horne RB Charles White WR Kevin Williams	Defense Pos. # Name Class DL Chip Banks DB Larry Braziel DL Gary Cobb DB Willie Crawford DL Rich Dimler (C) DL Dennis Edwards LB Riki Ellison DB Carter Hartwig LB Dennis Johnson DL Myron Lapka DB Tim Lavender DB Ronnie Lott LB Larry McGrew LB Charlie Moses LB Eric Scoggins DB Dennis Smith DL Ty Sperling DB Herb Ward	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K Frank Jordan P Marty King	Head coach John Robinson Coordinators/assistant coaches (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

1978 Trojans in the NFL

All 22 starters played in the NFL.

• Marcus Allen
• Chip Banks
• Lynn Cain
• Rich Dimler
• Ronnie Lott
• Anthony Muñoz
• Charles White
• Brad Budde
• Garry Cobb
• Larry Braziel
• Paul McDonald
• Riki Gray
• Ray Butler
• Steve Busick
• Keith Van Horne
• Dennis Smith
• Allen, Lott, and Muñoz are the only three starters on the team enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.