When No. 10 Stanford hosts No. 7 USC (8:30 p.m. ET Saturday, FOX), it’ll be the 97th meeting in a series that dates back to 1919. While the two began playing on a consistent basis in 1946, the series has garnered much more national attention over the last 10 years than in any decade prior.
Stanford-USC is now annually important *and* a rivalry
A series that was long dominated by the Trojans is now a must-win game for both California private schools.
Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
The reason: Stanford stopped being bullied around and did some bullying of its own. While the Trojans hold a 61-32-3 edge, the Cardinal have controlled the last decade and entered 2017 on a three-game winning streak. The Trojans regained control by beating the Cardinal in Los Angeles last year and again in the Pac-12 Championship.
Heading into 2018’s matchup, Stanford is a 6-point favorite. This year’s game has some pretty high stakes. Both teams are legitimate Pac-12 contenders, and Stanford running back and Heisman finalist Bryce Love has a chance to bounce back after a slow start last week against San Diego State.
With another game of this magnitude, is Stanford-USC finally a true rivalry?
Here’s what Nick Dempsey, who happened to run both SB Nation’s USC (Conquest Chronicles) and Stanford (Rule of Tree) sites (that’s a rare thing!) in 2017, said at the time:
I can see how others outside of Pac-12 Country might not see this as a rivalry. I’m an Ohio native. I grew up an hour north of Columbus, Ohio, so my opinion of rivalry is entirely molded by growing up in the heart of the Ohio State vs. Michigan. So when I think of rivalry, I think of late November, usually around Thanksgiving, lousy weather, supercharged feelings, and downright hatred. I’ve seen fights, violence, grown adults crying, drunken revelry, riot police, and actual dumpsters set on fire because of college football rivalry.
You really just do not get that from an early September game, and you almost never get that from a game involving Stanford. So I can totally understand how people would feel like it is not a real rivalry, but make no mistake; these two teams absolutely have this game circled on their schedule, and it is absolutely a must win for both teams.
The now-legendary 2007 game was definitely a turning point, and I think it will be difficult to adequately answer this question without talking about the decade since. When Jim Harbaugh was on the Farm, he definitely notched up the intensity, with “what’s your deal” joining the ranks of college football lore (in fact, there is an entire media industry trying to determine what Harbaugh’s deal is). Clay Helton and David Shaw though are not Pete Carroll or Jim Harbaugh, though, so you likely won’t see any sort of bitterness stemming from them getting a little too intense or emotional.
At the end of the day, this is definitely a game that both teams and fan bases look forward to and both view this as a must watch/must win.
Other USC and Stanford fans weighed in, too.
”It’s totally a rivalry, from the Stanford perspective,” Rule of Tree’s Cameron Satterlee said last year. “It’s always a must-win game, and it always carries weight in the Pac-12 race. Beyond being just an important game, there’s a very tangible emotional element for Stanford fans.
“It might even be our most important must-win rivalry, since Cal has been so bad lately,” Satterlee continued. “I have a feeling that even though USC fans normally wouldn’t deign to call us a rival, in the post-2007 world where the Cardinal won eight of 11 games, Trojan fans are fixated on beating Stanford as much as Stanford fans are fixated on beating USC.”
“Here’s the thing about college football: it is all about traditions,” Conquest Chronicle’s Josh Eccles said. “Calling USC vs. Stanford a rivalry may ruffle the feathers of some traditionalists but, honestly, I would call it exactly that. I would even go as far as saying it’s probably a rivalry more so geared toward a newer generation of football fans, mainly due to the Jim Harbaugh/Pete Carroll dynamic of the mid-to-late 2000s.
“Both programs are proud of their respective histories. There is the whole Northern California vs. Southern California angle. They’re both private schools. There are many things that, to me, make this a rivalry,” Eccles added. “Traditionalists would probably list rivalries steeped in more history than this one, but I would definitely make the argument that USC vs. Stanford is, at worst, in the conversation for most entertaining rivalry at this point in time.”
The game gained intensity starting in 2007
That year’s game was an upset thriller, with the unranked Cardinal beating the Trojans, 24-23, during Harbaugh’s first season in Palo Alto. Carroll’s USC team was expected to roll over Stanford:
Stanford had gone 1-11 the year before, and Harbaugh began with three blowout losses in four games.
Carroll’s two-time-champion, 35-game-home-winning-streak, preseason No. 1 Trojans hosted Stanford and, speaking of huge gambles, was favored by anywhere from 39 to 41.5 points. The Cardinal were also sending out first-time starting QB Tavita Pritchard.
One of the biggest plays on the game-winning drive: Pritchard converting a fourth-and-20 by throwing to a Harbaugh WR who’d later play CB for Carroll against Harbaugh in the NFL. You know him as Richard Sherman.
They say it’s the biggest point-spread upset ever. It topped Appalachian State’s win at Michigan by more than a touchdown, giving 2007 arguably the two biggest upsets of all time.
Shortly after that was the famous “what’s your deal?” game, when Carroll and Harbaugh had a postgame staredown.
There have been some memorable ones over the last few years
The 2011 matchup went into triple overtime and resulted in a 56-48 Stanford victory that was nearly as unforgettable as ‘07:
Stanford started with a touchdown and USC matched it. USC began the 2nd overtime with a touchdown, and then Luck found Levine Toilolo to tie it again.
In the third overtime, Stepfan Taylor found pay dirt, then Luck feinted right before spinning a dime to Coby Fleener for the extra two points.
USC needed eight to match, and as the Trojans once again threatened the end zone, Terrence Stephens’ powerful right hand thumped the ball out.
The ball squirted into the end zone — triggering a gasp from the still-packed Coliseum — and A.J. Tarpley pounced on the football to extend the Cardinal’s 16-game win streak.
In 2013, an unranked USC team pulled off a 20-17 upset over No. 4 Stanford, which was capped off by a game-winning field goal.
Stanford’s had the upper hand recently, but last season’s Trojans might have reset the tone
Between 2007 and 2017, the historically lesser program beat its big-brand state rival seven times in the regular season and once in the Pac-12 Championship. Before last season’s USC victory, the Trojans hadn’t won since 2014. We’ll see if USC can keep things on the up-and-up on Saturday.
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