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Fansided

USC Football’s 8 Greatest Non-UCLA Losses since 2000

By Nathan Eberhardt

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Sep 17, 2016; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal quarterback Ryan Burns (17) throws a pass during a NCAA football game against the USC Trojans at Stanford Stadium. Stanford defeated USC 27-10. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 17, 2016; Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cardinal quarterback Ryan Burns (17) throws a pass during a NCAA football game against the USC Trojans at Stanford Stadium. Stanford defeated USC 27-10. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports /

3. Oct. 6, 2007 | Los Angeles, CA | Stanford 24 – USC 23

Because Vegas is not in the habit of giving out official lines on games between FBS and FCS opponents (sorry, Appalachian State), this loss I believe still ranks as the single largest upset by point spread in college football history.

Number 2 USC hosted a Stanford team which was coming off of a 1-11 season, and the Trojans were favored by something like 42 points. New Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh and quarterback Tavita Pritchard somehow navigated the game and pulled off the stunner.

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This was occurring at the same time as the abysmal Notre Dame-UCLA game in the Rose Bowl, in which McLeod Bethel-Thompson and a freshman Jimmy Clausen battled it out in the sloppiest rock fight you’ve ever seen.

I was out at what was then the UCLA bar in Washington, DC, the Ugly Mug, which was packed with Bruin fans. As Stanford clawed its way back into the game with USC, the focus of the room definitely shifted to that TV, and we prevailed upon the bartender to shift the sound feed to that game. When Pritchard hit Mark Bradford for the go ahead score in the final minute, the roar in that bar was deafening. We no longer knew nor cared what was happening on the other TV in the waning twilight of Karl Dorrell‘s UCLA tenure. USC had been slain, and our hero was an intense yelling man named Harbaugh.