1975 USC Trojans football team

The 1975 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the Pacific-8 Conference during the 1975 NCAA Division I football season. In their 15th year under head coach John McKay, the Trojans compiled an 8–4 record (3–4 in Pac-8, fifth), and outscored their opponents 247 to 140.^[1] The team was ranked #17 in the final AP Poll and #19 in the final UPI Coaches Poll.

1975 USC Trojans football
Liberty Bowl champion
Liberty Bowl, W 20–0 vs. Texas A&M
Conference	Pacific-8 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 19
AP	No. 17
Record	8–4 (3–4 Pac-8)
Head coach	John McKay (16th season)
Captains	Kevin Bruce Danny Reece
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Seasons ← 1974 1976 →

1975 Pacific-8 Conference football standings

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 5 UCLA ^ +	6	–	1	–	0			9	–	2	–	1
No. 14 California +	6	–	1	–	0			8	–	3	–	0
Stanford	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	4	–	1
Washington	5	–	2	–	0			6	–	5	–	0
No. 17 USC	3	–	4	–	0			8	–	4	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0			1	–	10	–	0
Washington State	0	–	7	–	0			3	–	8	–	0
+ – Conference co-champions ^ – Selected as Rose Bowl representative Rankings from AP Poll

Quarterback Vince Evans led the team in passing, completing 35 of 112 passes for 695 yards with three touchdowns and nine interceptions. Ricky Bell led the team in rushing with 385 carries for 1,957 yards and 13 touchdowns. Randy Simmrin led the team in receiving with 26 catches for 478 yards and one touchdown.^[2]

Opening with seven wins, the Trojans lost all four conference games in November, and were invited to the Liberty Bowl.

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 12	Duke*	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 35–7	56,727	[3]
September 19	Oregon State	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 24–7	50,165
September 27	Purdue*	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 19–6	56,170
October 4	at Iowa*	No. 3	Kinnick Stadium Iowa City, IA		W 27–16	54,600
October 11	Washington State	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 28–10	47,468
October 18	Oregon	No. 3	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 17–3	50,542
October 25	at No. 14 Notre Dame*	No. 3	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	ABC	W 24–17	59,075
November 1	at California	No. 4	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	ABC	L 14–28	58,871
November 8	Stanford	No. 9	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)		L 10–13	68,249
November 15	at Washington	No. 13	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA		L 7–8	53,700
November 28	No. 14 UCLA		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	ABC	L 22–25	80,927
December 22	vs. No. 6 Texas A&M*		Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN (Liberty Bowl)	ABC	W 20–0	52,129
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Roster

1975 USC Trojans football team roster
Players			Coaches
Offense Pos. # Name Class RB 42 Ricky Bell Jr RB 21 Lynn Cain So WR 26 Shelton Diggs Jr QB 8 Vince Evans Jr TE 86 William Gay So QB 6 Rob Hertel So G 61 Donnie Hickman Jr G 66 Pat Howell Fr G 65 Melvin Jackson Sr OT 76 Marvin Powell Jr OT 74 John Schuhmacher So FB 36 Mosi Tatupu So	Defense Pos. # Name Class DB 44 Mike Burns Jr LB 58 Mario Celotto So LB 85 Garry Cobb Fr DT 92 Rich Dimler Fr LB 88 Ricky Jackson Fr DT 79 Gary Jeter Jr DT 96 Myron Lapka Fr LB 57 David Lewis Jr LB 52 Rod Martin Jr LB 60 Clay Matthews So DB 33 Ricky Odom So CB 46 Danny Reece Sr DB 7 Dennis Thurman So LB 55 Eric Williams Jr	Special teams Pos. # Name Class K/P 39 Glen Walker Jr	Head coach John McKay Coordinators/assistant coaches Legend (C) Team captain (S) Suspended (I) Ineligible Injured Redshirt

Game summaries

Duke

• Ricky Bell 34 rushes, 256 yards ^[4]

Oregon State

Purdue

• Ricky Bell 89 rush yards

At Iowa

1 2 3 4 Total • USC 0 7 17 3 27 Iowa 10 0 0 6 16 Date: October 4 Location: Kinnick Stadium Game attendance: 54,600

Scoring summary Q1 IOWA Quartaro 26 yard field goal IOWA 3–0 Q1 IOWA Holmes 1 yard run (Quartaro kick) IOWA 10–0 Q2 1:26 USC Hertel 3 yard run (Walker kick) IOWA 10–7 Q3 10:03 USC Simmrin 10 yard pass from Hertel (Walker kick) USC 14–10 Q3 USC Hertel 6 yard run (Walker kick) USC 21–10 Q3 USC Walker 47 yard field goal USC 24–10 Q4 11:26 USC Walker 25 yard field goal USC 27–10 Q4 0:20 IOWA Wellington from McLaughlin (pass failed) USC 27–16

^[5]

Washington State

1 2 3 4 Total Washington St 3 0 0 7 10 • USC 0 14 7 7 28 Date: October 11 Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles Game attendance: 47,468

Scoring summary 1 Washington St Diedrick 24-yard field goal Washington St 3-0 2 USC Hertel 2-yard run (Walker kick) USC 7-3 2 USC Reece 64-yard punt return (Walker kick) USC 14-3 3 USC Tatupu 28-yard run (Walker kick) USC 21-3 4 4:42 USC Bell 3-yard run (Walker kick) USC 28-3 4 Washington St Williams 5-yard run (Diedrick kick) USC 28-10

Ricky Bell 38 Rush, 217 Yds

^[6]

At Notre Dame

1 2 3 4 Total • USC 0 7 7 10 24 Notre Dame 6 8 0 3 17 Date: October 25 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, Notre Dame, Indiana Game attendance: 59,075 TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson, Bud Wilkinson

Scoring summary Q1 ND Hunter 52 yard run (kick failed) ND 6–0 Q2 USC Diggs 21 yard pass from Evans (Walker kick) USC 7–6 Q2 ND Lopienski 13 yard blocked punt return (Haines pass from Hunter) ND 14–7 Q3 USC Bell 2 yard run (Walker kick) Tie 14–14 Q4 ND Reeve 27 yard field goal ND 17–14 Q4 7:28 USC Evans 2 yard run (Walker kick) USC 21–17 Q4 USC Walker 35 yard field goal USC 24–17

^[7]

1975 team players in the NFL

The following players were drafted into professional football following the season.

Player	Position	Round	Pick	Franchise
Danny Reece	Defensive back	3	69	Cincinnati Bengals
Joe Davis	Tackle	8	211	New York Jets
Mel Jackson	Guard	12	328	Green Bay Packers
Doug Hogan	Defensive back	16	454	Oakland Raiders

^[8]

In Popular Culture

Scenes from the November 8 game against Stanford are featured in a 1976 episode of the television series Emergency! entitled “The Game.”

References

1. "Southern California Yearly Results (1975-1979)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
2. "1975 Southern California Trojans Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
3. "Bell has a ball for USC, 35–7". Independent Press-Telegram. September 13, 1975. Retrieved January 26, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
4. 2020 USC Media Guide Supplement
5. Eugene Register-Guard. 1975 Oct 5. Retrieved 2018-Nov-09.
6. "Trojans Stagger Cougars". The Palm Beach Post. October 12, 1975.
7. "Bells Gains 165, USC Clips Irish". The Register-Guard. Eugene. October 26, 1975.
8. "1976 NFL Draft Listing - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Archived from the original on December 21, 2007.