| 2007 Stanford vs. Southern California football game | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Conference Game | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | October 6, 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Location | Los Angeles, California | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | USC by 41 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National anthem | Spirit of Troy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Michael Batlan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Halftime show | Stanford Band, Spirit of Troy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 85,125 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| United States TV coverage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Network | Versus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Ron Thulin, Kelly Stouffer, Lewis Johnson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The 2007 Stanford vs. Southern California football game was a college football game held on October 6, 2007, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. In a remarkable upset, the visiting Stanford Cardinal won 24–23. Southern California (USC) was favored by 41 points over Stanford, making the game the largest point spread upset in college football history.[1] USC entered the game with a 35-game home game winning streak (its previous home game loss was also happened to be to Stanford, in 2001) which included a 24-game home game winning streak in Pac-10 play. By contrast, Stanford had compiled a Pac-10 worst 1–11 season in 2006 which included a 42–0 loss to USC. To compound their situation, Stanford's starting quarterback, T. C. Ostrander, had suffered a seizure the previous week; the backup quarterback, Tavita Pritchard had never started a game and had only ever thrown three passes.
Game summary[]
The weather was sunny and 74 degrees with a slight West wind. The game began at 4:09pm Pacific Daylight Time. It ended at 7:36pm.
Scoring[]
First quarter[]
- USC - David Buehler 34 yd field goal USC 3-0
Second quarter[]
- USC - C. Washington 1 yd run (PAT failed) USC 9-0
Third quarter[]
- Stanford - Austin Yancy 31 yd interception return (Deric Belch kick) USC 9-7
- USC - Davis, Fred 63 yd pass from Booty, J.D. (David Buehler kick) USC 16-7
Fourth quarter[]
- Stanford - Anthony Kimble 1 yd run (Derek Belch kick) USC 16-14
- USC - Ronald Johnson 47 yd pass from Booty, J.D. (David Buehler kick) USC 23-14
- Stanford - Derek Belch 26 yd field goal USC 23-17
- Stanford - Mark Bradford 10 yd pass from T. Pritchard (Derek Belch kick) Stanford 24-23
Aftermath[]
The final score was announced at the Rose Bowl, where USC's two arch-rivals, UCLA and Notre Dame, were playing each other. Irish and Bruins fans cheered in unison and celebrated together briefly.[2]At the same time, at Tiger Stadium, the #1 LSU Tigers were playing the #9 Florida Gators and the fans in the stadium celebrated when the USC score was announced there, too.[3] The Tigers would later come from behind to beat the Gators 28-24, making them #1 in both polls with USC dropping from #1 in the coaches poll due to the loss.
At the end of the regular season, Sports Illustrated chose the Stanford upset of USC as the second "Biggest Upset of 2007" after Division I FCS Appalachian State's upset of #5 Michigan.[4]
In 1979, Stanford had pulled a similar feat by coming back in the last 4 minutes to tie USC 21-21 on October 13. This game, considered one of the greatest of the 20th century,[5] effectively cost USC a national championship.
In the 2009 college football season, Stanford would eclipse the point spread by handing USC its worst defeat ever. Stanford won 55-21, and USC was an 11 point favorite.[6][7] The next year in 2010, tenth-ranked Stanford defeated USC with a last-second field goal to win, 37-35. In 2011, Stanford would again defeat USC, continuing a 3-game streak of defeating USC at their home stadium. In a much closer game, Stanford defeated USC 56-48 in triple overtime. In the following year, the Cardinal again faced a second-ranked USC team and defeated them 21-14, earning a fourth consecutive win over the Trojans, a first in team and school history.
See also[]
- 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season
- 2007 Stanford Cardinal football team
- 2007 USC Trojans football team
- 2007 Appalachian State vs. Michigan football game
References[]
- ↑ Gimino: USC dynasty far from over | www.tucsoncitizen.com
- ↑ Chris Dufresne (2007-10-07). "You look upset, Los Angeles. Why the long fall from grace?". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2007/oct/07/sports/sp-duf7.
Quote:"With the Rose Bowl game mired in 6-6 slog, UCLA and Notre Dame fans collectively erupted with 4:46 left in the third quarter at the Rose Bowl when Stanford's epic upset at the Coliseum was announced - - Pete Carroll's first home loss since Stanford beat the Trojans in 2001." - ↑ LSU vs. Florida 2007 youtube.com
- ↑ Biggest Upsets of 2007: #2 Stanford 24, No. 2 USC 23, SI.com, December 13, 2007.
- ↑ Whittingham, Richard (2001). "6", Rites of autumn: the story of college football (in English). New York: The Free Press, 148-183. ISBN 0-7432-2219-9.
- ↑ Stanford-Southern Cal Preview ESPN.com
- ↑ Klein, Gary - USC's November reign ends with shocking 55-21 loss to Stanford. Los Angeles Times, November 14, 2009
External links[]
- USC Trojans vs. Stanford - Video of Stanford's final drive, the interception, and the crowd reaction.
- Stanford vs. USC Final Stats. October 6, 2007 USC Trojans Athletics official site
- Stanford vs. USC pregame information. October 1, 2007 Stanford University Athletics official site