1990 USC Trojans football
John Hancock Bowl, L 16–17 vs. Michigan State
Conference	Pacific-10 Conference
Ranking
Coaches	No. 22
AP	No. 20
Record	8–4–1 (5–2–1 Pac-10)
Head coach	Larry Smith (4th season)
Captain	Don Gibson
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Seasons ← 1989 1991 →

1990 Pacific-10 Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 5 Washington $	7	–	1	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
No. 20 USC	5	–	2	–	1	8	–	4	–	1
Oregon	4	–	3	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
California	4	–	3	–	1	7	–	4	–	1
Arizona	5	–	4	–	0	7	–	5	–	0
UCLA	4	–	4	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Stanford	4	–	4	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Arizona State	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Washington State	2	–	6	–	0	3	–	8	–	0
Oregon State	1	–	6	–	0	1	–	10	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1990 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1990 NCAA Division I-A football season. In their fourth year under head coach Larry Smith, the Trojans compiled an 8–4–1 record (5–2–1 against conference opponents), finished in second place in the Pacific-10 Conference (Pac-10), and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 348 to 274.^[1]

USC began the season by beating Syracuse in the eighth Kickoff Classic. They also won non-conference games against Penn State and Ohio State, the latter of which was suspended with 2:36 remaining because of severe thunderstorms. The Trojans would finish second in the Pac-10 and lost to Michigan State in their bowl game in an outcome reminiscent of their 1987 season.

Quarterback Todd Marinovich led the team in passing, completing 196 of 322 passes for 2,423 yards with 13 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. Mazio Royster led the team in rushing with 235 carries for 1,168 yards and eight touchdowns. Gary Wellman led the team in receiving with 66 catches for 1,015 yards and five touchdowns.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
August 31	4:30 p.m.	vs. Syracuse*	No. 9	Giants Stadium East Rutherford, NJ (Kickoff Classic)	Raycom	W 34–16	57,293
September 15	12:30 p.m.	Penn State*	No. 6	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	ABC	W 19–14	70,594
September 22	3:30 p.m.	at No. 21 Washington	No. 5	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	Prime	L 0–31	72,617
September 29	12:30 p.m.	at No. 12 Ohio State*	No. 18	Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	ABC	W 35–26	89,422
October 6	7:30 p.m.	Washington State	No. 15	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	Prime	W 30–17	59,357
October 13	12:30 p.m.	at Stanford	No. 16	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (rivalry)	ABC	W 37–22	62,000
October 20	3:30 p.m.	Arizona	No. 15	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	Prime	L 26–35	68,212
October 27	12:30 p.m.	at Arizona State	No. 21	Sun Devil Stadium Tempe, AZ	ABC	W 13–6	64,717
November 3	3:30 p.m.	California	No. 21	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	Prime	T 31–31	62,974
November 10	3:30 p.m.	at Oregon State	No. 23	Parker Stadium Corvallis, OR	Prime	W 56–7	18,795
November 17	12:30 p.m.	at UCLA	No. 19	Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Victory Bell)	ABC	W 45–42	98,088
November 24	5:00 p.m.	No. 7 Notre Dame*	No. 18	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Jeweled Shillelagh)	ABC	L 6–10	91,639
December 31	11:30 a.m.	vs. No. 22 Michigan State*	No. 21	Sun Bowl Stadium El Paso, TX (John Hancock Bowl)	CBS	L 16–17	50,562
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Personnel

1990 USC Trojans football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	Name	Class
OL	David Apolskis
TE	Bradford Banta
RB	Rory Brown
WR	Curtis Conway
TE	Bob Crane
OL	Derrick Deese
RB	Ricky Ervins
QB	Shane Foley
OL	Craig Gibson
TE	Frank Griffin
WR	Travis Hannah
WR	Pat Harlow
TE	Yonnie Jackson
RB	Tim Lavin
RB	Scott Lockwood
TE	Elic Mahone
QB	Todd Marinovich	RSo
OL	Michael Moody
WR	Johnnie Morton	Fr
QB	Pat O'Hara
QB	Reggie Perry
RB	Mazio Royster
WR	Joel Scott
RB	Raoul Spears
RB	Deon Strother
OL	Mark Tucker
OL	Larry Wallace
WR	Gary Wellman

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
LB		Kurt Barber
DL		Gene Fruge
LB		Matt Gee
DL		Don Gibson (C)
LB		Craig Hartsuyker
DB		Calvin Holmes
DB		Curtis Hopkins
DL		Terry McDaniels
DB		Jason Oliver
DB		Stephon Pace
LB		Scott Ross
DB		Mike Salmon
LB		Brian Tuliau

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class
P		Ron Dale
K		Quin Rodriguez

Head coach

Larry Smith

Coordinators/assistant coaches

Legend

(C) Team captain
(S) Suspended
(I) Ineligible

Injured
Redshirt

Roster
Last update: 2022-Oct-14

Season summary

Syracuse

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Penn State

	1	2	3	4	Total
Penn St	0	7	0	7	14
• USC	7	6	6	0	19

Date: September 15
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Scoring summary

Q1	USC	Griffin 5 yard pass from Marinovich (Rodriguez kick)	USC 7–0

Q2	PSU	Golden 8 yard pass from Sacca (Fayak kick)	Tie 7–7

Q2	USC	Rodriguez 26 yard field goal	USC 10–7

Q2	USC	Rodriguez 46 yard field goal	USC 13–7

Q3	USC	Ervins 1 yard run (run failed)	USC 19–7

Q4	PSU	Thompson 2 yard run (Fayak kick)	USC 19–14

^[3]

At Washington

All I saw was purple.

Todd Marinovich

At Ohio State

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Washington State

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At Stanford

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Arizona

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At Arizona State

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California

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At Oregon State

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At UCLA

#19 USC Trojans (7–2–1) at UCLA Bruins (5–5)

Period	1	2	3	4	Total
USC	14	7	3	21	45
UCLA	7	7	7	21	42

at Rose Bowl, Pasadena, California

Date: November 17
Game weather: Sunny
Game attendance: 98,088
TV: ABC
^[4]

Game information

First quarter

USC – Stephon Pace 27-yard interception return (pass failed). USC 6–0.
UCLA – Tommy Maddox 9-yard run (Brad Daluiso kick). UCLA 7–6.
USC – Mazio Royster 7-yard run (pass good). USC 14–7.

Second quarter

UCLA – Sean LaChapelle 47-yard pass from Tommy Maddox (Brad Daluiso kick). Tie 14–14.
USC – Todd Marinovich 1-yard run (Quin Rodriguez kick). USC 21–14.

Third quarter

USC – Quin Rodriguez 20-yard field goal, 4:19. USC 24–14. Drive: 19 plays, 68 yards.
UCLA – Brian Brown 5-yard run (Brad Daluiso kick). USC 24–21.

Fourth quarter

USC – Jason Oliver 34-yard interception return (Quin Rodriguez kick), 12:02. USC 31–21.
UCLA – Scott Miller 29-yard pass from Tommy Maddox (Brad Daluiso kick), 10:46. USC 31–28.
UCLA – Scott Miller 38-yard pass from Tommy Maddox (Brad Daluiso kick), 9:17. UCLA 35–31.
USC – Johnnie Morton 21-yard pass from Todd Marinovich (Quin Rodriguez kick), 3:09. USC 38–35. Drive: 8 plays, 47 yards.
UCLA – Kevin Smith 1-yard run (Brad Daluiso kick), 1:19. UCLA 42–38. Drive: 7 plays, 75 yards.
USC – Johnnie Morton 23-yard pass from Todd Marinovich (Quin Rodriguez kick), 0:16. USC 45–42. Drive: 5 plays, 75 yards.

Top passers

USC – Todd Marinovich – 16/25, 215 yards, 2 TD, INT
UCLA – Tommy Maddox – 26/40, 409 yards, 3 TD, 3 INT

Top rushers

USC – Mazio Royster – 31 rushes, 157 yards, TD
UCLA – Tommy Maddox – 9 rushes, 36 yards, TD

Top receivers

USC – Gary Wellman – 7 receptions, 99 yards
UCLA – Scott Miller – 8 receptions, 175 yards, 2 TD

60th meeting
Marinovich wasn't named starter until morning of the game

^[5]

Notre Dame

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (October 2022)

John Hancock Bowl (vs Michigan State)

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (October 2022)

References

^ "Southern California Yearly Results (1900-1994)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
^ "1990 Southern California Trojans Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
^ Gainesville Sun. 1990 Sep 16.
^ "SC wins fight for LA". Google News. Eugene Register-Guard. November 18, 1990. Retrieved October 14, 2022.
^ "SC wins fight for LA". Google News. Eugene Register-Guard. November 18, 1990. Retrieved October 14, 2022.

v t e USC Trojans football
Venues	Athletic Park (1895–1898) Fiesta Park (1897–1898, 1901–1902, 1904–1906, 1916) Chutes Park (1900) Prager Park (1903) Bovard Field (1904–1910, 1914–1915, 1917–1923) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923–present) Jones Field/Kennedy Field (practice)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Notre Dame Stanford UCLA: Victory Bell
Culture & lore	Traveler George Tirebiter Giles Pellerin "Fight On" Spirit of Troy Student Body Right Tommy Trojan Tribute to Troy Athletics scandal 1967 "Game of the Century" "Bush Push" 2007 Stanford game So This Is College
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911–1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold