2009 USC Trojans football team The 2009 USC Trojans football team ( variously " Trojans " or " USC " ) represented the University of Southern California during the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season . The team played their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and was coached by Pete Carroll , who was in his ninth and final season at USC . They finished the season 9 – 4 , 5 – 4 in Pac - 10 play and won the Emerald Bowl over Boston College 24 – 13 . Before the season . Recruiting class . The Trojans signed a top - 5 recruiting class . Roster . Name Yr . Ht . / Wt . Quarterback Running Back Wide Receiver Tight End Offensive Line Defensive Line Linebacker Defensive Back Kickers / Punters Game notes . San Jose State . The # 4 Trojans opened their season against the lightly regarded San Jose Spartans . Though the Spartans outscored USC 3 - 0 in the 1st quarter of play , the Trojans quickly recovered , scoring 56 consecutive points for a 53 - point victory . Ohio State . A crowd of 106 , 033 , the largest in Ohio Stadium history , were in attendance as the # 3 USC Trojans came to Columbus , Ohio to face the # 8 Ohio State Buckeyes . Both teams showed great defense with the game close at the half tied 10 – 10 . After a safety and a field goal , Ohio State led 15 – 10 with less than five minutes to go . However , Matt Barkley and the Trojans drove down the field to score a touchdown and a two - point conversion to end the game . The final score was USC 18 , Ohio State 15 , with the Buckeyes losing to the Trojans for the second straight year . Freshman quarterback Matt Barkley injured his right shoulder . 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Washington . Quarterback Aaron Corp took over for Matt Barkley . The Huskies became the latest Pac - 10 team to upset the Trojans , only two Pacific - 10 Conference teams have failed to beat USC during the Pete Carroll era : Arizona and Arizona State . Other Pac - 10 teams have defeated USC at least once during this period ; Oregon State did it twice , 2006 and again in 2008 , as did Stanford in 2001 and 2007 ( and would do so again in 2009 ) . 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter California . The Trojans dominated the Bears , scoring the most points since their season opener against San Jose State . Notre Dame . The Trojans marched into South Bend ranked # 6 in the nation after a 30 - 3 beating of # 24 Cal . The Fighting Irish lived up to their name , staying with highly ranked USC through two quarters , only trailing by 6 points , 13 - 7 . In the third quarter , the Trojans started to run away with the game , outscoring Notre Dame 14 - 7 . Going into the fourth quarter , USC had a commanding lead , 27 - 14 . USC scored another touchdown early in the fourth quarter to go ahead , 34 - 14 . It looked like Notre Dame would get beat badly by their rivals once again . But , it wasn ' t to be for the Fighting Irish . Instead of losing by double digits to the Trojans again , they rallied and found themselves down 34 - 27 with 1 second left at the USC 1 - yard - line . Jimmy Clauson fired an incomplete pass and USC extended their winning streak over Notre Dame to 8 . The freshman Matt Barkley attempted 29 passes , completing 19 , on his way to 380 yards and 2 touchdowns . Clauson went 24 - 43 with a mere 260 yards and 2 touchdowns . Anthony McCoy led the Trojans ( 5 - 1 ) in receiving yards with 5 catches for 153 yards . Notre Dame ' s ( 4 - 2 ) leading receiver was Golden Tate with 8 catches for 117 yards . Oregon State . Last year the # 1 Trojans went to Corvallis and were upset 27 – 21 . It was the second straight trip to Corvallis for USC that resulted in defeat . Jacquizz Rodgers ran for 187 yards on 37 carries and two touchdowns in the win last year . Oregon State was the second Pac - 10 Conference school to have beaten USC twice during the Pete Carroll era in 2006 and 2008 ( Stanford was first with victories in 2001 and 2007 ( and would do so again in 2009 ) . The last time Oregon State won against USC in the Coliseum was when Dwight D . Eisenhower was the President of the United States . USC scored first when quarterback Matt Barkley passed to Anthony McCoy for a 8 - yard touchdown . The Beavers got on the scoreboard with two field goal kicks from Justin Kahut ( both 48 yards ) . In the second quarter , Matt Barkley completed a pass to Ronald Johnson for a 22 yards touchdown . On second and goal , Barkley rushed for a 1 - yard touchdown for the Trojans . Kahut kicked a 33 - yard field goal for Oregon State just before the half . In the third quarter , Sean Canfield passed to Jacquizz Rodgers for a 6 - yard touchdown for the Beavers on a 3 : 06 - drive that took 8 plays for 61 yards . The Trojans countered with a 7 - play drive for 70 yards with Allen Bradford rushing for 2 yards for a touchdown . Canfield narrowed Oregon State ' s gap by completing a 15 - yard scoring pass to Damola Adeniji . USC answered with Allen Bradford scoring a 43 - yard touchdown . Oregon State became the first team to score more than 10 points on the Trojans in their last ten home games . Oregon . Prior to the game , USC had lost three in a row in the state of Oregon , but had won four of the last five against the Ducks . The Trojans lost the game 47 – 20 , which was the worst defeat suffered by USC since 1997 . 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Stanford . Stanford ' s 55 – 21 victory was the highest number of points any team had scored against a USC Trojans football team in the 121 - year history of Trojan football . The 34 - point loss was the worst defeat USC had suffered since 1966 . This was Stanford ' s third victory against USC in their last five games against each other at the Coliseum ( Stanford winning 2001 , 2007 , and 2009 , with USC winning in 2003 and 2005 ) , with USC having defeated every non - Stanford opponent in the Coliseum since 2001 , going 47 – 2 since Stanford ' s September 29 , 2001 victory in the Coliseum . It was the first defeat in a November game for the Trojans under Coach Pete Carroll ' s nine - season tenure . For the first time in since Carroll ' s first season , USC lost more than two games in one season . For the second time in three weekends , Carroll suffered the worst loss of his USC tenure ( the other being the Oregon game ) . This was the largest margin of victory for Stanford in a Stanford - USC game since the two teams ' rivalry began in 1918 . Harbaugh became the only coach in college football with a winning record against Carroll , going 2 – 1 in the three times the two coaches have faced each other . Stanford would eclipse the all - time point spread record it set from the 2007 Stanford vs . Southern California football game , as USC was a 41 - point favorite . UCLA . UCLA – USC rivalry game for the Victory Bell , which the Trojans retained by defeating the Bruins 28 – 7 . Both teams wore home jerseys , in a tradition that was restarted the previous year , with the Bruins wearing their 1966 throwback powder blue jerseys . The final two minutes of the game proved to be interesting . With the Trojans leading 21 – 7 after a touchdown with 1 : 30 in the fourth quarter , and having possession of the ball after UCLA turned it over on downs , Carroll instructed his quarterback to take a knee . Rick Neuheisel then called a timeout to stop the clock . On second down , the Trojans immediately connected on a 48 - yard pass play for their fourth touchdown of the game . USC beat UCLA for the 10th time in 11 years , but the late touchdown pass stirred passions in the crosstown rivalry and lead to a benches - clearing incident . Arizona . Arizona ' s defeat of the Trojans gave the Wildcats their first win over USC during the Pete Carroll era . Arizona was also the first non - Stanford team in the Pac - 10 to defeat the Trojans in the Coliseum under Carroll ( Stanford had defeated Carroll ' s teams in the Coliseum in 2001 , 2007 , and 2009 ) . Arizona State is the only Pac - 10 team to never beat the Trojans during Carroll ' s tenure . Boston College . This marked the first time USC played in the Emerald Bowl . On December 26 , 2009 at AT & T Park in San Francisco California , attended by 40 , 121 ; the Trojans squared off against the Boston College Eagles from the Atlantic Coast Conference . This also marked the first time that the Trojans had played in a non - BCS bowl game in seven years . Boston College was making its 11th straight bowl appearance . The Eagles became the first team to play in the Emerald Bowl twice , beating Colorado State 35 – 21 in the 2003 San Francisco Bowl ( the former name of the Emerald Bowl ) . This was the third meeting between the two schools and the first in a bowl game . USC had won both games in the series , a 23 – 17 victory in Los Angeles in 1987 and a 34 – 7 win in Chestnut Hill in 1988 . USC freshman quarterback Matt Barkley threw touchdown passes to Stanley Havili on the Trojans first two possessions and added a touchdown run in the fourth quarter . Barkley finished the game with a total of 350 yards passing . Of his 350 yards , Damian Williams accounted for 189 of them on 12 catches . Williams was named the game ' s MVP for his efforts . Boston College was led by tailback Montel Harris , who rushed for 102 yards and also added a touchdown run . After the season . On January 10 , 2010 , coach Carroll told his players that he will resign his position with the Trojans and become the new head coach of the Seattle Seahawks . Lane Kiffin , formerly with the Trojans , Oakland Raiders , and Tennessee Volunteers , was hired as the new head coach .