The1959 USC Trojans football team represented theUniversity of Southern California (USC) in the1959 college football season. In their third year under head coachDon Clark, the Trojans compiled an 8–2 record (3–1 against conference opponents), finished in a tie for theAthletic Association of Western Universities championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 195 to 90. Total attendance for all 10 games was 453,865.^[1]

Ben Charles led the team in passing with 20 of 46 passes completed for 843 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Jerry Traynham led the team in rushing with 123 carries for 583 yards and two touchdowns. Luther Hayes was the leading receiver with nine catches for 179 yards and two touchdowns.^[2]

This was the first season for the five-team AAWU, following the dissolution of thePacific Coast Conference in the spring. It comprised the four teams from state ofCalifornia andWashington inSeattle. The other four teams from the north (Oregon,Oregon State,Washington State, andIdaho) wereindependent for several seasons.

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 19	atOregon State*		Multnomah Stadium Portland, OR	W 27–6	23,895	[3]
September 25	Pittsburgh*	No. 11	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 23–0	34,172	[4]
October 2	No. 14Ohio State*	No. 11	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 17–0	49,592	[5]
October 17	at No. 18Washington	No. 7	Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	W 22–15	52,500	[6]
October 24	Stanford	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	W 30–28	44,209	[7]
October 31	atCalifornia	No. 6	California Memorial Stadium Berkeley, CA	W 14–7	37,000	[8]
November 7	West Virginia*	No. 6	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 36–0	34,066	[9]
November 14	atBaylor*	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 17–8	43,832	[10]
November 21	UCLA	No. 4	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	L 3–10	85,917–85,951	[11]
November 28	atNotre Dame*	No. 7	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	L 6–16	48,682	[12]
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings fromAP Poll released prior to the game Source:[13]

• Head coach:Don Clark
• Assistant coaches:Ray George,Al Davis,Mel Hein,Marv Goux,^[14]Jim Sears,John McKay
• Manager: Bob Lambeth

• Al Bansavage, guard, 6'2", 220 pounds, Union City, California
• Mike Bundra, tackle, 6'2", 232 pounds, Catasaugua, Pennsylvania
• Ben Charles, quarterback
• Angelo Coia, halfback, 6'2", 195 pounds, Philadelphia
• Jim Conroy, fullback, 6'0", 197 pounds, Baldwin Park, California
• Dan Ficca, tackle, 6'1", 230 pounds, Atlas, Pennsylvania
• Garry Finneran, tackle, 6'2", 219 pounds, Cathedral
• Lynn Gaskill, halfback, 6'0", 175 pounds, Banning, California
• Luther Hayes, end, 6'4", 198 pounds, San Diego, California
• Clark Holden, fullback, 5'10", 195 pounds, Marshall, California
• Bob Levingston, halfback, 6'0", 185 pounds, Los Angeles
• Marv Marinovich, tackle, 6'3", 220 pounds, Watsonville, California
• Marlin McKeever, end, 6'1", 215 pounds, Mt. Carmel, California
• Mike McKeever, 6'1", 215 pounds, guard, Mt. Carmel, California
• Roger Mietz, guard, 5'10", 206 pounds, San Leandro, California
• Ron Mix, tackle, 6'3", 215, Hawthorne, California
• Dave Morgan, center, 6'4", 204 pounds, Natick, Massachusetts
• Al Prukop, quarterback, 6'1", 181 pounds, Mt. Carmel (led the team with 405 minutes played)
• Jerry Traynham, halfback, 5'10", 180 pounds, Woodland, California
• Jack Treier, center, 6'3", 208 pounds, Lancaster, Pennsylvania
• George Van Vliet, 6'2", 195 pounds, end, Whittier, California
• Glenn Wilder, 6'0", 181 pounds, end, Van Nuys, California
• Britt Williams, guard, 6'1", 210 pounds, Walnut Creek, California
• Willie Wood, quarterback, 5'9", 170 pounds, Washington, D.C.

• 1959 Athletic Association of Western Universities football season
• USC Trojans football seasons
• Pac-12 Conference football champion seasons
• 1959 in sports in California

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2023
• Pages using CFB schedule with named parameters