American college football season
The1962 USC Trojans football team represented theUniversity of Southern California (USC) in the1962 NCAA University Division football season . In their third year under head coachJohn McKay , theTrojans compiled an 11–0 record (4–0 against conference opponents), won theAthletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU or Big 6) championship, and defeatedWisconsin in theRose Bowl onNew Year's Day . USC outscored their opponents 261 to 92, and finished first inboth major polls , released prior to thebowls .[ 1]
Junior quarterbackPete Beathard completed 54 of 107 passes for 989 yards with ten touchdown passes and only one interception. (Bill Nelsen also completed 36 of 80 passes for 682 yards and eight touchdown passes with two interceptions.) Willie Brown was the team's leading rusher with 574 rushing yards (and 291 receiving yards).Hal Bedsole was USC's leading receiver with 33 catches for 827 yards and 11 touchdowns.[ 2] College Football Hall of Fame in 2012.
Two USC players were selected by theAssociated Press (AP) for theAll-Coast team ; end Bedsole and linebacker Damon Bame.[ 3] All-American in 1962,[ 4] [ 5]
Date Opponent Rank Site Result Attendance Source September 22 No. 8Duke * W 14–726,400 [ 6] September 29 atSMU * No. 9 W 33–314,000 [ 7] October 6 atIowa * No. 6 W 7–055,300 October 20 California No. 6 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA W 32–638,500 October 27 atIllinois * No. 4 W 28–1631,375 November 3 No. 9Washington No. 3 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA W 14–046,456 November 10 atStanford No. 2 W 39–1441,000 November 17 Navy * No. 2 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA W 13–651,701 November 24 atUCLA No. 1 W 14–386,740 December 1 Notre Dame * No. 1 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry ) W 25–081,676 January 1 , 1963vs. No. 2Wisconsin * No. 1 W 42–3798,698 *Non-conference game Rankings fromAP Poll released prior to the game
#8 Duke at USC 1 2 3 4 Total No. 8 Blue Devils 7 0 0 0 7 •Trojans 0 14 0 0 14
Scoring summary 1 DUKE Jay Wilkinson 25-yard pass from Gil Garner (Reynolds kick) DUKE 7-0 2 USC Brown 4-yard pass from Beathard (Lupo kick) Tied 7-7 2 1:30 USC Hal Bedsole 51-yard pass from Bill Nelsen (Lupo kick)USC 14-7
[ 8]
Statistics
Statistics
The following players were members of the 1962 USC football team.[ 10]
Damon Bame , linebackerPete Beathard , quarterbackHal Bedsole , endWillie Brown, halfback John Brownwood, end Ron Butcher Mac Byrd Jay Clark Ken Del Conte, halfback Craig Fertig , quarterbackBill Fisk Mike Gale Stan Gonta Ron Heller Fred Hill Gary Hill Phil Hoover Hudson Houck Loran Hunt Tom Johnson Ernie Jones Randy Jones Gary Kirner, tackle Pete Lubisich, guard Tom Lupo Marv Marinovich , guardRich McMahon Bill Nelsen , quarterbackGary Potter Ernie Pye John Ratliff, guard Lynn Reade Larry Sagouspe Armando Sanchez Denny Schmidt Ron Smedley Bob Svihus , tackleToby Thurlow Gary Winslow Ben Wilson , fullbackCoaching staff and administration [ edit ] ^ "Southern California Yearly Results (1960-1964)" .College Football Data Warehouse . David DeLassus. Archived fromthe original on September 5, 2015. RetrievedJuly 20, 2015 .^ "1962 Southern California Trojans Stats" .SR/College Football . Sports Reference LLC. RetrievedJuly 21, 2015 .^ Jack Hewins (December 4, 1962)."Explosive Backfield, Fast Line Form All-Coast '11' .Santa Cruz Sentinel . p. 8. ^ "2014 NCAA Football Records: Consensus All-America Selections" (PDF) . National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 2014. p. 7. Archived fromthe original (PDF) on December 22, 2014. RetrievedFebruary 10, 2015 .^ "AP's 1962 All-America Team" .The Miami News . December 6, 1962. p. 19C.^ "Trojans topple favored Duke 14–7" .The Sacramento Bee . September 23, 1962. RetrievedJanuary 20, 2024 – viaNewspapers.com .^ "Trojans humble SMU, 33–3" .Independent-Press-Telegram . September 30, 1962. RetrievedMarch 23, 2025 – viaNewspapers.com .^ "Southern Cal Upsets Duke".The Palm Beach Post ^a b 2012 USC football media supplement. ^ 1963 "El Rodeo" (USC yearbook), pages 206-209. ^a b 1963 "El Rodeo", page 211. ^ 1963 "El Rodeo", page 202. "Trojans 1962: John McKay's First National Championship", by Bill Block, iUniverse, 2012
Venues Bowls and rivalries Culture and lore People Seasons National championship seasons in bold
1936–1949 1950s 1960s 1960 Minnesota (AP, Coaches,NFF ) /Ole Miss (FWAA) 1961 Alabama (AP, Coaches, NFF) /Ohio State (FWAA) 1962 USC 1963 Texas 1964 Alabama (AP, Coaches) /Arkansas (FWAA) /Notre Dame (NFF) 1965 Alabama (AP, FWAA) /Michigan State (Coaches, FWAA, NFF) 1966 Notre Dame (AP, Coaches, FWAA, NFF) /Michigan State (NFF) 1967 USC 1968 Ohio State 1969 Texas 1970s 1980–1991
Pacific Coast AAWU Pacific-8 Pacific-10 Pac-12 National championships inbold
