USC played a lot of exciting games in 2024

Posted by author February 1, 2025 Sports

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USC football lacked the consistency to pull away from its Big Ten competitors last season.

USC’s 2024 season may not have been much to write home about. The Trojans finished the year 7-6, tied for 9th place in the Big Ten Conference. But if you want to look on the bright side, at least many their games were exciting affairs.

ESPN’s Bill Connelly recently published his list of the 100 best games of the 2024 college football season. The Trojans were featured heavily on the list, with four USC games included, all within the top 50.

At No. 23 was USC’s 38-35 Las Vegas Bowl victory over Texas A&M. Jayden Maiava’s game-winning touchdown pass to Kyle Ford in the final seconds sealed a thrilling comeback for the Trojans.

No. 28 was USC’s 33-30 overtime loss to Penn State in October. The Trojans had numerous opportunities to win the game, but failed allowed multiple fourth down conversions on Penn State’s game-tying touchdown drive, terribly mismanaged the clock on a potential game-winning drive, and then missed a field goal attempt in OT.

One spot behind at No. 29 was USC 27-24 road loss to Michigan in September. An exciting back-and-forth affair, the Trojans allowed Michigan running back Kalel Mullings to score the go-ahead touchdown on fourth and goal in the game’s final minute to give the Wolverines the win.

Lastly, at No. 48 was USC’s 29-28 road loss to Maryland in October. For the sake of USC fans reading this article, I’m not going to go into the details of the game, but let’s just say it was the moment that the Trojans’ season went completely off the rails.

Interestingly, a notable game that did not make the list was the Trojans’ thrilling 27-20 victory over LSU in Las Vegas to open the season. For most USC fans, that was likely the most exciting game they watched this season, with Woody Marks scoring the game-winning touchdown with eight seconds remaining to take down the Tigers.