As USC football gets set to kick off its 2025 season in just a few weeks, the Trojans do so without much national hype surrounding this year’s team. 20 years ago this time, however, the complete opposite was the case. 2005 USC was coming off back-to-back national championships, returning the Heisman Trophy winner at quarterback, and was the consensus preseason No. 1 team as it pursued a historic third consecutive title.
While the 2005 Trojans would come up just short of achieving their ultimate goal, they did play in two of the greatest college football games of all time. Earlier this offseason, The Athletic released a list of their top 25 college football games of the 21st century thus far. Two of the top five contests featured 2005 USC.
Coming in at No. 4 was the Trojans’ 35-31 victory that October over archrival Notre Dame—a.k.a. the “Bush Push” game. Here is what writer David Ubben had to say about the contest:
“Two-time national champions brought a 27-game winning streak to Notre Dame Stadium for a top-10 showdown that lived up to the hype,” Ubben wrote. “Notre Dame took a 31-28 lead on a Brady Quinn 5-yard run with 2:04 to play that capped an 87-yard drive. USC responded, and QB Matt Leinart floated a perfect ball over the top to single-covered Dwayne Jarrett for a 61-yard gain on fourth-and-9 to get the Trojans into the red zone.
“USC had no timeouts, and on first-and-goal from the 3-yard line with eight seconds left, Leinart dived for the pylon, but a helmet on the ball forced it out of bounds at the 4. The clock ran out, and fans rushed the field to celebrate the win. But the officials huddled and correctly put seven seconds back on the clock, spotting the ball at the 1-yard line.”
“Leinart decided to sneak it, an attempt that was initially stoned before he spun to his left and Reggie Bush pushed him over the…
..
[ad_2]