1966 USC Trojans football team

American college football season

1966 USC Trojans football
AAWU champion
Rose Bowl, L 13–14 vs. Purdue
Conference	Athletic Association of Western Universities
Ranking
Coaches	No. 18
Record	7–4 (4–1 AAWU)
Head coach	John McKay (7th season)
Captains	Nate Shaw Rod Sherman
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
Seasons ← 1965 1967 →

1966 Athletic Association of Western Universities football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
USC $	4	–	1	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
No. 5 UCLA	3	–	1	–	0	9	–	1	–	0
Oregon State	3	–	1	–	0	7	–	3	–	0
Washington	4	–	3	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
California	2	–	3	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Oregon	1	–	3	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Washington State	1	–	3	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Stanford	1	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1966 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1966 NCAA University Division football season. In their seventh year under head coach John McKay, the Trojans compiled a 7–4 record (4–1 against conference opponents), won the Athletic Association of Western Universities (AAWU or Pac-8) championship, and outscored their opponents by a combined total of 199 to 128.^[1] The team was ranked #18 in the final Coaches Poll in late November; the final AP poll of early December included only the top ten this season

Quarterback Troy Winslow led the Trojans in passing, completing 82 of 138 passes for 1,023 yards with 6 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. Don McCall led the team in rushing with 127 carries for 560 yards and 5 touchdowns. Ron Drake led USC in receiving with 52 catches for 607 yards and four touchdowns.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance	Source
September 17	at Texas*	No. 9	Memorial Stadium Austin, TX		W 10–6	42,000	^[3]
September 24	Wisconsin*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 38–3	52,325
October 1	at Oregon State	No. 5	Civic Stadium Portland, OR		W 21–0	29,217
October 8	Washington	No. 6	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 17–14	55,960
October 15	at Stanford	No. 5	Stanford Stadium Stanford, CA (rivalry)		W 21–7	61,500
October 22	Clemson*	No. 5	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 30–0	44,614	^[4]
October 28	at Miami (FL)*	No. 5	Orange Bowl Miami, FL		L 7–10	51,156
November 5	California	No. 9	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA		W 35–9	47,199
November 19	at No. 8 UCLA	No. 7	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)		L 7–14	81,980
November 26	No. 1 Notre Dame*	No. 10	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)		L 0–51	88,520
January 2, 1967	vs. No. 7 Purdue*		Rose Bowl Pasadena, CA (Rose Bowl)	NBC	L 13–14	101,438
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Game summaries

At Texas

USC at Texas

	1	2	3	4	Total
• No. 9 Trojans	3	7	0	0	10
Longhorns	0	0	0	6	6

Date: September 17
Location: Memorial Stadium, Austin, Texas
Game attendance: 42,000
TV announcers (ABC): Chris Schenkel, Bud Wilkinson

Scoring summary

Q1	USC	Rossivich 23 yard field goal	USC 3–0

Q2	USC	Winslow 9 yard run (Rossivich kick)	USC 10–0

Q4	TEX	Bradley 3 yard run (pass failed)	USC 10–6

^[5]

At Miami (FL)

Notre Dame

Notre Dame at USC

	1	2	3	4	Total
• No. 1 Fighting Irish	14	17	13	7	51
No. 10 Trojans	0	0	0	0	0

Date: November 26
Location: Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Los Angeles
Game attendance: 88,520

Scoring summary

1	ND	Larry Conjar 2-yard run (Joe Azzaro kick)	ND 7-0

1	ND	Tom Schoen 40-yard interception return (Joe Azzaro kick)	ND 14-0

2	ND	Joe Azzaro 38-yard field goal	ND 17-0

2	ND	Jim Seymour 13-yard pass from Coley O'Brien (Joe Azzaro kick)	ND 24-0

2	ND	Jim Seymour 39-yard pass from Coley O'Brien (Joe Azzaro kick)	ND 31-0

3	ND	Dan Harshman 23-yard pass from Coley O'Brien (Joe Azzaro kick)	ND 38-0

3	ND	Nick Eddy 9-yard run (kick failed)	ND 44-0

4	ND	Dave Martin 33-yard interception return (Joe Azzaro kick)	ND 51-0

^[6]

Purdue (Rose Bowl)

Purdue vs. USC

	1	2	3	4	Total
• No. 7 Boilermakers	0	7	7	0	14
Trojans	0	7	0	6	13

Date: January 2
Location: Rose Bowl, Pasadena, CA
Game attendance: 101,438
TV announcers (NBC): Curt Gowdy

Scoring summary

Q2	PUR	Perry Williams 1-yard run (Griese kick)	PUR 7–0

Q2	USC	McCall 1-yard run (Rossovich kick)	Tied 7–7

Q3	PUR	Perry Williams 1-yard run (Griese kick)	PUR 14–7

Q4	USC	Rod Sherman 19-yard pass from Troy Winslow (pass failed)	PUR 14–13

References

^ "Southern California Yearly Results (1965-1969)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
^ "1966 Southern California Trojans Stats". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved July 21, 2015.
^ "Troy's Winslow lassoes Longhorns 10–6". The Sacramento Bee. September 18, 1966. Retrieved April 30, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "Trojans paddle Clemson". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. October 23, 1966. Retrieved January 21, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Palm Beach Post. September 18, 1966
^ "Irish Trouncing of U.S.C. Worst in Trojans' History". The New York Times. November 27, 1966. Retrieved August 17, 2019.

v t e USC Trojans football
Venues	Athletic Park (1895–1898) Fiesta Park (1897–1898, 1901–1902, 1904–1906, 1916) Chutes Park (1900) Prager Park (1903) Bovard Field (1904–1910, 1914–1915, 1917–1923) Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1923–present) Jones Field/Kennedy Field (practice)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Notre Dame Stanford UCLA: Victory Bell
Culture & lore	Traveler George Tirebiter Giles Pellerin "Fight On" Spirit of Troy Student Body Right Tommy Trojan Tribute to Troy Athletics scandal 1967 "Game of the Century" "Bush Push" 2007 Stanford game So This Is College
People	Head coaches Starting quarterbacks NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911–1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
National championship seasons in bold

v t e Pac-12 Conference football champions
Pacific Coast	Washington (1916) Washington State (1917) California (1918) Oregon & Washington (1919) California (1920) California (1921) California (1922) California (1923) Stanford (1924) Washington (1925) Stanford (1926) Idaho, Stanford, & USC (1927) USC (1928) USC (1929) Washington State (1930) USC (1931) USC (1932) Oregon & Stanford (1933) Stanford (1934) California, Stanford, & UCLA (1935) Washington (1936) California (1937) California & USC (1938) USC (1939) Stanford (1940) Oregon State (1941) UCLA (1942) USC (1943) USC (1944) USC (1945) UCLA (1946) USC (1947) California & Oregon (1948) California (1949) California (1950) Stanford (1951) USC (1952) UCLA (1953) UCLA (1954) UCLA (1955) Oregon State (1956) Oregon & Oregon State (1957) California (1958)
AAWU	UCLA, USC, & Washington (1959) Washington (1960) UCLA (1961) USC (1962) Washington (1963) Oregon State & USC (1964) UCLA (1965) USC (1966) USC (1967)
Pacific-8	USC (1968) USC (1969) Stanford (1970) Stanford (1971) USC (1972) USC (1973) USC (1974) California & UCLA (1975) USC (1976) Washington (1977)
Pacific-10	USC (1978) USC (1979) Washington (1980) Washington (1981) UCLA (1982) UCLA (1983) USC (1984) UCLA (1985) Arizona State (1986) USC & UCLA (1987) USC (1988) USC (1989) Washington (1990) Washington (1991) Washington & Stanford (1992) Arizona, UCLA, & USC (1993) Oregon (1994) USC & Washington (1995) Arizona State (1996) UCLA & Washington State (1997) UCLA (1998) Stanford (1999) Oregon, Oregon State, & Washington (2000) Oregon (2001) USC & Washington State (2002) USC (2003) USC (2004) vacated USC (2005) vacated California & USC (2006) Arizona State & USC (2007) USC (2008) Oregon (2009) Oregon (2010)
Pac-12	Oregon (2011) Stanford (2012) Stanford (2013) Oregon (2014) Stanford (2015) Washington (2016) USC (2017) Washington (2018) Oregon (2019) Oregon (2020) Utah (2021) Utah (2022) Washington (2023)
National championships in bold