1942 USC Trojans football team

1942 USC Trojans football
1942 USC Trojans football
Conference	Pacific Coast Conference
Record	5–5–1 (4–2–1 PCC)
Head coach	Jeff Cravath (1st season);
Home stadium	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
	Seasons ← 1941 1943 →

The 1942 USC Trojans football team represented the University of Southern California (USC) in the 1942 college football season. In their first year under head coach Jeff Cravath, the Trojans compiled a 5–5–1 record (4–2–1 against conference opponents), finished in fourth place in the Pacific Coast Conference, and were outscored by their opponents by a combined total of 184 to 128.^[1]

1942 Pacific Coast Conference football standings
v t e	Conf					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 13 UCLA $	6	–	1	–	0	7	–	4	–	0
Washington State	5	–	1	–	1	6	–	2	–	2
No. 12 Stanford	5	–	2	–	0	6	–	4	–	0
USC	4	–	2	–	1	5	–	5	–	1
Oregon State	4	–	4	–	0	4	–	5	–	1
Washington	3	–	3	–	2	4	–	3	–	3
California	3	–	4	–	0	5	–	5	–	0
Oregon	2	–	5	–	0	2	–	6	–	0
Idaho	1	–	5	–	0	3	–	7	–	0
Montana	0	–	6	–	0	0	–	8	–	0

$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

USC was ranked at No. 34 (out of 590 college and military teams) in the final rankings under the Litkenhous Difference by Score System for 1942.^[2]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Rank	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 26	Tulane*		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	L 13–27	45,000	^[3]
October 3	at Washington		Husky Stadium Seattle, WA	T 0–0	26,000
October 10	at No. 1 Ohio State*		Ohio Stadium Columbus, OH	L 12–28	56,436
October 17	No. 10 Washington State		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 26–12	33,000
October 24	vs. Stanford		Kezar Stadium San Francisco, CA (rivalry)	L 6–14	25,000
November 7	California		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 21–7	37,500
November 14	Oregon		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 40–0	33,000
November 28	No. 8 Notre Dame*	No. 14	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	L 0–13	94,519
December 5	Montana		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 38–0	25,000
December 12	No. 13 UCLA		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (Victory Bell)	L 7–14	90,000
December 19	Saint Mary's Pre-Flight*		Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA	W 21–13	6,643
*Non-conference game Homecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

Ranking movements
**Legend:** ██ Increase in ranking ██ Decrease in ranking
— = Not ranked
	Week
Poll	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	Final
AP	—	—	—	—	—	16	14	—

^ "Southern California Yearly Results (1940-1944)". College Football Data Warehouse. David DeLassus. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2015.
^ Dr. E. E. Litkenhous (December 16, 1942). "Litkenhous Rates Georgia No. 1, Ohio State No. 2". Twin City Sentinel. p. 10 – via Newspapers.com.
^ "S.C. loses 1942 debut". The Los Angeles Times. September 27, 1942. Retrieved April 10, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.