USC Football: Fun Factoids About The Cougars

The Washington State Cougars come into the Los Angeles Coliseum 0-1 following an opening-week loss to Auburn by seven points on the road. For those of us who are history buffs, USC leads its series with Washington State, which dates back to 1921, 57-8-4 (not including one win vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record: 58-8-4) in the all-time series.

The Trojans have won 34 of the last 38 meetings (and 40 of the past 45), including the last seven (not including one win vacated due to NCAA penalty). The teams did not play in 2011 and 2012 because of the Pac-12 scheduling rotation, the longest gap in the series since the teams didn't meet between 1959 and 1966.

USC is 38-5-2 versus Washington State in Los Angeles (not including one win vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record: 39-5-2). The Cougars have lost 27 of the last 30 in L.A., and will look to win their first road game since Week 3 of last season in Las Vegas against UNLV.

LAST TEN MEETINGS WITH THE COUGARS:

2010 W 50-16 A
2009 W 50-16 H
2008 W 69-0 A
2007 W 47-14 H
2006 W 28-22 A
2005 W* 55-13 H
2004 W 42-12 A
2003 W 43-16 H
2002 L 27-30 (1OT) A
2000 L 27-33 H

In their last meeting in Los Angeles back in 2009, then-No. 12 USC scored 20 first-quarter points and used a sack-happy defense for a 27-6 victory over Washington State. Not to mention, USC has a 169-41-8 (.794) all-time record while playing in the month of September, this following three vacated wins from 2005 which askew the win totals. Also in conference openers, USC is 66-19-5 (.761) and Troy has won 28 of its last 42 (and 41 of its last 56)

The last time these teams met in 2010, FB Stanley Havili gained 187 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead then-No. 20 USC to a decisive 50-16 Pac-10 opening win at Washington State. All that being said, the recent slate of battles between USC and WSU have been rather one-sided affairs towards Troy.

Just a fun note about the players participating in this years affair, USC has 4 players from the state of Washington in Zach Banner (Lakes HS), Max Browne (Skyline HS), Alex Wood (Mercer Island HS) and Michael Maguire (Eastlake HS) while Washington State's roster features 41 players from the Golden State.

That being said, lets gear up for a rather homegrown affair featuring the farthest North roster in the Pac-12 and the Sunny skied boys in Los Angeles. This since we all still have bad blood over the last trip to Pullman (Men's Bball), including the 20-point beat down and the post-game bar antics resulting in major suspensions.