USC’s football history with Illinois contains one very notable plot twist.
The Trojans’ most important and memorable win over Illinois was their only Rose Bowl meeting in 2008. The two schools’ other 12 meetings all occurred in regular-season contexts. Yet, as great as it was and is for any USC team to win a Rose Bowl — a season can never be a complete failure if it contains a Granddaddy victory — that Rose Bowl felt like a lot less of a spectacle than it could have been.
Remember the drumbeat of intrigue heading into the 2007 (December) bowl selection process? There were rumors that the Bowl Championship Series would steer the selections to allow for a rare trip west by the Georgia Bulldogs. USC could have played Georgia in Pasadena and created a postseason blockbuster. Yet, it didn’t happen.
Playing Illinois instead of Georgia felt like a missed opportunity — not just for USC and Georgia, but for the sport of college football in a 2007 season which remains the most improbable college football season of the 21st century.
In terms of the USC-Illinois matchup, Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY Sports sums it all up:
“Illinois blanked USC 19-0 in the first meeting between these two, all the way back in 1935, and have lost 11 of 12 since. The latest was an absolutely brutal shellacking in the 2008 Rose Bowl that saw the Trojans rack up 633 yards of offense and force four turnovers.”
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