| 2007 Stanford vs. USC football game | |
| Subheader: | Conference game |
| Football Season: | 2007 |
| Visitor Name Short: | Stanford |
| Visitor Nickname: | Cardinal |
| Visitor School: | Stanford University |
| Home Name Short: | USC |
| Home Nickname: | Trojans |
| Home School: | University of Southern California |
| Visitor Record: | 1–3 |
| Home Record: | 4–0 |
| Visitor Coach: | Jim Harbaugh |
| Home Coach: | Pete Carroll |
| Visitor Rank Ap: | NR |
| Visitor Rank Coaches: | NR |
| Home Rank Ap: | 2 |
| Home Rank Coaches: | 1 |
| Visitor 1Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 2Q: | 0 |
| Visitor 3Q: | 7 |
| Visitor 4Q: | 17 |
| Home 1Q: | 3 |
| Home 2Q: | 6 |
| Home 3Q: | 7 |
| Home 4Q: | 7 |
| Date: | October 6, 2007 |
| Stadium: | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum |
| City: | Los Angeles, California |
| Odds: | USC by 41 |
| Anthem: | Spirit of Troy |
| Referee: | Michael Batlan |
| Halftime: | Stanford Band Spirit of Troy |
| Attendance: | 85,125 |
| Us Network: | Versus |
| Us Announcers: | Ron Thulin (play-by-play) Kelly Stouffer (analyst) Lewis Johnson (sideline) |
The 2007 Stanford vs. USC football game was an NCAA college football game held on October 6, 2007, at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California. In a remarkable upset, the visiting Stanford Cardinal won 24–23 despite USC having been favored by 41 points entering the game.[1] This result was the biggest point spread upset of all time in college football (since surpassed by the Howard University Bison in 2017, who were 45-point underdogs heading into a road game against the UNLV Rebels). USC entered the game with a 35-game home game winning streak (its previous home game loss also happened to be to Stanford, in 2001) which included a 24-game home game winning streak in Pac-10 play. By contrast, Stanford had compiled a Pac-10 worst 1–11 season in 2006, which included a 42–0 loss to USC. To compound the situation, Stanford's starting quarterback T. C. Ostrander had suffered a seizure the week before and his replacement, backup quarterback Tavita Pritchard, had never started a game and had thrown just three passes in official play.
The weather was sunny and 74°F with a slight west wind. The game began at 4:09pm Pacific Daylight Time and ended at 7:36pm.
The game-winning drive featured a 20-yard pass from Tavita Pritchard to Richard Sherman on fourth-and-20 from the USC 29.[3]
See also: Stanford–USC football rivalry, UCLA–USC rivalry and Notre Dame–USC football rivalry. The final score was announced at the Rose Bowl, where USC's two arch-rivals, UCLA and Notre Dame, were playing each other. Irish and Bruins fans cheered in unison and celebrated together briefly.[4] At the same time, at Tiger Stadium, the #1 LSU Tigers were playing the #9 Florida Gators and the fans in the stadium celebrated when the USC score was announced there, too.[5] The Tigers would later come from behind to beat the Gators 28–24, making them #1 in both polls with USC dropping from #1 in the coaches poll due to the loss.
Stanford's victory, for once, was cheered on by perennial rival Cal, who was ranked No. 3 in the nation at the time of USC's loss. USC's loss elevated California to its highest ranking in nearly six decades, and it was primed to reach the #1 ranking for the first time since 1951 when #1 LSU was beaten in overtime by Kentucky the same day it played Oregon State. California lost the Oregon State game; after starting the season 5-0 and ranked No. 12, it finished 7-6 and unranked. 2007 was also the only game in an eight year Big Game stretch that it lost to Stanford.
At the end of the regular season, Sports Illustrated chose the Stanford upset of USC as the second "Biggest Upset of 2007" after Division I FCS Appalachian State's 34–32 upset of #5 Michigan.[6]
In 1979, Stanford had pulled a similar feat by coming back in the last four minutes to tie USC 21–21 on October 13. This game, considered one of the greatest of the 20th century,[7] effectively cost USC a national championship.
In the 2009 season, Stanford would eclipse the point spread by handing USC its worst defeat ever. Stanford won 55–21, and USC was an 11-point favorite.[8] [9] The next year in 2010, tenth-ranked Stanford defeated USC with a last-second field goal to win, 37–35. In 2011, Stanford would again defeat USC, continuing a 3-game streak of defeating USC at their home stadium. In a much closer game, Stanford defeated USC 56–48 in triple overtime. In the following year, the Cardinal again faced a second-ranked USC team and defeated them 21–14, earning a fourth consecutive win over the Trojans, a first in team and school history.