Football | December 04, 2022
LOS ANGELES — The No. 8 ranked USC football team (11-2) will face No. 14 Tulane (11-2) in the 87th Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic in AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Tex., at 12 p.m. CT on Jan. 2, 2023 on ESPN.
This will be only USC's third appearance in the Cotton Bowl. The 1994 Trojans, behind 3 touchdown catches by wide receiver Keyshawn Johnson, defeated Texas Tech, 55-14, in the 1995 Cotton Bowl, and No. 8 USC fell to No. 5 Ohio State in the 2017 Cotton Bowl.
This is also just USC's third game ever in AT&T Stadium. In addition to the 2017 Cotton Bowl, the Trojans first opened the 2016 season there with a 52-6 loss to Alabama.
This will be the first time in 76 years that the Trojans have faced off against the Green Wave. USC played Tulane in 1931, 1942 and 1946 and hold a 2-1 record.
In 1931, the Trojans, under head coach Howard Jones, beat the Green Wave in the 1932 Rose Bowl to cap a national championship season. USC is 9-3 against teams in the American Athletic Conference.
USC is among the nation's premier bowl teams, with an overall post-season record of 34-19 (not including 1 win and 1 loss later vacated due to NCAA penalty; original record 35-20). The Trojans have the nation's sixth highest bowl winning percentage (.642) among the 98 schools that have made at least 10 bowl appearances.
Head coach Lincoln Riley has successfully turned around a program that went 4-8 in the 2021 season to a 11-2 team in 2022. The 7-victory increase from last season matches the biggest one-season turnaround in USC history. The other 7-game improvement was when the 1962 National Champion Trojans won 11 games after winning only 4 in the 1961 season. His 11 wins ties for the most by a USC head coach in his regular season debut, matching the 11 wins by Howard Jones in 1925 and John Robinson in 1976.
The Trojan offense under Riley is electric. With leading Heisman Trophy candidate Caleb Williams at the helm, USC is averaging 499.8 total yards and 41.1 points per game. Through 13 games, Williams has 47 TDs and 4 INTs. He is 268-for-407 (.661) for 4,075 yards. He has also rushed for 372 yards on 109 carries with 10 TDs. Williams has accounted for 47 total touchdowns (both passing and running) in 13 games. He broke the previous school record of 41 by Matt Barkley (2011) and Cody Kessler (2014). Williams now has 4,447 total offensive yards in 2022, which ranks 1st on USC's single-season list (Sam Darnold previously held the record with 4,225 total yards in 2017). Williams' 372 rushing yards this season is also the most by a USC QB in the last 70 years since complete records were available. The previous record was 342 by Jim Sears in 1952. Williams leads USC with 10 rushing TDs on the season. Williams is No. 1 in the nation in points responsible for per game (21.7). He is No. 1 in the nation in passing TDs (37). He also is No. 1 in the nation in points responsible for (282). He is a Manning Award Finalist, Davey O'Brien Award Finalist, Maxwell Award Finalist and was named to the PFF All-American First Team and PFF All-Pac-12 First Team.
Wide receiver Jordan Addison leads the team with 59 receptions for 875 yards and 8 TDs. After losing leading rushing man Travis Dye, fellow running back Austin Jones has taken over the top spot. He has collected 644 rushing yards on 113 carries with 5 TDs.
The Trojan defense is No. 2 in the nation in passes intercepted. USC's defense is led by defensive lineman Tuli Tuipulotu. He is a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Rotary Lombardi Award, the Lott IMPACT Trophy and the Chuck Bednarik Award. By virtue of being named a Nagurski finalist, Tuipulotu will make the FWAA All-American First Team. He is No. 3 in the nation in sacks (0.96) and leads the Pac-12 Conference. Tuipulotu's 12.5 sacks are the most in a single season at USC since Kenechi Udeze set the Trojans' record with 16.5 in 2003. He is also No. 6 in the nation in tackles for loss (1.6) and leads the Pac-12. Inside linebacker Shane Lee leads the Trojans with 75 tackles on the season with 6.5 for loss and 2.5 sacks. Defensive backs Calen Bullock (5 INTs, the most in a season by a Trojan since Adoree' Jackson also had 5 in 2016) and Mekhi Blackmon (11 PBUs) make an impact in the Trojan secondary.
Lincoln Riley is 2-0 against the Green Wave. While the head coach at Oklahoma, Riley defeated Tulane 40-35 in 2021 and 56-14 in 2017.
USC lost 24-47 to Utah in the Pac-12 Championship on Friday (Dec. 2) in Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium. The Green Wave defeated Central Florida 45-28 in the AACC Championship at home in Yulman Stadium in New Orleans on Saturday (Dec. 3). The Green Wave holds an 11-2 season record. This is the first conference championship for Tulane since winning Conference-USA in 1998 and going on to win the Liberty Bowl to complete a 12-0 season.
By beating No. 22 UCF in the conference championship, Tulane has now defeated a ranked opponent two games in a row (the Green Wave beat No. 24 Cincinnati in the final week of the regular season). These wins broke the longest losing streak against Top-25 teams in college football poll history (Tulane hadn't defeated a ranked opponent since 1984 for 61 straight loses).
Quarterback Michael Pratt leads the Tulane offense going 207-for-321 (.645) for 2,775 yards with 25 TDs and 5 INTs. WR Shae Wyatt leads the Green Wave receiving corps with 35 receptions for 692 yards and 7 TDs. RB Tyjae Spears leads the ground attack with 1376 rushing yards on 212 carries with 15 TDs. Spears in No. 11 in the nation in rushing TDs (15) and No. 13 in the nation in rushing yards (1,376). Defensively, LB Dorian Williams tops the Tulane stat sheet with 115 tackles. His 72 solo tackles are the ninth-most solo tackles in the country. LB Nick Anderson (108 tackles), S Larry Brooks (83 tackles) and S Macon Clark (63) are among Tulane's top defenders. Tulane is the sixth least penalized team in the nation (avg. 4.0 per game).
