Wow… what a Rose Bowl game! And what an unusual season. A horrible start, but then nine straight victories. The future for Trojan football looks very bright with such an impressive freshman QB. I am already looking forward to next season…
Definitely. Things are looking up with the USC Football program. I was never aware of the USC Trojan football until my kid decided to matriculate there. All the while I was encouraging him to go to University of Florida because of its football program. Boy, was I wrong.
Will it be a magnet for more applicants for the Class of 2021 or 2022? I hope not, otherwise, it will be another year of low acceptance rate for USC.
@Greensat I have often wondered about the potential impact of a football program’s success in terms of generating more applications during a winning cycle, but I have not seen #s that support it anywhere. I can imagine that colleges like U of Alabama see constant increases in applications in large part because of their success in football. USC’s applications #s have risen steadily every year, even when the football program was mediocre. And as a result, the admission rates have steadily decreased.
We live in Florida, and there is not a college here that I could recommend over USC to my two daughters. UF, FSU and UM each have strong athletic programs overall, but none of them can match USC in terms of academics or the overall college experience… at least in my opinion. They each applied to FL colleges, but merely as part of their back-up plans. Plus, the humidity here is very annoying. I certainly prefer the weather in L.A.
My older daughter is at USC now, and USC is my younger daughter’s top choice. She is a current applicant. And neither one of them even like football… so they were not swayed at all by USC’s overall athletic prowess or football legacy. To them, it was all about everything else that USC offers as a college…
I don’t know if it draws applicants, but it is sure more fun when they have an exciting/winning team! I had about 15 seniors at the house watching the game and it was sure fun to see these “non-football” kids so into it.
I’ve read lots of articles that said winning sports teams increase applications, and the increase is very dramatic after a school wins a national championship in football or basketball.
George Mason University’s applications increased significantly after making it to the March Madness Final Four.
According to US News… the following ten schools received the most applications from potential first-time students for fall 2014.
School Number of applications U.S. News rank and category
University of California—Los Angeles 86,548 23 (tie), National Universities
University of California—Berkeley 73,779 20, National Universities
University of California—San Diego 73,440 39 (tie), National Universities
University of California—Santa Barbara 66,813 37 (tie), National Universities
University of California—Irvine 66,505 39 (tie), National Universities
University of California—Davis 60,506 41 (tie), National Universities
San Diego State University 56,921 149 (tie), National Universities
California State University—Long Beach 56,357 32 (tie), Regional Universities (West)
Boston University 54,190 41 (tie), National Universities
University of Southern California 51,920 23 (tie), National Universities
All but BU are California colleges. And we know that USC is now above 55K applications received already. It is good to see USC truly competitive on the national scene in football again, but it clearly needs no help from football to push up application #s. They are soaring regardless…
Last year, 36,203 applied to U of Alabama. Not sure how the application #s have grown during their recent success… but since they are still accepting 54%, it may not be as high as we assume it would be.
Last year, 22,396 applied to Clemson, with 51% accepted. So the same seems true there.
So… football success may attract new applicants, but it does not seem to be the primary determining factor for applicants.
I am just glad to see USC among the nation’s best in football again. After tomorrow’s national championship game, USC should be ranked in the top five in the final rankings.
@WWWard Thanks for the inputs. As internationals, there were only two colleges that we visited before a decision to matriculate was reached - UF and USC. For UF, it’s so happened that we were able to visit Florida many times in the past and my sister-in-law was able to book us a campus tour at UF and we came home impressed with the school. We also happened to like Florida weather compared to the Northeast. But all of those changes when we visited USC last April for decision and my son who was initially on the fence about studying abroad felt he found a place in USC. And you’re right LA weather is so much better than Florida. At least there is no hurricane to worry about.
I do hope my son will get to watch a Trojan football game. He’s a basketball fan and he went to Galen Center to watch the USC-Cal game a while ago.
@Greensat You’re welcome. He should. USC Trojan football games are an experience in themselves.
Boy, we’re #3 in the final AP poll. That’s pretty good. I was expecting #5 or #6.
Just guessing, but USC may have the longest football winning streak among major colleges.
Everyone contributes and there are so many standouts on this great team, but Sam Darnold is gonna take this team places and then go many himself. He is one special quarterback - what a gift he has on top of amazing work ethic along with his mental strength and temperament - I have never seen anything like it. And a freshman! Incredible. We are watching an incredible pro player in the making. Lucky us!
Indeed. I thought maybe #5. #3 is amazing given how they started the year. They jumped three teams with better records to make it to third.
Last night’s game was pretty special. And I would not be surprised to see Sam Darnold lead USC to the CFP Final Four next season.
Fight On!
I never really paid much attention to college football until last year when D was a freshman, but the program felt off - we all know why. This year, once Darnold became starting quarterback the team had such good chemistry and positive energy. Was a little sad to see JuJu announce that he won’t be back.
the Rose Bowl trophy will be at the bookstore on Thursday and students can stop in and get a picture with it. D promised to send me one. Next year I WILL fly 3,000 miles to see a game live at the coliseum!! Fight on!!
@jmek15 Thanks for advising us. I should tell my son to visit the bookstore for a picture of the Rose Bowl trophy. He actually got me a Rose Bowl champion keychain which I requested.