The 25 best college football teams to not win a national championship
Best college football teams without a national championship: 2005 USC Trojans
The NCAA may have redacted all of USC’s records and accomplishments in 2005, but the memory of that Trojans team will live on in the minds of all the college football fans who saw their greatness.
Coming off of a national championship in 2004, USC returned a loaded squad in 2005 that was poised to win it all once again.
Back was the previous season’s Heisman Trophy winner in quarterback Matt Leinart, who teamed with 2005’s Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush, and the perfect complement to Bush’s electric play in LenDale White, to form one of the best backfield combinations in college football history.
USC opened the season No. 1 and went wire-to-wire as the top-ranked team all the way to the Rose Bowl. The Trojans suffered a scare in October against rival Notre Dame in South Bend, but the infamous “Bush Push” allowed the Trojans to escape with a 34-31 win over the Irish to preserve their spot atop the standings.
A 66-19 win over rival UCLA to finish the regular season clinched the Pac-10 championship for Pete Carroll’s Trojans and a date with undefeated Texas awaited in Pasadena with the title on the line.
The national championship matchup with the Longhorns has since been remembered as arguably the best college football game in the sport’s history. A year where the playoff would have been unnecessary, as USC and Texas were on a collision course for Pasadena all season long.
Texas took a 16-10 lead into the half, but the Trojans pulled ahead 24-23 heading into the fourth quarter after White punched in a touchdown.
The fourth quarter was one for the ages, as USC seemed to flex its muscles and assert control, taking a 38-26 lead with under seven minutes to go, which seemed like an insurmountable advantage.
Enter Vince Young, who put the entire state of Texas on his back and led Texas on two touchdown drives in four minutes, including a fourth-down touchdown run with 19 seconds left to stun the Trojans and snatch the title away.