Editor’s note: This is the fifth story in a series by The Athletic looking at five pivotal upsets from the 2001 season that still resonate 20 years later.
Shortly before USC took on No. 20 UCLA in its 2001 regular season finale, Antuan Simmons and the rest of the Trojans’ seniors gathered together. Simmons and his classmates had been recruited by John Robinson at the back end of his second tenure as USC head coach and then played for Paul Hackett, who was fired after an embarrassing last-place Pac-10 finish in 2000.
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First-year head coach Pete Carroll had offered some reasons to believe the Trojans weren’t too far off from re-establishing themselves as a West Coast power, but they were still missing that spark. Beating the Bruins that week would at least secure bowl eligibility.
“For us seniors, we had a tumultuous time there,” Simmons told The Athletic. “We just wanted to go out with a bang. Us seniors got together, talked about it and of course, you’ve got UCLA. It gives you that extra incentive. That was our mindset going into that game.”
As one former USC player dutifully noted, the 2001 Trojans won’t be remembered as one of the greatest teams in school history. The golden age of modern USC football didn’t begin until the next year. But with one miraculous interception on Nov. 17, 2001, Simmons helped wake up a sleeping giant and provided a glimpse of the electricity and swagger that would soon define it.
“When you think of the Pete Carroll Era, it really started that season — the Arizona game or whatever — but this being kind of the end of the season, the Antuan Simmons play, it kind of put that stamp the Trojans are back, are here,” former USC wideout and current receivers coach Keary Colbert said. “It kind of put everything on notice again. That play was the play of the year. It kind of gave notice to the program. When you look at the next year, you’re talking about a Heisman Trophy winner, two first-round draft picks, you’re talking about an Orange Bowl, the No. 4 ranked team in the country and No. 1 recruiting class. On and on and on. I think when I look back now, that was the beginning of putting the notice and letting everyone know what was to come.”
USC couldn’t become the preeminent program in the sport unless it controlled the West Coast, and it couldn’t control the West Coast unless it owned Los Angeles.
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The Trojans’ dominant 27-0 victory over UCLA, sparked by Simmons’ highlight-reel pick-six to extend the lead to double digits, laid down the foundation for the decade to come: two national titles, seven Pac-10 championships, three Rose Bowl victories and dozens of NFL Draft picks. In that decade, USC reestablished its standard of excellence, only to spend the following decade falling on its face trying to match it.
The program was in a fragile state in 2001. The 1990s had been largely forgettable; the Trojans won or shared the Pac-10 title just twice, while UCLA won or claimed a share of three conference championships.
The Bruins controlled the crosstown rivalry in those years, beating the Trojans eight consecutive times, the longest winning streak in series history for either side.
“Cade McNown and Bob Toledo were rolling,” said Rocky Seto, a walk-on defensive back on USC’s 1997 and ’98 teams and a graduate assistant on the 2001 team. “It was two whole classes who never beat UCLA. That’s a long run.
“We both recruited well. We both had good players. Something happened. I don’t know what it was. Maybe we made the rivalry too big.”
USC snapped the streak in 1999 under Hackett, but the new decade didn’t usher in broader success. The 2000 season was miserable, and Carroll got off to a 2-5 start during a Year 1 marked by one close loss after another.
In Week 2, the Trojans lost to No. 12 Kansas State, 10-6, after Carson Palmer fumbled near the red zone in the final minutes. Two weeks later, USC lost to a top-10 Oregon team on a walk-off field goal. The Trojans lost a five-point game to Stanford the week after that, then lost on another walk-off field goal to a top-15 Washington team.
“When you’re a good football team and you get into those situations, you have the confidence and experience, like, ‘We’re going to find a way to win this game,’” former USC defensive lineman Shaun Cody said. “It was kind of the opposite at the beginning of the year, like, ‘Ah, man, what’s going to happen here?’ We had guys who weren’t all the way bought in. ‘How are we going to lose this thing?’”
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“I remember Coach Carroll telling us he shook Coach (Rick) Neuheisel’s hand after the UW game,” Seto said, “and he said, ‘You know, it won’t take us long.’ … He was right. It didn’t take us long. We were so close. Just a turnover here. A ball bouncing there. Getting one more turnover. That’s the difference in the game. I think he recognized we weren’t very far.”
The defense was strong enough to keep the Trojans in most games, but the offense was struggling. USC scored four offensive touchdowns in just one of its first seven games and averaged just 2.7 yards per carry.
“I remember the first spring practice, I went off to Pete and said, ‘Where are the linemen here?’” offensive coordinator Norm Chow said. “We didn’t have very big, very strong linemen. Pete went to work and recruited. What they did have was tremendous young people. (Fullback) Sunny Byrd, Charlie (Landrigan), Carson and those guys. They were just good guys and wanting to be successful. … I think they just wanted so badly to do well.”
“We struggled offensively for a few years,” Simmons said. “JRob’s last year. Hackett’s whole time there. Our defenses were always good but we struggled offensively until Carroll came in. Once he set the standard offensively, SC took off. Because we always kept a good defense. It’s weird now because it’s hard to watch SC because they’re more of an offensive school. We don’t have the defenders we used to have. Traditionally, SC’s always had a great defensive product.”
Across town, UCLA had found a successful formula: stingy defense and strong running from star tailback DeShaun Foster. The Bruins opened the 2001 season with six consecutive wins, beating a ranked Alabama team in Tuscaloosa and a ranked Ohio State team at the Rose Bowl.
UCLA debuted at No. 3 in the initial BCS rankings that fall and looked like it was going to be relevant in the national title conversation for the second time in four seasons, something USC hadn’t experienced in a while.
“This is a Bruin football town,” Los Angeles times columnist Bill Plaschke notoriously proclaimed on Oct. 25 of that year, “and has been a Bruin football town, and will continue to be a Bruin football town as long as the Bruins continue running the consistent, directed program so lacking across town.”
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At the time, there were plenty of reasons for Plaschke to believe that. But two days later, both programs’ trajectories swerved dramatically.
Inconsistent quarterback play and untimely turnovers caught up with the Bruins in a 10-point loss to Stanford on Oct. 27, and they lost their next game to a top-20 Washington State team. That was also the last time the Bruins had Foster in the backfield: The tailback was suspended for violating NCAA rules, reportedly tied to driving an SUV that was owned by an agent. At the time of his suspension, Foster accounted for 75 percent of UCLA’s rushing output and 48 percent of its touchdowns. His suspension loomed large a few days later when the Bruins lost to Oregon, which finished the year ranked No. 2, by one point.
“I definitely remember us having a lot of momentum and a lot of excitement,” former UCLA wideout Brian Poli-Dixon said. “Then it just came to a screeching halt.”
The same day UCLA’s losing skid started, USC enjoyed a breakthrough win. The Trojans built a 31-10 first-half lead against Arizona, only for the Wildcats to chip away and tie the game at 34 with seven minutes left. The Wildcats had the ball in the final minutes, and it looked like USC was on its way to losing another close game. Then Kris Richard stepped in front of a pass from Arizona quarterback Jason Johnson and returned the interception 62 yards for the game-winning touchdown.
USC finally made the play it needed to in a close game.
Palmer rushed for a 4-yard touchdown in overtime the next week to give USC another close win. The following week, the Trojans blew out Cal.
“The key as I look back on that year when we went down to Arizona,” Chow said. “Because Pete and I were talking at that time and Pete wanted to make a change (at quarterback). … I just didn’t feel like we should. Obviously, if he tells me to do it, I do it. But he didn’t. We discussed it. We decided to let Carson have the Arizona game. If he didn’t perform well that Arizona game, we were going to make a change. And Carson knew that because I told Carson that because I’m very open about that kind of stuff, and he played very well. His career, in my mind, took off from there. Not only did the team take off, but Carson took off.”
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UCLA entered the crosstown rivalry game as three-point favorites, but it was obvious that the two teams were headed in different directions.
Colbert watched from the sidelines as everything unfolded. Even though he saw Simmons pick off Cory Paus’ pass live, he still couldn’t quite comprehend what he did until he watched the replay.
USC had dialed up a zone blitz. Paus executed a play-action fake and was immediately greeted by a blitzing Troy Polamalu. Paus managed to evade the sack, but the timing of the play was clearly disrupted. Paus threw for Poli-Dixon, except the ball bounced off his hands and into the waiting arms of Simmons, though he had to react quickly.
“I reached out to grab the ball and I just caught it with the momentum and brought it through my legs because I didn’t grip it,” Simmons said. “So I had to kind of use the momentum to bring it back through my legs and grab it.”
“When you’re watching it live, you see the ball thrown and you’re like, ‘Oh, ‘Tuan picked it,’” Colbert said. “Then it was like he’s running in, he’s high stepping, puts his hand behind his head, and it’s like, ‘Damn, did that go between his legs?’ When you see the replay, it was like, ‘Oh, damn. Did he really do that?’ The emotion in the Coli that day, obviously it’s a rivalry game, that was a big play, we were on a streak. I’ll never forget those moments. It’s one of those you’ve got to be there type of deals. It was electric.”
The game’s list of iconic moments essentially stops there. USC throttled UCLA, forcing three more turnovers and holding the Bruins to 114 yards of offense. But it was fitting that Simmons made the signature play. He had contributed right away at USC, picking off seven passes during the first three years of his career. But late in 1999, he had surgery for a herniated disc in his back. He returned to the hospital six months later for an MRI only for the doctors to find an abdominal tumor, which was wrapped around his femoral artery.
“They had to graft my femoral artery after they removed my tumor, and that right there gave me a lot of complications and started bleeding out internally,” Simmons said. “There were a lot of complications behind that.”
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There was serious doubt Simmons would even survive the ordeal, which included a blood clot and several follow-up surgeries. He lost 40 pounds and missed the 2000 season but returned for his redshirt senior year. He ended up making the defining play for USC that season.
“For him to make the interception, it was so appropriate,” said Seto, who was Simmons’ teammate for two years. “He embodied that turnaround with his own physical battles, to make that play. It was similar to us. We were down, like a sleeping giant, and we were able to come back. I definitely think that play embodied what was about to happen.”
There were 88,588 fans in attendance to watch Simmons high-step his way into the end zone that afternoon. It was the first real electric atmosphere of the Carroll era. Just two weeks earlier, only 44,880 fans had showed up for USC’s win over Oregon State. It wasn’t much longer until those large crowds and electrifying plays — by the likes of Reggie Bush, Mike Williams, Lendale White and Matt Leinart — became the norm at the Coliseum.
“For almost a decade,” Seto said, “L.A. was known for USC football.”
Simmons’ interception put USC ahead 14-0 after one quarter, and with no Foster and an inconsistent passing game, UCLA didn’t stand much of a chance, The only drama was whether USC would record the shutout or not.
“As a coach, there are some games you go into and feel, ‘Oh, yeah, we’re going to get this done,’” former USC DBs coach DeWayne Walker said. “Once we started getting on a roll, it just took off. There was no question in my mind that game that we were going to win. You could tell we took the air out of UCLA, I thought, pretty early, and the rest is history.”
Cody went from top recruit to All-America performer at USC, and his performance against UCLA offered glimpses of what was to come: eight tackles, three for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery. UCLA collected 28 rushing yards on 27 carries.
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When USC was playing for its national championships a few years later, it was the line that allowed the defense, which allowed just two 100-yard rushers over a 36-game span, to be so dominant. Cody was the poster boy for that unit.
“We carried that shit the whole time, man,” Cody said. “I know we saw that documentary on ESPN about Matt and Reggie and all this shit, but we felt like on the defense we were always carrying the team. Obviously, we were always on the sidelines cheering for those guys, and I wanted Mike Williams to go up and catch passes and get the ball to Reggie. But we as a defense always felt like the game was on us. …
“The UCLA game, throwing a shutout, kind of set the precedent for our defense. This is what we can do, this is the kind of defense we can play.”
USC’s offense did enough that day and didn’t make any killer mistakes. Meanwhile, UCLA had gone from 6-0 with national championship aspirations to 6-4 and on its way out of the top 25.
“When we came in (in 1997), it was a different team (than 2001),” Poli-Dixon said. “We came in with a very seasoned offensive line. We had a seasoned quarterback. A seasoned defense. We came in and hit the ground running. We had a bunch of dogs on the team. We had dogs before too. … I think there were just more seasoned, dog guys that we had on the team and we had a lot of confidence.”
Walker left USC to return to the NFL as the New York Giants’ DBs coach after the 2001 season, but what he witnessed in the final weeks made one thing clear to him.
“Once we beat UCLA,” he said, “it was pretty obvious with a couple of more players SC ended up who they were supposed to be.”
UCLA turned in the No. 7 recruiting class in the country in 2002, one spot ahead of USC, but the Trojans scored massive head-to-head victories. USC landed four of the five blue-chip players out of Long Beach Poly (Calif.) that recruiting cycle: Winston Justice, Darnell Bing, Hershel Dennis and Manuel Wright. UCLA landed just one player from that group, though he was a stellar one: tight end Marcedes Lewis.
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The Trojans also signed receiver Mike Williams, who quickly became one of the most prolific receivers in program history. Carroll inherited some good talent, but he upgraded it with his relentless recruiting. Bush and White arrived a year later.
Yes, USC lost to Utah in the Las Vegas Bowl a month after its win over UCLA, but the proof of concept during that four-game winning streak provided all the recruiting momentum required for that coaching staff, which included future FBS head coaches Chow, Walker, Ed Orgeron, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkisian and Nick Holt.
“The Arizona game got us going. I think beating UCLA validated that this wasn’t a fluke,” Seto said. “The Arizona game to the time when Coach Carroll retired from USC and went to the Seahawks, the winning percentage was pretty good. It started off with the Arizona game. I would say the UCLA game was massive to validate the turnaround and give us momentum entering the recruiting season.”
USC went on to split the national title in 2003, won it outright in 2004 and played for it again in 2005. The program was one win away from the national championship game in 2006, which is when Walker rejoined the rivalry, this time as UCLA’s defensive coordinator.
When Walker was thinking about taking the job, he called Carroll and asked him for his thoughts.
“He said, ‘Hey, if you go over there, we’re going to kick your ass,’” Walker recalled. That didn’t stop him from accepting the offer. But when Walker returned to the rivalry, USC looked much different talent-wise than when he left it.
“Shoot, they had all draft picks,” Walker said. “Even though we had some draft picks, particularly on the defensive side of the ball at UCLA, when you looked at their draft picks compared to ours, it was like a night and day program from the time Pete took it over to where they were when we played them in ’06. It was a totally different football team. You’ve got to tip your hat off to Pete and the staff at that time. They did a good job of coaching and getting better talent.”
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Walker put together a defensive masterpiece in UCLA’s stunning 2006 upset of No. 2 USC, 13-9. The win snapped USC’s then-NCAA record scoring streak of 63 games with at least 20 points.
Eric McNeal’s game-clinching interception of John David Booty provided one of UCLA’s few bright spots in this rivalry since 2001. The Bruins have won just five matchups with the Trojans in the last 20 years.
USC hasn’t been that close to a national title that late in the year since the 2006 season. Carroll left after 2009, which changed the balance of power on the West Coast. Over the past decade or so, Oregon, Stanford and Washington have basically alternated reigns atop the conference.
UCLA appeared to be on the verge of a breakthrough several times under Jim Mora Jr. in the mid-2010s, but that never materialized. Chip Kelly was hired to bring the Bruins back to prominence, but that hasn’t happened yet either. USC’s head coaching hires have been better, but not by much. The program has stumbled through the past decade, leaving the West Coast without a true perennial power to carry the flag for the conference. As a result, Southern California has become open recruiting ground for SEC schools, Clemson and Ohio State to cherry pick some of the region’s top talents.
“The Pac-12 cannot be as powerful as it can be or should be without a powerful USC,” former Washington and UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel told The Athletic last fall. “It’s a brand that resonates with the college football community regardless of where you are. That’s not to take away from programs like Oregon or Washington or even Washington State or Utah. It’s a brand that everybody’s going to play close attention to. When they’re in the national conversation, it puts the Pac-12 squarely in that conversation as well. The Pac-12 will never fully be back until USC’s fully back.”
As much as everything has changed within the sport and on the West Coast within the past 20 years, USC is still very much playing the same role it was in 2001: a program with a proud history that hasn’t lived up to its potential and in desperate need of some sort of spark.
(Photo of Carson Palmer: Adam Pretty / Getty Images; Illustration: John Bradford / The Athletic)
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