Justin Wilcox addresses Cal's future against USC

With USC and UCLA exiting the Pac-12 soon to join the Big Ten, some of the biggest rivalries are likely to come to an end. One of the biggest ones for the Trojans set to expire is the matchup between them and the California Golden Bears. The two teams are on Saturday in what could be their last game against one another for quite some time. With that being the case, members of the media wondered whether California head coach Justin Wilcox thinks the rivalry will continue after USC leaves the conference.

“I don’t know,” said Wilcox. “That that’d be up to the administration and chancellor. I’m sure there’s a lot of people that would be involved. I’d be all for that.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen moving forward. Again, so much is changing so rapidly. And that’s really not where my head’s at right now. But I’m sure that there’s a lot of people that are discussing those things, so I’ll leave that to them.”

The USC-California rivalry is over 100 years old, dating back to 1915. The last four games between the two schools have been split at two apiece, with the Golden Bears winning the previous matchup in 2021 24-14. But this is a different USC team led by a different quarterback and head coach.

Last year, the Trojans entered the game with a ton of question marks after previous head coach clay Hilton was fired earlier in the season. Along with that, USC struggled to find consistent quarterback play rotating between two different starting quarterbacks. This year with head coach Lincoln Riley and Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Caleb Williams, it’ll be a whole different story and atmosphere for USC when they take on their in-state rival.

Can Lincoln Riley Bring No-Loss November Back to USC?

Riley is about to take USC through the month of November for the first time as head coach of the Trojans. It’s a month that can separate teams and create conference and national champions.

USC fans remember Pete Carroll’s No-Loss November run from 2001 through 2008. It wasn’t just a title. It was a fact.

Carroll won his first 28 November games as head coach of the Trojans. The first loss came in 2009, in the “What’s Your Deal” game against Stanford. Carroll finished his USC career with a 29-1 record in November.

In 2020, USC went 2-2 in November, posting more losses in the month than the Trojans suffered in the previous nine seasons.

Since 2001 (and not counting the 2020 Covid season), USC is 57-16 in the month of November. But the Trojans are coming off a season that featured the only time USC did not win a single game in that particular month. No surprise, in the three most forgetful seasons in recent USC history, the Trojans went 1-3 in 2010, 1-3 in 2018 and 0-3 last season. And USC is just 4-7 over the last three full November schedules.