The last time USC and TCU football went head to head on a big stage
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USC football faces TCU in the 2025 Alamo Bowl in San Antonio on December 30. The last time USC and TCU met in a bowl game was 1998 in the Sun Bowl, but the last time these programs competed against each other in a meaningful way was 2022. That’s when USC’s Caleb Williams beat out TCU’s Max Duggan to win the 2022 Heisman Trophy. USC and TCU had the top two vote getters in the Heisman Trophy race. We recalled the moment at the time:
“The Heisman Trophy’s 2022 award ceremony wasn’t the least bit surprising. All week long, USC Trojans quarterback Caleb Williams was the favorite to win the award, and he did just that on Saturday night.
“Williams defeated TCU QB Max Duggan, Ohio State QB C.J. Stroud, and Georgia QB Stetson Bennett in that order to win the award and become USC’s 8th (including Reggie Bush) Heisman winner. Moreover, he is now the third quarterback to win the award with Lincoln Riley as the head coach. Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield were the other two at Oklahoma.”
Though Caleb Williams won the Heisman and fully deserved it, Duggan did something bigger and better: He made the College Football Playoff and won a 51-45 shootout against Jim Harbaugh and Michigan. TCU did get curb-stomped by Georgia in the national championship game, but at least Duggan and TCU were literally competing for a national championship — not just in the general sense, but in an actual title game. It’s something USC aspires to but has failed to achieve in the Lincoln Riley era.
The 2022 season and Heisman Trophy race were high points in the Riley era. The thought at the time was that USC was just getting started. Instead, USC has regressed since then. The 2026 season will try to establish a new and elevated Lincoln Riley standard. Who knows — maybe Jayden Maiava will be able to make a run at the stiff-arm trophy this time and recall the good times of 2022, when USC and TCU had the two best players in college football.
This article originally appeared on Trojans Wire: Caleb Williams of USC vs Max Duggan of TCU was 2022 Heisman showdown
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