The 1996 USC football team had lost six games, including a couple in two overtimes, and others by margins of four, seven, 11 and 17 points.
Three losses came to ranked teams, and after a double-overtime loss to cross-town rival UCLA, the Trojans had lost three straight games going into their season finale.
“We were in a situation where, through the newspapers, they were trying to fire John Robinson, trying to fire us,” said Mark Banker, then a 40-year-old graduate assistant defensive coach on Robinson’s staff.
USC closed the season with an overtime victory over another rival, Notre Dame, to finish 6-6.