The Trojans have played just once all-time on Boxing Day, aka December 26th. The 2009 Emerald Bowl was USC’s first game in the city of San Francisco since 1943, but when it was all said and done, it’d be remembered for a slew of reasons beyond the game.
A cloud over the late Joe McKnight dominated headlines. After days of uncertainty, the star Trojan tailback wasn’t cleared by the school’s compliance department following allegations of illegal benefits.
“Whether or not McKnight committed an infraction, the fact that USC was worried enough about it to hold him out of a bowl game illustrates the lack of ‘institutional control’ that is the focus of the NCAA investigation,” LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke quipped afterward.