The USC vs. Stanford game yesterday was the conclusion of Homecoming week at USC, and I couldn’t think of a better ending. While yesterday’s game was bittersweet as my last home game at USC as an undergrad, it was definitely the best game of my USC career. After losing to Stanford for the last four years in a row, we finally won in front of a sold out Coliseum and I rushed the field with thousands of other USC fans as the game ended!!! One day later I’m still on cloud 9.
Yesterday was a perfect day. After attending my sorority’s homecoming exchange on Friday night in Hollywood, I woke up at 5 am on Saturday to get ready and head over to ESPN College Gameday. I have grown up watching this show, so it was only fitting that the show came to USC for my last game as a senior. My parents came to LA for the game, so we all went to Gameday together. I ran into several VSAs yesterday morning, including Zach and Alex. Alex and I even had matching hats!
I had so much fun watching the show right from McCarthy Quad, surrounded by so many USC students and fans! McCarthy Quad was definitely a better location for the show to get max attendance, since previous years it has been held in front of the Coliseum. The highlight was definitely when Lee Corso picked USC to beat Stanford! Corso was 15-0 when picking USC in the past, so it made me really excited (and nervous!) for the game. After tailgating the rest of the day with my parents and friends, we headed over to the Coliseum for the last time. We stopped in the rose garden to take a fountain picture, and cross that off our bucket list.
While we were getting close to game time, my friends and I still managed to get great seats at the game. It was a stressful game, but luckily USC managed to hold onto the lead for most of the game, and the interceptions on defense helped keep USC in the game. When it was still a tied game with minutes to go in the 4th quarter, we knew we had to win and take care of business. As USC drove down the field in the final drive, converted a fourth down and the clock ticked down, we were sure of one thing – when USC won, we had to rush the field. It was hard to watch as Andre Heidari lined up for the winning field goal from 47 yards. But when the ball soared through the uprights the entire student section scrambled to field level, anxiously waiting to hop the wall as soon as the game ended. While it was a potentially dangerous situation the only thought that crossed my mind was that I had to get to the field. Once there we ran around like crazy and chanted U-S-C! with the other thousands of students, alums and fans while the band played the fight song. As an avid sports fan and ESPN viewer since I was born, I dreamed of one day rushing the field after a big USC victory. While there have been missed opportunities over the years, I’m glad it happened in my very last USC game. No other football game can top this memory for me, except of course a USC Rose Bowl victory or a Chargers Super Bowl win. I even lost my phone on the Coliseum field, but it was worth it (my phone was actually returned to me later that night, picked up by a very kind USC freshman). Here are some of my favorite pictures from the night. Fight on forever.
